Washington ( CNN ) They 're carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police , have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority . A new intelligence assessment , circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN , focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism . Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to -- and in some cases greater than -- the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups , such as ISIS , that garner more public attention.â€‹ . The Homeland Security report , produced in coordination with the FBI , counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the U.S. since 2010 . ISIS burned up to 40 people alive in Iraq , official says . The government says these are extremists who believe that they can ignore laws and that their individual rights are under attack in routine daily instances such as a traffic stop or being required to obey a court order . They 've lashed out against authority in incidents such as one in 2012 , in which a father and son were accused of engaging in a shootout with police in Louisiana , in a confrontation that began with an officer pulling them over for a traffic violation . Two officers were killed and several others wounded in the confrontation . The men were sovereign citizen extremists who claimed police had no authority over them . Among the findings from the Homeland Security intelligence assessment : `` ( Sovereign citizen ) violence during 2015 will occur most frequently during routine law enforcement encounters at a suspect 's home , during enforcement stops and at government offices . '' The report adds that `` law enforcement officers will remain the primary target of ( sovereign citizen ) violence over the next year due to their role in physically enforcing laws and regulations . '' The White House has fended off criticism in recent days for its reluctance to say the words `` Islamist extremism , '' even as the conference this week almost entirely focused on helping imams and community groups to counteract the lure of groups like ISIS . Absent from the White House conference is any focus on the domestic terror threat posed by sovereign citizens , militias and other anti-government terrorists that have carried out multiple attacks in recent years . An administration official says the White House is focused on the threat from all terrorists , including from sovereign citizen and other domestic groups . `` I do n't think it 's fair to say the ( White House ) conference did n't address this at all , '' the official said , adding that President Barack Obama addressed the need to combat `` violent ideologies '' of all types . An official at the Justice Department , which is leading the administration 's counter-radicalization effort , says many of the tactics aimed at thwarting radical Islamic recruitment of young people can also be used to fight anti-government extremist groups . While groups like ISIS and al Qaeda garner the most attention , for many local cops , the danger is closer to home . A survey last year of state and local law enforcement officers listed sovereign citizen terrorists , ahead of foreign Islamists , and domestic militia groups as the top domestic terror threat . The survey was part of a study produced by the University of Maryland 's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism . In 2013 , a man who held anti-government views carried out a shooting attack on three Transportation Security Administration employees at Los Angeles International Airport , killing one TSA officer . Last year , a couple killed two police officers and a bystander at a Las Vegas Walmart store . Mark Potok , senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center , said that by some estimates , there are as many as 300,000 people involved in some way with sovereign citizen extremism . Perhaps 100,000 people form a core of the movement , he said . The federal government 's focus on the domestic groups waxes and wanes , Potok said , in part because the threat from foreign groups like al Qaeda and its affiliates . Potok says sovereign citizen groups have attracted support because of poor economic conditions . Some groups travel the country pitching their ideology as a way to help homeowners escape foreclosure or get out of debt , by simply ignoring the courts and bankruptcy law . The Homeland Security report 's focus on right-wing terrorists is a subject that garnered political controversy for the Obama administration in the past . In 2009 , a Homeland Security report on possible recruitment of military veterans by right-wing militia groups prompted an outcry from veterans groups . The report was produced by staff members during the Bush administration but was n't published until then Homeland Security Janet Napolitano had taken office . Napolitano criticized her own agency for the report .
Intelligence assessment focuses on domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists . Some law enforcement groups view domestic terror threat as equal to threat from Islamic terror groups .