Today the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released its 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment (HTA), which identifies a continuing high risk of foreign and domestic terrorism in 2024. Going forward, DHS intends to release an annual HTA in place of regular National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) bulletins.

In the section about foreign and domestic terrorism, the 2024 HTA says it expects the threat of violence from individuals radicalized in the United States to remain high, but largely unchanged, mainly seen through lone offenders or small group attacks that occur with little warning. While sustained counterterrorism pressure has significantly degraded the ability of foreign terrorist organizations to target U.S. interests, foreign terrorist groups like al Qa’ida and the Islamic State are seeking to rebuild overseas, and they maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could seek to target the homeland. In addition, the report assesses that domestic and foreign adversaries likely will continue to threaten the integrity of U.S. critical infrastructure over the next year. Specifically, domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and criminal actors with unclear motivations are increasingly calling for and carrying out physical attacks against critical infrastructure, particularly the energy sector. DVEs see such attacks as a means to advance their ideologies and achieve their sociopolitical goals.

The 2024 HTA also includes sections providing assessments on border and immigration security, foreign misinformation, and economic security. And the report includes examples of DHS efforts to combat the threats it identifies, such as efforts by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to help government and private sector partners prepare for and respond to cyber attacks as well as enhance security and mitigate risk posed by acts of terrorism and targeted violence. Although the HTAs will mostly replace the NTAS bulletins, DHS will publish these advisories in situations where it needs to alert the public about a specific or imminent terrorist threat or about a change in the terrorism threat level. Access the 2024 HTA at DHS and below and read a press release at DHS.