‘Scandalous’: FBI ‘Pressuring’ Agents To Bolster ‘Domestic Violent Extremism’ Cases, Rep. Jim Jordan Alleges

FBI officials are “pressuring” bureau employees to reclassify cases to involve Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE) in order to satisfy “performance metrics” created by data hungry superiors, a top Republican alleged in a letter Wednesday.

“We continue to hear from brave whistleblowers about disturbing conduct at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “From recent protected disclosures, we have learned that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as ‘domestic violent extremism’ even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification.”

DVE pertains to someone in the U.S. “without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or other foreign power who seeks to further political or social goals wholly or in part through unlawful acts of force or violence,” according to the FBI. Wray testified in June 2021 that the FBI has a “very, very active domestic terrorism investigation program” and that it has “doubled the amount of domestic terrorism investigations,” according to the letter.

“Given the narrative pushed by the Biden Administration that domestic violent extremism is the ‘greatest threat’ facing our country the revelation that the FBI may be artificially padding domestic terrorism data is scandalous,” Jordan also said.

FBI employees are not finding enough DVE and are being pushed by superiors to use minor evidence to reclassify cases, according to a whistleblower who allegedly spoke to Jordan and other Republicans. The FBI’s Counterterrorism Division Director and another official “have pressured agents to move cases into the DVE category to hit self-created performance metrics,” said Jordan.

The metrics are used to dish out “awards and promotions,” said a whistleblower to Jordan and Republicans. The new allegations are relevant given how the FBI has become politicized, said the Republican, who wrote a letter to Wray in June outlining whistleblower claims that the FBI is “purging” conservative employees.

Jordan is demanding the FBI provide the number of DVE investigations from January 2020 to present and the number of “Confidential Human Sources” that have contributed to DVE reports since that same time, among other documents. He has set a Aug. 10 deadline for the bureau to respond.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.