In a first-of-its-kind budget expenditure, the Department of Homeland Security allocated $77 million in grants for state and local governments to specifically combat threat from domestic extremist groups, NBC News reports.

The money is part of a large $1.8 billion budget allocation to help state and local governments to protect against terrorism and other disasters.  It’s the first time DHS has made a specific grant to lower levels of government to combat violence from domestic terror groups.

“While we continue to lawfully protect against threats posed by foreign terrorist organizations, we also must ensure adequate focus and funding is provided to combat domestic terrorism, some of which is motivated by false narratives and extremist rhetoric spread through social media and other online platforms,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

Federal law enforcement officials have long recognized the threat of domestic terrorists to national security.  With the exception of  the 9/11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history have been done by domestic groups, primarily white nationalist and anti-government groups.

Of 197 planned terrorist attack in the US between 2008 and 2016, 115 were done by right-wing extremists, 19 by left-wing extremists and 63 by Islamist-inspired terrorists.

Since 2002, the federal government has provided $54 billion in grants, known as “Preparedness Grants,” to state and local governments for prevention or mitigation of terrorist attacks.  This is the first time the federal government has specifically designated money to be used against domestic terror threats.

According to the grants, the money cannot be used to purchase militarized equipment such as “rocket launchers, bayonets and weaponized aircraft;” a criticism of earlier spending is that it ended up militarizing local police departments, which used the equipment improperly.