Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

A U.S. intelligence document declassified on May 23 shows the government warned that COVID-19 vaccine mandates could lead to violence.

The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Counterterrorism Center said in the Dec. 31, 2021, joint assessment that vaccine mandates for children and workers—which had begun being imposed by the federal government—as well as “perceptions of unfair healthcare treatment for the unvaccinated” could trigger violence from domestic violent extremists (DVEs) or foreign actors.

“Given these conditions, DVEs would most likely plot violent acts to intimidate healthcare workers and officials charged with implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures as well as, possibly, killings or kidnappings of state, local, or federal government personnel,” the officials stated.

Plotting had already occurred in the United States and other countries, according to the intelligence agencies. That included a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, although some of the men charged in that matter were acquitted after they argued they were entrapped by government agents.

The joint assessment also said that COVID-19 vaccines becoming available for children “might spur conspiracy theories and perceptions that schools will vaccinate children against parents’ will and may increase the potential for violence.”

Some health care workers did vaccinate children despite opposition from parents, including in North Carolina.

U.S. intelligence agencies define a domestic violent extremist as a person based in the United States or U.S. territories who acts without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or country and who “seeks to further political or social goals, wholly or in part, through unlawful acts of force or violence dangerous to human life.”

The assessment stated in a footnote that U.S. individuals opposing COVID-19 mandates were “likely engaging in First Amendment-protected activities, unless they are acting in concert with a threat actor,” and that related topics “should not be assumed to reflect DVE activity, absent information specifically attributing the content to DVE threat actors.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ordered the declassification of the document.

“It really talks about people who may likely turn out to be domestic violent extremists or those who may turn to violence because of these specific ‘ideologies’ that they hold,“ Gabbard said about the document during an appearance on Fox News.

”And there’s a consistent thread through here that these ideologies that they are characterizing as potentially turning into potentially violent activities happen to be people who were using their First Amendment rights to oppose certain policies of the Biden Administration.”

She added, “Some of the examples that are focused on there have to do with those who oppose the COVID vaccine mandates, those who oppose the mask mandates, parents who were concerned that their children going to school may be forcibly vaccinated with the COVID vaccine without the consent or awareness of parents.”

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.