FBI targeting lone attackers

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- An increase in hate speech and gun sales has prompted U.S. authorities to launch a special program to identify possible lone attackers, an FBI official says.

Michael Heimbach, the bureau's assistant director of counterterrorism, said the effort, dubbed the "Lone Wolf Initiative," is aimed at disrupting plots before they are launched, USA Today reported Wednesday.

Agents from all of the FBI's 56 field offices are being given assignments ranging from reviewing records of domestic terrorism to checking the backgrounds of newly released prisoners for extremist group connections, two law enforcement officials told USA Today.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says lone attackers are a "persistent problem" because information about their plots is very closely held.

Records compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center indicate the number of hate groups in the United States has increased from 602 in 2000 to 926 in 2008.