Domestic Terrorism Task Force 'More Than Overdue,' Experts Say

A former Ku Klux Klan leader with an anti-Semitic agenda in Kansas. A pair of cop killers in Las Vegas. A courthouse gunman in Georgia who hated the government.

The cases of homegrown extremism over the past two months serve as a blunt reminder that terrorism originating in the United States is a legitimate threat to our safety — leading experts to cheer the resurrection of a federal task force on domestic terrorism that was dormant for more than a decade.

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced he was reviving the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee within the Department of Justice, a re-establishment of a group that was created following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and abruptly put on hold on Sept. 11, 2001 as the focus turned to terrorists overseas.

"We had 9/11 and there was a 180 to concentrating on Islamic extremists," said Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project and an expert on extremism. "It should not be seen as an either/or."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/domestic-terrorism-task-force-more-overdue-experts-say-n128541