# Countering Violent Extremism **Entity class:** Prevention policy domain **Domain:** Counterterrorism / community prevention / public safety **Aliases:** CVE **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Countering violent extremism (CVE)** refers to non-kinetic efforts to reduce the conditions, recruitment pathways, narratives, and social processes that can lead people to support or commit ideologically motivated violence. Programs may include community partnerships, early intervention, trusted messengers, off-ramps, resilience, rehabilitation, digital literacy, and evaluation. CVE is not a synonym for general counterterrorism, intelligence collection, or the policing of radical belief. Its legitimacy depends on a defined nexus to violence, consistent thresholds across ideologies, evidence of effectiveness, community trust, transparency, and safeguards against profiling and viewpoint discrimination. ## Cybersecurity and Zero-Day Overlay Online recruitment, propaganda distribution, doxxing, platform compromise, and attacks on critical infrastructure make cybersecurity part of the CVE environment. [[wiki/Zero-Day Exploit|Zero-day exploits]] are not merely incidental when violent actors use cyber access to amplify propaganda, expose targets, finance activity, or produce destructive effects. They remain a distinct technical capability: possession of an exploit does not itself establish extremist intent, and prevention programs should not collapse vulnerability research into terrorism. ## Relationships - **broader mission:** [[wiki/Counterterrorism|Counterterrorism]]. - **UN framework:** [[wiki/Preventing Violent Extremism|Preventing Violent Extremism]]. - **UK implementation:** [[wiki/Prevent Strategy|Prevent Strategy]]. - **exit pathways:** [[wiki/Deradicalization|Deradicalization]] and [[wiki/Disengagement|Disengagement]]. - **information measures:** [[wiki/Inoculation Theory|Inoculation Theory]], [[wiki/Prebunking|Prebunking]], and [[wiki/Cognitive Security|Cognitive Security]]. - **cyber layer:** [[wiki/Cyberterrorism|Cyberterrorism]] and [[wiki/Cybersecurity|Cybersecurity]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [DHS — Strategy for Countering Violent Extremism](https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/16_1028_S1_CVE_strategy.pdf) - [United Nations — Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism](https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/en/plan-of-action-to-prevent-violent-extremism)