Domestic Terrorism in the United States
Thomas A. Salisbury
HSM 305
Survey of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Professor Erick Stone
January 22, 2012
Domestic Terrorism in the United States
Domestic terrorism is a real threat to this country. This type of attack is nothing new to this country but until the threat of international terrorism became prominent, there was not a large focus on domestic terrorism. With a look at history, domestic terrorists are a greater threat to security than international terrorists. Some of these threats are easily preventable and others are more difficult to see coming. The Department of Homeland Security needs to focus on domestic terrorist threats with the same effort as they do for
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Many times the first signs of an impending attack would be noticed by a civilian. This could be a friend, family member, coworker or a store clerk. A bystander may also notice an unattended package or suspicious person in an area. This may be just enough to ward off the attack if the police are notified promptly. A major difficulty facing law enforcement in the prevention of these incidents is working within the justice system of the United States. The police have to follow procedures and rule laid out in the Bill of Rights and subsequent laws. These laws restrict the rights of law enforcement and protect the rights of the citizens. The First Amendment gives the freedom of religion and speech and of the press. A person can go to a mosque or church that may be radical in their teachings. They may voice their radical opinions as long as it is not an outright threat. Even printed materials about their views are legal. According to the Second Amendment, a person can buy arms and ammunition legally. In order for police to obtain a search warrant, probable cause must be present. (Les Benedict, 2006). Just because a person goes to a radical mosque, a search for bomb-making materials cannot be obtained without probable cause that the materials are there. A person cannot be persecuted based on loose suspicions. Therefore, a tip has to be followed up by an investigation to see if the person is doing something illegally. Only if reliable
Domestic terrorist groups are violent extremists that want to attack the U.S. from the inside. Their intent is to frighten, pressure, and/or influence national principles. Today’s terrorist organizations are using cyberspace to spread their message. Training and online recruitment are also being made available by the Internet and social media websites. Some of the acts are lone-wolf attacks and others are collective attacks. Some examples of domestic terrorist groups that use cyberspace are Army of God, Sovereign Citizens, and Phineas Priesthood. The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on terrorism, stating that more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists (Henderson, 2015). Terrorist
Foreign and domestic policies are not linear, rather the policies are connected in a circle, with each policy reinforcing the values of another. Domestic American terrorism in the prison and detention systems and governmental reforms are influenced by the mobilization and ethnocentrism abroad. The militarization internationally is justified by the domestic handling of the same cultural issues within the United State borders. The United States has strangely used a near Catch-22 to handle dilemmas. The United States has allowed perspective to become reality, whether with oneself or regarding issues abroad, specifically in the Middle East. Terrorism is the use or threat of fear for political or economical gain. An internal characteristic of terrorism is how dependent it is of perspective, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To understand “terrorism,” a focus must be applied to the history, what drove an organization to commit such acts. Respectively, the Middle East has been a hotbed for the key word “terrorism,” especially because of 9/11. Subsequently, Muslims have been stigmatized by the United States as terrorists. The consequences spawned because of 9/11 require a look to the past to understand the present.
Today, domestic terrorism is one of the major threats to the national security of the US. Since 9/11, the US intelligence services and law enforcement agencies viewed international terrorism as the major threat to the public security of the US but the threat of domestic terrorism has been underestimated. At any rate, American law enforcement agencies conduct active campaigns to prevent international terrorism but domestic terrorism become a serious threat to the national security of the US. In such a way, the US needs to develop effective strategies to prevent the rise of domestic terrorism. Otherwise, the US may face a threat of the consistent growth of domestic terrorism as do some European countries, such as the UK, for instance. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should focus their attention on the prevention of domestic terrorism because, even though domestic terrorism is unseen, it may be even more dangerous than international terrorism. Domestic terrorists undermine the country from within, while international terrorists attack the US from the outside and the US can raise barriers to protect Americans from the foreign threat, while domestic terrorism needs effective work of law enforcement agencies nationwide. Therefore, domestic terrorism is a serious threat to the national security of the US and American law enforcement agencies along legislators and the public have to unite their efforts in the struggle against domestic terrorism.
In today’s society domestic terrorism is one of the biggest threats to the United States. Some of these recent terrorist attacks include. Domestic Terrorism is when U.S. citizens carry out terrorist acts against other U.S. residents or groups.Many people think that the biggest threat of terrorism to the U.S. is from a foreign country, when in fact, the bigger threat is closer to home. Domestic terrorism is becoming a bigger threat to the U.S. than international terrorism and we need to find a way to prevent these attacks.
Domestic terrorism has been a major threat in the US since the catastrophic event that took place during attack on 9/11. Following the aftermath of the terrorist attack, the US intelligence services and law enforcement agencies emphasized heavily on combating terrorism on global scale as international terrorism was views as the major threat to the public security of the US which caused the issue of domestic terrorism to be overlooked. We have seen many terrorist attacks since the attack on 9/11 that were planned and executed by individuals and groups born and raised in America. Some of those attacks include the Oklahoma City bombing, the Boston marathon bombing. There has also been increasing number of mass shooting by individuals that were identified as to be radicalized by terrorist groups abroad, the most recent mass shooting that was identified as a terrorist act was in Orlando where more than 50 people were killed (Alveraz, p.1). The cases mentioned above will be discussed in detail later in the essay. Although, American law enforcement agencies are actively conducting intelligence and operational missions to prevent international terrorism, however, the US needs to develop efficient tactics to prevent the rise of domestic terrorism. Otherwise, the United States may face a danger of the unfailing growth of domestic terrorism similar to some of the European countries; such as the United Kingdom. Consequently, law enforcement agencies should concentrate on the preclusion
Ever since 9/11 when both World Trade Center buildings were attacked by an Islamic Group, attacks by Islamic Terrorist on U.S. soil have been less of a threat than Domestic Terrorists. Domestic Terrorism has been shown these passed for years but yet again most of these cases have not been classified as acts of Domestic Terrorism they most likely fall into the category. Now the definition of Domestic Terrorism is basically "the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator 's own country against their fellow citizens". Now personally I don 't know how our government is working with these popular cases like Charlottesville, Las Vegas, and a new that just happened recently actually two but I 'll just say one, the New York attack that
Executive Order 13224 on Terrorist Financing under the guidelines of the United States (U.S) National Emergency Act (Pub. L. 94-412) went into effect on September 24, 2001 by President George W. Bush and remains active, for the reason that President Barak Obama, kept the order in an uninterrupted state of emergency throughout his presidency. Due to the guidelines of the statute, national state of emergencies expires one year after enactment; therefore President Donald Trump will has the option of renewing the order before it expires on September 23, 2017.
Domestic terrorism has played a major part in shaping the societies of the United States. The ideologies of individuals can become radicalized. This can lead to a movement. This movement involves the infliction of fear upon the communities, in attempt to make it a better world. It is critical to examine the events created by one man’s extreme ideologies in effort to better understand.
The sun rises to a deep spring-blue sky on Sunday the Fifth of May 2017; 51,000 people are converging on downtown Spokane for the 39th running of the Bloomsday road race. Thirty miles to the south, near the town of Fairfield, a small cluster of people watch from a distance as two men in protective coveralls and respirators pour fifty gallons of a clear fluid into the payload compartment of a Bell 300C helicopter. The crop duster, which was purchased for cash in Walla Walla, is a descendent of the Korean War era helicopters depicted on the television series MASH. After the liquid is loaded, and the outside of the helicopter is sanitized, the pilot runs
On April 19, 1995 a box truck filled with explosives was parked outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building located in Oklahoma City. Shortly after 9 am the explosives in the truck were detonated resulting in over a third of the federal building collapsing and another 300 buildings received damage. Emergency crews and law enforcement quickly realized this was a deliberate and well planned attack. It was an attack that they would soon discover to be the largest act of domestic terrorism carried out in the United States that killed a total of 168 people, a number that also included 19 children, and injured hundreds more (FBI, n.d.).
An example of domestic homegrown terrorism is the June 17, 2015 Charleston church shooting. The gunman was Dylann Storm Roof an American who killed nine African Americans during a prayer service in hopes of igniting a race war. This occurred at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Shelby, North Carolina. Now an example of an international one is the 2014 Jerusalem tractor attack. This terrorist ramming attack occurred on August 4, 2014 in Jerusalem, Israel, the perpetrator was an Arab man named Muhammad Naïf El-Ja’abis. He drove an excavator type of tractor, injured eight pedestrians, and killed one, which was before ramming into a public bus. Not only did the bus flip, but he also kept hitting it repeatedly. Now a lone
When discussing terrorism, the groups which most frequently come to mind are those which operate either internationally or specifically in foreign countries, such as al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Al Shabab. However, the United States has a number of domestic terror groups some well-organized, some loosely connected that have perpetrated serious attacks over the last few decades. Al-Qaeda's attacks on September 11th, 2001, and the subsequent wars born out of the United States' response to these attacks have meant that domestic terrorism is less widely discussed topic, this does not mean that domestic terrorist groups do not present a serious threat to the United States and its citizens. By examining known terrorist organizations within the United States and their classifications, it will be possible to demonstrate how and why the country has seen a rise in domestic terror over the last three decades, as well as some possible government responses to these groups that could help to prevent individuals from joining in the first place.
Terrorism, a word most people fear, but so often misinterpret. The textbook definition of terrorism is “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”. But how does that compare to domestic terrorism? Domestic terrorism or “homegrown terrorism” can be defined as “the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator’s own country against their fellow citizens”. Throughout the years, America as a nation has experienced quite a few occurrences of both types. An early example of homegrown terrorism would be the Haymarket Affair which occurred May 4, 1886 where in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, labor protesters detonated a bomb during a rally. Chicago police then responded by firing
International Terrorism has most of the attention when on the topic of terrorism but we should be paying more attention to Domestic Terrorism since they are here locally based and they already have access to the country. What most people don’t realise is that inside our own country is that domestic terrorism may pose a more dangerous and imminent threat compared to international terrorism. Even if we don’t pay attention to the serious danger domestic terrorism presents or identify it as an act of terrorism, we must be aware that not only the country but our lives are at stake. Both in the past and present terrorism has been a major issue but it seems that since it is such a common occurrence in today’s news we have become indifferent to the attacks..“Scott Stewart was a former agent for the US State Department and is
National terrorism has been the focus of attention since September 11. But now domestic terrorism is becoming increasingly common among hate groups across the nation. Domestic terrorism can be defined as visible crime, or “street crime.” These acts would consist of violent crimes, (acts against people in which injury or death results) property crimes (acts that threaten property held by individuals or the state) and public order crimes. (acts that threaten the general well-being of society and challenger accepted moral principles) It can also however be described as political crime, (criminal acts by or against the government for ideological purposes) which would include the 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.