A summit on countering violent extremism is set for Feb. 18, the White House announced this weekend, just days after deadly terrorist attacks were carried out on the offices of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo.
According to a statement from the White House
obtained by The Associated Press, the goal of the conference will be to "better understand, identify, and prevent the cycle of radicalization to violence at home in the United States and abroad," citing recent attacks in Ottawa and Sydney in addition to Paris as those it seeks to prevent.
In 2011, the White House released the first national strategy to prevent violent extremism domestically, and the February conference will build upon information contained in that strategy.
It will also highlight the efforts of 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."
Representatives from other nations will be invited to the conference, although it was not immediately clear which nations specifically.
There is a need to "prevent people from adhering to, being attracted to this terrorist ideology," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a recent interview about preventing terrorism.