During a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on political violence, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned William Braniff, former Director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) at the Department of Homeland Security. CP3 was established under the Biden Administration to address domestic violent extremism through public and community health programming.
Durbin asked Braniff about how investments in public health have contributed to identifying individuals at risk of committing violent acts. “CP3 prioritized public and community health programming to identify people before they commit acts of violence in coordination with federal, state, and local law enforcement. In your experience, how have investments in public health led to identifying at-risk individuals and stopping violent acts before they occur?” Durbin said.
Braniff explained that CP3 drew from longstanding violence prevention strategies used in areas such as suicide prevention and violence against children. “At CP3, we learned from the violence prevention community—the same people who for 30 [to] 40 years have studied suicide prevention, violence against children prevention, [and] intimate partner violence prevention. We started to apply those methods and that evidence to targeted violence prevention to prevent terrorism, hate crimes, and school shootings,” Braniff said.
He reported that during his tenure at CP3, the program conducted 1,000 interventions with individuals exhibiting signs of potential violence across various ideologies. He noted that some were associated with white supremacy or antigovernment extremism while others had no clear ideological motivation. “We didn't wait until something terrible happened and then blame the ideology behind it; we actually did a therapeutic intervention—and in 94 percent of those interventions—the individual got help. In 6 percent, they had made a threat to public safety that was imminent, or they crossed a criminal threshold, and they were referred to law enforcement. We supported those individuals, averted 1200 potential acts of violence, and never sacrificed public safety,” he stated.
Durbin questioned whether staff cuts under the Trump Administration affected CP3’s operations: “The Trump Administration cut the staff at CP3, which you worked with, which led to your resignation. Is that true?” Braniff confirmed this account by stating that "the CP3 office is no more—the Trump Administration dismantled it."
When asked if current prevention efforts are still funded following these changes: “So, the prevention efforts you’re describing to us are now no longer funded?” Braniff replied: “That is correct.”
Durbin also raised concerns about possible increases in attacks without similar programs in place: “Are you concerned about the potential rise in attacks that we may see without a similar level of inquiries taking place under the [Trump] Administration?” Braniff responded: “I have given my life to protecting the American people. I'm incredibly worried about the rise of targeted violence and terrorism across the ideological spectrum; at the same time, we’ve dismantled that apparatus that can prevent it.” He added there has been a 70 percent increase in terrorist incidents compared to last year.
Durbin concluded by urging bipartisan action: “I hope we all want to see less violence. This is one agency (CP3) with an agenda directed toward reaching that goal and unfortunately it’s virtually been shut down. If we’re sincere [about addressing political violence] on a bipartisan basis, let’s do something to revive that effort,” he said.
