Odette Yousef
Odette Yousef is a National Security correspondent focusing on extremism.
In her reporting, Yousef aims to explore how extremist ideas break into the mainstream, how individuals are radicalized and efforts to counter that.
Before joining NPR in August of 2021, Yousef spent twelve years reporting for member station WBEZ in Chicago, where she was most recently part of the Race, Class and Identity team. While there, she was reporter and host for Season 3 of WBEZ's investigative podcast, Motive. The podcast, which won a 2021 national Edward R. Murrow award, explores the emergence and spread of the neo-Nazi skinhead movement in the U.S. and its connections to the far right extremism of today. Yousef was also part of a team that won a 2016 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Continuing Coverage, and she received a 2018 Studs Terkel Community Media Award. Prior to joining WBEZ, Yousef reported at WABE in Atlanta.
Born and raised in the Boston area, Yousef received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and East Asian studies from Harvard University. She is based in Chicago. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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The report's claim comes with caveats. Its critics say it does more to reveal issues around collecting and analyzing domestic terrorism data than it does to clarify the current state of the problem. -
Current law provides for the designation of some groups as "foreign terrorist organizations," but no similar process exists for domestic groups. -
The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has unleashed a frenzy of recrimination — and finger-pointing. But the suspect's politics may be less clear than some say. -
Before his apprehension, speculation about the identity and motivations of Charlie Kirk's killer filled the void. A increasingly familiar pattern of political violence is taking shape in America. -
The FBI is calling the attack at a Minnesota Catholic church an act of domestic terrorism driven by "hate-filled ideology." Extremism analysts say the picture may be more complex. -
When Dana's son was hospitalized last year, it led her to a path of discovery about predatory online networks that groom children into harming themselves and others. Their reach is global and growing. -
The suspect in the killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband texted, "Dad went to war last night,' evoking the language of the far right, Christian anti-abortion movement. -
If the suspect in the recent D.C. case planned to kill people because of their Jewish faith, this would represent a major anomaly in lethal, antisemitic violence. -
Most Americans balk at the idea of charging women who get abortions with homicide, but post-Roe, militant anti-abortion activists are finding state lawmakers are increasingly open to it. -
Some researchers say these recent attacks are examples of "nonideological" terrorism — the result of several antisocial, decentralized, online networks coming together.
