Since last fall, five major incidents have brought the issue
of "homegrown terrorism" to the fore, as Washington policy experts try to find
new ways to combat what seems to be a growing trend.
The U.S. government needs to refocus its efforts on
extremists born and raised in American communities, through tougher
confrontation of "Internet radicalization," doing more to combat the notion
that America is at war with Islam, and improving cooperation with local law
enforcement, according to a report
being released today by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Facing comparatively few restrictions, U.S. legal residents
and citizens can travel abroad, connect with terrorist groups to gain
explosives or weapons training, and return here to plan and execute attacks,"
the report warns.
Rick "Ozzie" Nelson,
one of the principal authors of the report, told The Cable that his group tried to find a common thread in the
recent spate of high-profile domestic terrorism cases, but none was apparent.
The perpetrators had different backgrounds, family identities, levels of
wealth, and various motivations. The suicide attack on an IRS building showed
that not even religion can be seen as a common theme in domestic extremism.
Therefore, the U.S. government needs to build resilience and
greatly expand its ability to detect domestic terrorist threats, which are increasingly
organized online.
"The U.S. government needs to be much more aggressive and
have a much more comprehensive plan to address these threats on the Internet,"
said Nelson. "We have to start to treat this virtual environment as a
battlespace."
To the extent some domestic extremists are motivated by the
perception that the United States is at war with Islam, that's the government's
fault too and needs to be corrected, he said. "The U.S. needs to do a better
job of counteracting this narrative."
Here are the five domestic terrorism cases examined by CSIS,
all from 2009:
Sept. 19: Najibullah
Zazi, an Afghan citizen and U.S. legal resident, was arrested on charges of
conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Zazi later admitted to traveling
to Pakistan to receive explosives and weapons training and to planning an
attack in the United States.
Oct. 27: Federal authorities charged U.S. citizen David Coleman Headley with planning to
attack a Danish newspaper. In December, revelations surfaced that Headley may
have conspired with operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group,
in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Nov. 5: U.S. Army Maj. Nidal
Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and wounded 30 at Fort Hood Army Base outside
Killeen, Texas. Early reports revealed that Hasan had previously communicated
with a radical Yemeni cleric connected to al Qaeda.
Nov. 23: Federal officials unsealed indictments against
eight people charged in connection with the alleged recruitment of
approximately two dozen Somali Americans to fight with an insurgent group in
Somalia.
Dec. 9: Five young Northern Virginia men were arrested in
Sargodha, Pakistan. U.S. and Pakistani authorities claim that the group
traveled there to fight alongside Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
"This rash of arrests has important implications for
policymakers and officials in charge of counterterrorism and homeland security
because U.S. legal residents and citizens are lucrative assets for global
terrorist organizations," said the report.
Read More
(0)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE