WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI and IRS agents are forming a new initiative to investigate nonprofit organizations over suspected links to domestic terrorism. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors in December to prioritize efforts to investigate and prosecute groups and individuals who belong to the antifa movement or are deemed extremist.

The new mission control command center probing nonprofits will be based at the FBI, with IRS Criminal Investigation agents working on one-year temporary assignments. A spokesperson for IRS Criminal Investigation confirmed that IRS Criminal Investigation agents are partnering with the FBI and said "This coordinated effort allows agencies to leverage their respective strengths, including IRS-CI's specialized expertise in financial investigations, to support enforcement actions and safeguard national security."

The memo asked law enforcement agents to consider potential tax crimes in which extremist groups are suspected of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service. Bondi's memo instructed federal law enforcement agencies to scour their files for intelligence on antifa groups and forward it to the FBI.

The FBI was ordered to develop a list of groups engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism as defined by federal law. U.S. attorney offices have been asked to assign a domestic terrorism coordinator. The deputy attorney general's office is involved in creating a task force to investigate funding of antifa-linked groups.

Under federal law, individuals or groups involved in acts dangerous to human life within the U.S. intended to intimidate or coerce people, influence government policy through intimidation, or affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping may constitute domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism is defined in federal law, but there is no specific criminal charge for domestic terrorism. Prosecutors typically charge defendants with other crimes and seek terrorism sentencing enhancements.

Nine people accused of being part of an antifa cell were convicted earlier this month in northern Texas. The convictions included charges of using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer and correctional officers at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center.

Tom Brzozowski, former domestic terrorism counsel at the Department of Justice's National Security Division, said "Federal investigators can look at open source information all they want. If you're going to pull down information and retain it in a government data set, you have to have predication to do that – especially if you're looking at it through an investigative lens."