The White House will host a February summit to work on preventing violent extremists from “radicalizing, recruiting, or inspiring” individuals or groups in the U.S., according to a news release.
The summit is a continuation of efforts started in August 2011, but they have taken on a new importance “in light of recent, tragic attacks in Ottawa, Sydney, and Paris,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement Sunday morning.
Earnest said the efforts will rely heavily on “well-informed and resilient local communities.”
The 2011 strategy focuses on partnering with local agencies and he pointed to Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul, which “have taken the lead in building pilot frameworks integrating a range of social service providers, including education administrators, mental health professionals, and religious leaders, with law enforcement agencies to address violent extremism as part of the broader mandate of community safety and crime prevention.”
The summit, set to take place on Feb. 18, will also feature “representatives from a number of partner nations, focusing on the themes of community engagement, religious leader engagement, and the role of the private sector and tech community,” Earnest said.
