Interview: Former FBI Agent Mike German Explains Why Law Enforcement Fails to Take Far-Right Extremism Seriously, Even Within Its Own Ranks
German, who went undercover infiltrating neo-Nazi groups and militias during his career, spoke with me about his new book "Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within," which comes out Jan. 7.
Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent, 12 of which he was tasked with combating domestic terrorism, sometimes going undercover and infiltrating white supremacist groups and militias.
German is the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist as well as Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Our Democracy. He spoke with me about his new book Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within, which comes out Jan. 7. In it, he urges law enforcement to prioritize combatting far-right violence and to finally end tolerance for racism and extremism within its ranks.
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About Policing White Supremacy, from New Press
In Policing White Supremacy, former FBI agent Mike German, who worked undercover in white supremacist and militia groups, issues a wake-up call about law enforcement’s dangerously lax approach to far-right violence.
Despite over a hundred deadly acts by far-right militants since the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and the far right’s attempts to obstruct transfer of power to a duly elected president on January 6, the FBI continues to deprioritize investigations into white supremacist violence, instead targeting marginalized groups such as environmentalists and Black Lives Matter. In 2005, for example, the FBI labeled eco-terrorists as the top domestic threat, despite not a single fatal attack in the United States.
Noting that the FBI does not even compile accurate national data on white supremacist violence, German also exposes the continuing tolerance of overt racism in law enforcement, and police membership in white supremacist organizations. The threat these officers pose became clear when at least twenty-eight current and former law enforcement officials were alleged to have participated in the 2021 Capitol breach.
With chapters on “The Rise of the Proud Boys,” “A New Approach to Policing Hate Crimes,” and “Policing the Police,” Policing White Supremacy shows how the lack of transparency and accountability in federal, state, and local law enforcement has eroded public trust and undermined democracy. “Law Enforcement’s Role in Resisting White Supremacy” points the way forward to a future where far-right violence is recognized and addressed as the true threat it presents to our country.
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