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Chapter12.docxMain content
Chapter Introduction
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
· Summarize the debate over the meaning of domestic terrorism.
· Explain the legal differences between extremism and domestic terrorism.
· Categorize the forms of domestic terrorism.
· Describe the relationship between racial violence and terrorism.
· Outline the evolution and activities of the Ku Klux Klan.
· Describe current status of right-wing domestic terrorism.
· Explain fluctuations in left-wing criminal extremism.
· Define single-issue terrorism.
· List single issues that motivate domestic terrorism.
· Define the nebulous connection between domestic and international terrorism.
· Describe threats from homegrown radicalization.
American Terrorists, the KKK
Ullstein bild/Getty Images
In June 2015, a young man sat with a group of Christians conducting a Bible study at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. He had not come to study anything sacred; his purpose was destruction. After talking to people for about an hour, he drew a pistol and began firing. When he finished, nine people were dead. The rationale behind his crime was simple. He was white, and his victims were black. He hoped to trigger a racial war.
Quite the opposite happened, and multiple races joined together to mourn the loss. Yet, standard debates appeared. Many people claimed it was time to remove the Confederate flag from public buildings and lands. Advocates for various forms of gun control asked for actions to prevent mass shootings. The gun lobby made familiar arguments defending gun ownership. Only a few people joined another debate. As law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and the public discussed the event, they spoke of mass murder. People seldom used the word terrorism to describe the crime.
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12-1The Meaning of Domestic Terrorism
A few years ago, I was preparing to give a briefing on domestic terrorism in the federal building in San Francisco. An FBI special agent and I were casually chatting about the briefing before it began, and he asked about the topic. When I said it covered radicalization and domestic terrorism, he shook his head no. You can’t do that, he said. Under the current presidential administration, he continued to explain, I would no longer be permitted to use the terms domestic terrorism and radicalization. The new phrase was violent criminal extremism. The instructions were from Washington.
I would have thought this strange, but I understand that the pejorative meaning of the term terrorism is politically charged. The topic is approached within an ideological framework. The previous administration had encouraged the use of the phrase war on terror. The administration in power at the time of my example dropped that phrase within days of assuming power, and moonlighting contractors like me were ordered not to make references to war in briefings or written material.
Crime is normative in the United States. If individuals or groups of people intimidate or use violence to change behavior, it is classified as criminal behavior. If suspects are from Los Banditos or Hell’s Angels, it is called motorcycle gang violence. Groups of violent young people are also involved in gang activities. Drug traffickers engage in drug violence, and criminal conspiracy involves organized crime. Even when people are killed under the banner of racial superiority, it is called racial violence. In reality, many of these activities are so closely related to terrorism that it is difficult to distinguish between the two.
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12-1aGrowing Clarity
The United States has a long history of political violence, but until recently, few scholars characterized it as “terrorism.” Three exceptions were H. H. A. Cooper (1976), J. Bowyer Bell (Bell and Gurr, 1979), and Ted Robert Gurr (1988a), all of whom initiated work in this arena before it was popular to speak of domestic terrorism. Cooper and colleagues produced a presidential report on the political context of domestic terrorism. Bell and Gurr looked at the long history of domestic political violence in the United States, and Gurr later developed a typology of domestic terrorism. It included vigilante terrorism from the extremist right, insurgent terrorism of various revolutionaries, and transnational terrorism from foreigners fighting on American soil.
Christopher Hewitt’s (2002) analysis of domestic terrorism helps illustrate why American law enforcement has grown increasingly aware of the problem. Terrorism has occurred in recent American history, but it has been approached as typical criminal behavior. Community policing helps solve the problem, Hewitt says, because it is the most effective method of preventing terrorism. In other words, the nature of policing provides a de facto definition.
· (1)
an angry group of people or sometimes even a single enraged individual
· (2)
with the ability to travel and
· (3)
with access to technology that can cause massive casualties.
All three ingredients are available to people who wish to take criminal action based on various political positions. Stated simply, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies have had quite a bit of experience with such criminal activity, and they are getting better at handling it.
In the past three decades, law enforcement agencies have participated in antiterrorist training, especially after the massive Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Many law enforcement executives came to see that terrorism was no longer an exotic problem that happened only overseas; rather, it was a real criminal problem in the United States. Large urban agencies established units to deal with terrorism, and they frequently operated in conjunction with the federal government. The reaction to Oklahoma City expanded such units, though Chicago; New York; Washington, D.C.; Miami; and Los Angeles had experienced various forms of terrorism for years. Oklahoma City was different—if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere. American law enforcement began to respond. Of course, the process was accelerated in the wake of 9/11.
Understanding is important because terrorism investigation and prevention differs from many other types of patrol and investigative work. Terrorism requires extensive criminal intelligence and deep networks of information. If community policing has a positive impact on neighborhoods, it is essential in antiterrorist operations. Law enforcement cannot operate in many subcultures unless members of those subcultures experience police officers solving problems and meeting community needs. Finally, many investigative methods resemble organized crime and conspiracy investigations. They take time to develop, require patience, and rely on criminal intelligence.
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12-1bExtremism Versus Terrorism
Another issue surrounds domestic terrorism. The Constitution allows people to hold extremist beliefs, no matter how radical they may be. It also allows people to voice those beliefs most of the time, as long as they are not taking engaging in crime or supporting a terrorist group. Terrorism involves criminal activity, which is why American law enforcement is concerned with the subject. People are free to be extremists, but they are not allowed to engage in criminal activity.
Still, the line between constitutional rights and behavior is sometimes very thin. Freedom of speech serves as an example. The Supreme Court has said that people connected with a terrorist organization are not exercising their right to free speech if they write or speak in support of the group. This is a crime. Subsequent court opinion stated that a person not connected with the terrorist group has a right to speak in favor of its activities even when such activity assists the group (Pochon, 2012).
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12-1cCategorizing Domestic Terrorism
There is a great deal of tension between theoretical criminologists and practical analysts who look for immediate solutions to a specific problem. Classical, or theoretical, criminologists look for explanations of social phenomena, and they search for theories to explain crime or behavior in general. This crucial work produces theories that guide policies. From a tactical (or practical) perspective, however, immediate responses to crime are not based on general explanations. It is more important to understand the nature of the immediate problem and the possible practical solutions. The same is true for terrorism: An approach appropriate for theoretical criminology does not always lead to a response that solves an immediate problem. U.S. police officers routinely handle terrorism, even though they call it by a variety of names. It would be helpful if law enforcement officers had a practical framework that explained their counterterrorist role (see Figure 12.1).
Figure 12.1
Criminal Extremism
A Typology of Criminal Extremism
· Antigovernment Crimes (both right and left)
· Race- and Ethnicity-Motivated Crimes
· Homegrown Radicalization
· Single-Issue Crimes
Tactically, police and security forces should keep two issues in mind. First, beat police officers are usually the first responders to incidents of domestic terrorism. Second, the investigation techniques used in large sensational terrorist incidents are the same techniques a local agency would use to investigate a stink bomb placed in the high school football team’s locker room. From a practical perspective, counterterrorism depends on the fundamentals. Good investigative skills such as collecting and preserving evidence and good interviewing techniques are important; it is also important for law enforcement officers to understand the context of the crimes they are investigating. Nevertheless, terrorism investigations differ from those related to routine crime scenes because terrorists behave differently. This calls for increased intelligence, long-term surveillance, and informant development. Therefore, it is important for officers to recognize terrorism when they encounter it.
The FBI categorizes criminal activities on the basis of origin. This categorization is based on gathering and sharing information, but information sharing still remains difficult in police work. According to publicly released information (FBI, 2004), the FBI’s classification system has two basic categories: domestic terrorism (DT) and international terrorism (IT). DT involves violent political extremism, single-issue terrorism, and lone wolf activities. IT is related to threats that originate outside the United States. In 2002, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) arrested six suspects near Buffalo, New York, for supporting jihadists. The JTTF called this DT because the activities originated in the United States. The attacks of September 11 are called IT because they originated outside U.S. borders (see FBI, n.d.).
Brent Smith (1994; Smith and Roberts, 2005) places terrorist groups into three broad categories:
· (1)
right-wing extremists,
· (2)
left-wing and single-issue terrorists, and
· (3)
international terrorists.
This approach can be used to develop a general typology to refer to when approaching domestic terrorism, keeping in mind the FBI’s separation between IT and DT. Some overlap cannot be avoided, but Smith’s typology can be expanded to focus on the types of criminal activity that fall under the rubric of DT.
Categorization is helpful because different tactics are used to approach different types of terrorism. Procedures that are effective in one type of investigation may not work as well in others. Knowledge bases, especially knowledge of subcultures, are crucial in many counterterrorism operations. For example, officials working against violent antigovernment groups in southern Missouri probably have little need to understand Sikh religious and cultural traditions. On the other hand, the officers who were involved in responding to the 2012 mass shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, would have found such an understanding helpful.
The chapter suggests categories, but virtually any typology will do as long as it recognizes effective tactics for differing types of domestic terrorism. Officers do not respond to riots the same way they respond to barricaded gunmen. Each situation requires appropriate tactics. Approaches to domestic terrorism are similar. The categories suggested in this chapter are racism, antigovernment extremism and other right-wing violence, single issues, and homegrown Jihadist Salafism. The choice of these categories was strongly influenced by the work of Brent Smith and Kelley Damphouse.
· Why does the term domestic terrorism create confusion?
· What is the difference between extremism and terrorism?
· How does Brent Smith categorize domestic terrorism?
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12-2Racism and Terrorism
The tragedy recounted at the beginning of this chapter was one more horrible instance of a long line of racial violence in the United States. Racism has been at the heart of domestic terrorism for more than a century. Groups like al Qaeda and ISIS present a threat, but white supremacist groups and the extremist right have been far more active. For example, Joshua Freilich, Steven Chermak, and David Caspi (2009) present case studies of four white supremacist movements that cite a survey of 37 state police agencies. They found that the overwhelming majority of state troopers were more concerned with right-wing extremists and other racists than jihadists. The troopers had had many encounters with right-wingers and few with al Qaeda–style cells. In addition, from 1990 to 2008, right-wing extremists accounted for 4,300 crimes in the United States, including 275 homicides. Racism and white supremacy have fueled American terrorism.
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12-2aViolent White Supremacy Movements
In a National Public Radio (2015) interview, Peter Bergen stated that within the United States, right-wing white supremacists and antigovernment groups have killed more people than jihadists have. Freilich, Chermak, and Caspi (2009) add to the discussion with the information that white supremacist groups routinely embrace the ideology of neo-Nazis and white separatists. Almost all groups of this ilk are vehemently anti-Semitic. Racist groups have developed a youth subculture based on hate rock. One such group, Public Enemy Number 1 (PEN1), is healthy and growing.
PEN1 grew from the punk rock scene in southern California in the 1980s. It became the largest skinhead group in the nation. Freilich and colleagues said that it had 400 members in 2009 and that it was growing. Many law enforcement officials estimate greater numbers today (Morlin, 2015). As PEN1 members were arrested and sentenced to prison for a variety of crimes, they formed an alliance with the Aryan Brotherhood, the nation’s largest racist prison gang.
Freilich and colleagues found commonalities among long-lasting movements such as PEN1. Successful groups tend to have a strong core of centralized leadership. They raise money through crime and other activities, and they take advantage of political opportunities. These groups exhibit a sense of social stability, and they are cohesive. White supremacist groups almost always voice The Order member David Lane’s Fourteen Words : “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” Lane died in prison in 2007.
Many white supremacists are either motivated by religion or use it to manipulate followers. The major religious or pseudo-religious movements are Christian Identity, Nordic Christianity, the Creativity Movement, and some forms of Free-Wheeling Fundamentalism . Michael Barkun (1997a) says that a new religion, Christian Identity, grew from the extremist perspective. Starting with a concept called Anglo-Israelism , or British Israelism, American right-wing extremists saw white Americans as the representatives of the lost tribes of Israel.
Christian Identity is a strange blend of Jewish and Christian biblical passages and is based on the premise that whites are created in the image of a white male deity (J. White, 1997, 2001). It is a religion based on racial supremacy, and its theology is based on a story of conflict and hate. According to this theology, Jews have gained control of the United States by conspiring to create the Federal Reserve System. The struggle between non-Jewish whites and Jews will continue until whites ultimately achieve victory with God’s help. At that point, the purpose of creation will be fulfilled. Such theological perversions are necessary when a religion of love is converted into a doctrine of hate.
Barkun (1997a) points out that Christian Identity helped provide the rationale for violence among extremists. Before the Christian Identity movement, American extremism was characterized by ethnocentrism and localized violence. Christian Identity gave a new twist to the extremist movement: It was used to demonize Jews. Christian Identity provided a theological base for stating that white people originated with God, and Jews came from the devil. Such eschatological presumptions are deadly (see Stanton, 1991, p. 36).
Christianity has undergone some strange transformations within the violent circles of right-wing extremism, sometimes known as the hate movement (J. White, 1997, 2001). For example, some extremists have adopted Norse mythology. Following Erich Ludendorff, a member of the German High Command in World War I, extremists began preaching Nordic Christianity (also called neopaganism ) in northern Germany in the early 1920s. This belief system migrated to the United States and took root in Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana, and Idaho in the 1990s. Using ancient Norse rites, adherents claimed to worship the triune Christian deity, but they added Odin (Wotan) and Thor. Odin, the supreme Norse god, called Nordic warriors to racial purification from Valhalla, the Viking heaven. Thor, the god of thunder, sounded the call with a hammer that shook the heavens.
In another religious derivation, Creativity rejects Judaism and Christianity altogether (see Creativity Movement, n.d.). Formerly called the World Church of the Creator, the movement changed its name to the Creativity Movement after being challenged by a Christian church with a similar name. Founded by Ben Klassen in 1973, Creatorists claim that the creator left humanity on its own, and each race must fend for itself. Embracing urban skinheads, Creatorists call for a racial holy war (RAHOWA). They produce racially oriented comic books designed to appeal to alienated white youth. They also publish The White Man’s Bible, which emphasizes racial purity. Creatorists argue that the concept of an intervening loving God is nothing more than an idle lie. The deistic creator has left white people on their own, and they are expected to fight for their survival. Essentially, Creativity is a deistic religion with more violent tendencies than Christian Identity.
The majority of right-wing extremists retreated to more conservative churches and relied on individual interpretations of scripture to justify antigovernment actions. This group can loosely be described as freewheeling fundamentalists. Unlike those involved with hate religions, freewheeling fundamentalists do not believe that the American government is part of a conspiracy involving the ultimate forces of evil. They do believe, however, that the federal government and local governments are their enemies and that God will assist them as they confront any form of governmental power. Although some freewheeling fundamentalists embrace racism, most followers are neither racist nor violent (see O’Conner, 2004).
12-2bAmerican’s Most Successful Terrorist Group
Max Boot’s (2013, pp. 218–225) outstanding work on irregular warfare, Invisible Armies, includes a chapter on the Ku Klux Klan. Boots notes that the Klan is one of America’s most successful terrorist groups. Emerging in the aftermath of the Civil War, it effectively resisted and ended Reconstruction. It strongly influenced political behavior and still holds sway in some areas of the country today.
Former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and former Confederate soldiers created the KKK in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865 (Berlet and Lyons, 2000, pp. 58–62). Forrest had intended to create an antifederal organization that would preserve Southern culture and traditions. When the newly formed KKK began terrorizing freed slaves, Forrest became disillusioned with the movement and tried to disband the organization. It was too late, however, and the KKK began a campaign of hate. By the early twentieth century, the organization had nearly died, but it was revived in the extremist atmosphere after World War I (1914–1918).
The KKK has operated in three distinct phases over its history (Berlet and Lyons, 2000, pp. 58, 85–103, 265–286). Shortly after the Civil War, hooded Knight Riders , as they were called, terrorized African Americans to frighten them into political and social submission. This aspect of the Klan faded by the end of the century. The second phase of the Klan came in the 1920s as it sought political legitimacy following World War I. During this period, the KKK became popular, political, and respectable. It collapsed, however, in the wake of a criminal scandal. The modern KKK grew after World War II (1939–1945), evolving into its present-day state as a fragmented and decentralized group that is dominated by hate-filled rhetoric.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (2015b) estimates that today the Klan has between 5,000 and 8,000 members. The organization is fragmented, and its members embrace a variety of extremist ideologies. Some local groups try to mask racism with the rhetoric of white civil rights. Dozens of differing groups employ the name Klan, and many times they fight with one another.
Much of the Klan’s power is based on its ability to inspire racist ideology. Many spinoff groups began forming in the late twentieth century, and they still exist. These include neo-Nazis, skinheads, white nationalist groups, anti-Semitic organizations, anti-LBGT groups, and some paramilitary organizations. Racist groups, such as PEN1, are centered on hate rock. Other movements, like the White Aryan Resistance, call for lone wolf attacks, and white supremacy gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood flourish in prisons. The KKK is fragmented and full of rhetoric, yet its power comes from its rhetoric as well as underlying racism in the United States.
Self-Check
· How is racism related to domestic terrorism?
· What religious influences affect racially inspired violence?
· What is the primary threat from the Ku Klux Klan?
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12-3Violent Right-Wing Extremism
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12-3aAntigovernment Extremism
On the morning of April 19, 1995, special news reports on television and radio indicated that some type of explosion had occurred in Oklahoma City in or near the federal building. These reports were quickly amended, and reports of the size and extent of damage increased moment by moment. By noon, it was apparent that the United States had suffered a devastating terrorist attack. As scenes of the injured and dead, including children, and smoldering wreckage dominated the nation’s television screens, attention turned toward the Middle East. Conventional wisdom placed blame for the incident on a yet to be identified militant Islamic sect. Many Arab Americans were harassed, and some were openly attacked. The country was shocked when a young white man with a crew cut was arrested for the bombing. It was hard to believe that the United States had produced terrorists in its own heartland.
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12-3bSovereign Citizens
The sovereign citizen movement is not new, and it is not limited to any racial group or political orientation. The movement has traditionally been linked to white supremacists. It was also related to the militia movement of the 1980s, though issues have changed since then. African American groups such as the Moorish Nation can be classified as part of the sovereign citizen movement, as can some Hispanic groups. One Native American group has claimed autonomy from the United States. The Great Recession of 2008 caused a number of people to begin declaring themselves sovereign citizens. Crimes like mortgage fraud and other swindles began to grow. Violent encounters with law enforcement officers also increased (BJA/SLATT, 2010).
Although there they have no centralized structure or organization, sovereign citizens tend to hold some common beliefs. First, they believe that they can declare themselves free of American citizenship as well as U.S. laws and taxes. This transformation can develop in a variety of ways. For example, some people believe that using an odd signature declares that they are free citizens. Others write letters to government officials declaring that they are no longer citizens of the United States. One popular belief is that the United States did not have citizens after the American Revolution, but constitutional amendments added after the Civil War tricked free citizens into accepting American citizenship. If you are aware of that fact, they say, you can simply opt out of the government. Still another group believes there is a missing Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution that allows them to declare themselves free of citizenship.
The Anti-Defamation League (2010) says that sovereign citizens also tend to believe that there are two governments in the United States. One is legitimate and devoid of regulation except for English common law. The illegitimate government includes all established federal and state governments. Like most right-wing groups, sovereign citizens believe taxes, traffic fines, and other government actions result from a conspiracy of evil.
Sovereign citizens have had violent confrontations with police officers and other government officials, but their most common activity is paper terrorism . They file false liens, tying up the property of people who have irritated them. They also write bogus checks or sight drafts against nonexistent accounts. Some sovereigns, like the two who murdered West Memphis police officers, defraud people by conducting seminars to tell participants how they can fill out special forms and renounce their American citizenship. They charge hefty attendance fees. Others carry so-called constitutional driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations (ADL, 2010; BJA, 2010).
This is not to suggest that sovereign citizens are a docile group. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (2015), more than 30 police officers have been killed in confrontations with sovereign citizens. In addition, they have staged well-publicized armed standoffs with law enforcement officers. They have also made violent threats against government officials.
Sovereign citizens represent one other aspect of antigovernment criminal extremism. They tend to merge into other forms of extremism. For example, some sovereigns belong to racist organizations. Others follow a particular religion. Some may be survivalists, while others live in urban environments. There are sovereign citizen compounds where armed militias patrol in fear of government invasion, and there are seemingly normal citizens who hold jobs and refuse to pay their taxes. There is no single sovereign citizen ideology.
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12-3cContemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics
Modern right-wing extremism came to fruition around 1984 and has remained active since that time. According to this author’s research (J. White, 1997, 2000, 2002), several issues hold the movement together. First, the right wing tends to follow one of the forms of extremist religion. The name of God is universally invoked, even by leaders who disavow theism (a belief in God). Second, the movement is dominated by a belief in international conspiracy and other conspiracy theories. Followers feel that sinister forces are conspiring to take away their economic status and swindle them out of the American dream. The primary conspiratorial force was Communism, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, it became the United Nations. The extremist right believes that a conspiracy of Jewish bankers is working with the United Nations to create a New World Order in which Jews will control the international monetary system. Finally, right-wing extremists continue to embrace patriotism and guns. They want to arm themselves for a holy war (see Barkun, 1997b; Berlet and Lyons, 2000, pp. 345–352).
In his popular historical work Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War, Robert K. Massie (1991) points to the hysteria in Great Britain and Germany during the naval race before World War I. Both the British and the Germans demonized one another, and their national rivalries often gave way to irrational fears. In one of the more notable British reactions, the fear of German naval power gave rise to a particular genre of popular literature. These stories had a similar theme. Secret German agents would land in the United Kingdom and destroy the British Empire through some type of subversive plot. Whether they were poisoning the water supply, destroying the schools, or infiltrating the economic system, the fictional Germans never attacked directly. They were mysterious, secretive, and everywhere. The actions of right-wing extremists fit Massie’s description of the hysterical fears in Britain. Extremists believe that alien forces are conspiring to destroy the United States.
Increasing numbers of smaller groups led to more individual violence. Additionally, these groups began to form links with single-issue groups, including anarchists and left-wingers. The trend is currently unclear. The groups may be fading as the left wing did in the 1980s, or they may be repositioning themselves. Militias tended to turn to patriotism and more normative behavior after September 11. Other groups did not.
The wild card is the vacuum in leadership. Richard Butler, the leader of the defunct Aryan Nations, died in September 2004. No one had been able to unite the extremist right the way Butler did. Leaders jockeyed for power, but no single leader with Butler’s charisma and organizational skills has moved to the forefront. Fragmented paramilitary organizations, however, have grown autonomously.
By 2010, individuals and small violent groups began taking action without a centralized structure. In several areas, two or three people began to operate without contacting other groups or meeting at large convocations. They planned bombings and chemical attacks. In addition, they spoke of a spontaneous revolution. These unrelated groups felt that any act of violence would help create the mayhem necessary to topple the government. The organizational style was new, but the ideology that drove the groups had been transplanted from the hills of West Virginia. It was contained in the philosophy of William Pierce.
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12-3dThe Turner Diaries and Hunter: Blueprints for Revolution
William Pierce was a white supremacist with headquarters in rural West Virginia. He led an organization called the National Alliance and purchased Resistance Records, a recording label for skinhead hate music. Pierce held a doctoral degree and worked as a college professor. Until his death in 2003, he drew the attention of watchdog groups, scholars, and law enforcement officers. Pierce wrote two novels that summarized his thought and provided a blueprint for revolution.
Pierce’s most noted novel, The Turner Diaries, was written under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald (1985); it is a fictionalized account of an international white revolution. The work begins as a scholarly flashback from “New Baltimore” in the “year 100,” and it purports to introduce the diary that the protagonist, Earl Turner, kept during the “Great Revolution,” a mythical race war set in the 1990s.
For the most part, The Turner Diaries is a diatribe against minorities and Jews. It is well written and easy to read. The danger of the work is that from a technical standpoint, it is a how-to manual for low-level terrorism. Using a narrative—or storytelling—format, Pierce describes the proper methods for making bombs, constructing mortars, attacking targets, and launching other acts of terrorism. Most readers of The Turner Diaries will come away with an elementary idea of how to become a terrorist.
The second potential danger of The Turner Diaries is more subtle. The book could serve as a psychological inspiration for violence; that is, it could inspire copycat crimes. The frequent diatribes in the book and the philosophy behind it justify murder and mayhem. Pierce presents the destruction of nonwhite races, minorities, and Jews as the only logical solution to social problems. Although Pierce himself was not religious, he used a general cosmic theology, presented in a “holy” work called The Book, to place Earl Turner on the side of an unknown deity.
Some extremists who have read The Turner Diaries have taken action. Robert Matthews , for example, founded a terrorist group called the Brüder Schweigen (the Silent Brotherhood), or The Order, based on Turner’s fictional terrorist group. When arrested, the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was carrying a worn copy of The Turner Diaries.
Written in 1989, Hunter is another novel by Pierce under his pseudonym, Andrew MacDonald. Although not as popular as The Turner Diaries, Pierce’s later work tells the story of a lone wolf named Hunter who decides to launch a one-person revolution. He stalks the streets to kill African Americans, interracial couples, and Jews. The book is dedicated to a real-life killer, and like The Turner Diaries, it could inspire copycat crimes. In 1999, two right-wing extremists went on killing sprees in Chicago and Los Angeles in a style reminiscent of the violence in Hunter.
Extremist literature is full of hate, instructions, and suggestions. Pierce introduced nothing new in the literature of intolerance. However, he popularized terrorism in two well-written novels. Unfortunately, they also served as a blueprint for violence.
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12-3eResurgent Violent Right-Wing Extremism
The election of President Barack Obama impacted right-wing and antigovernment extremism, although the government has been reluctant to release evidence of increased activity (see Marshal, 2009). According to a report that was initially restricted but is now available on the Internet, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS; 2009) warned that while no specific right-wing terrorist threat had emerged, several issues drew potential recruits to violent extremist organizations. The report notes that extremists capitalized on the 2008 national election and fears of gun control. The economic downturn and new political climate also made violent extremist groups more attractive. The report says that right-wing extremists exploited these issues in the 1990s and that they were in a position to do so again in 2008. Frustration over illegal immigration and threats from emerging foreign powers increased their potential appeal. The report also says that right-wing extremists would be anxious to recruit military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The report met a storm of controversy, and the Department of Homeland Security recalled it. However, in the summer of 2009, a neo-Nazi entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and began to shoot visitors there. He killed a security guard before he was subdued. In 2010, nine members of a paramilitary group were taken into custody in Michigan for allegedly plotting attacks. In another 2010 incident, a person angered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) committed suicide by flying an airplane into a government facility in Austin, Texas. He left a 36-paragraph suicide note that expressed his rage at the federal government. Later the same the year, antigovernment extremists killed two Arkansas law enforcement officers. Between 1995 and 2015, nearly three dozen police officers were killed by antigovernment extremists. The 2009 report warned of this type of violence.
The issue remains controversial. The FBI released a threat assessment of violent DT in 2014. It reiterated many of the points raised in the 2009 DHS warning, but there were and are voices of descent. Professor Philip Jenkins (2009) agrees that actual right-wing threats should be investigated, but he believes that the government will overreact. Congressional representative Peter King from New York, who is chair of the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, takes the argument a step further. When a survey of American police agencies revealed that law enforcement officials were more concerned with right-wing extremism than jihadists, King dismissed the idea on ABC television. Jihadists, King said, constitute the greatest threat (Main, 2015).
· What role do conspiracy theories play in right-wing extremist ideology?
· How do William Pierce’s writings influence domestic terrorism?
· What types of threats arise from right-wing criminal extremism?
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12-4Shifting from Left-Wing Violence to Single Issues
Left-wing terrorist groups dominated terrorism in the United States from about 1967 to 1985. Fueled by dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War, violent radicals broke away from student protest movements. Soon, various groups emerged as they separated from student social protest movements to join ranks with nationalist terrorists. Their favorite tactic was bombing, but unlike right-wing groups, they tried to avoid causing casualties. Various groups made headlines, but their influence faded over time. By the late 1980s, several leftist groups had formed coalitions such as the Armed Resistance Unit, but they were forced to do so out of weakness rather than strength (Wolf, 1981, pp. 40–43).
Single issues dominate left-wing terrorism today, but not all single issues involve left-wing extremism. While the left dominates violence in the name of animal rights, ecological damage, and genetic engineering, antiabortion violence is usually a product of the right. Regardless, the broad spectrum of issues that dominated left-wing terrorism in the last part of the twentieth century has remained dormant in the early decades of the twenty-first.
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12-4aThe Demise of the Left
Several factors contributed to the demise of left-wing terrorism in the United States. One major problem was that intellectual elites controlled the movement (Serafino, 2002). During the time of student activism, leftist elites developed followings and sympathy across a broad spectrum of collegiate and highly educated people. Kevin J. Riley and Bruce Hoffman (1995) note that this gave the left a broad constituency. Nevertheless, the movement lost its base when student activism began to disappear from American academic life. As the mood of the country shifted toward more conservative patterns of behavior, left-wing terrorists enjoyed little sympathetic ideological support.
Riley and Hoffman surveyed several U.S. law enforcement agencies in the mid-1990s to determine their concern with DT. Police departments were worried about terrorism, but left-wing groups were not at the top of their agenda. Only 25 percent of the urban agencies surveyed reported any left-wing activity; rather, they reported much more activity from other types of groups. Riley and Hoffman say that the left-wing groups engaged in symbolic violence. Some identified with Marxist–Leninist ideology, whereas others worked against specific political issues, such as U.S. military involvement in Central and South America. The collapse of the Soviet Union did not bolster the popularity of left-wing causes. In 1995, police perceived right-wing and Puerto Rican groups to be the greatest threats. The greatest concentration of left-wing groups was on the West Coast, but they posed a comparatively minor threat.
Loretta Napoleoni (2003, xix–xxiii) finds that guilt was a factor as left-wing terror faded in Europe. People who may have been sympathetic to the ideology of left-wing terrorists could not tolerate their violent activities as terrorism increased. This may have been a factor in American terrorism as well. Furthermore, left-wing violence waned with the fall of the Soviet Union, and police tactics improved with time, putting many terrorist groups on the defensive (Peacetalk, 2003).
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12-4bThe Rise of Single Issues
Left-wing domestic terrorism did not disappear, however; it was transformed. Leftist movements became more specific, focusing not only on certain political behaviors but on particular causes. When the left faded, single-issue groups emerged to take their place. These new groups grew and began a campaign of individual harassment and property destruction.
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12-4cEcoterrorism, Animal Rights, and Genetic Engineering
According to the FBI (Jarboe, 2002), supporters of terrorism related to ecology and animal rights joined opponents of genetic engineering in the United Kingdom in 1992. The new group called itself the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Composed of radicals from Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and other disaffected environmentalists, the group migrated from Europe to the United States. Its tactics include sabotage, tree spiking, property damage, intimidation, and arson, and they resulted in tens of millions of dollars of damage. One ELF member recently called for violent action, though both ELF and ALF deny this. Both movements post their activities on websites and e-zines such as Bite Back (2015).
The formation of ELF was prefigured when radical ecologists began to sabotage roadworking and construction machinery in the late 1970s. As was the case with the right wing, a novel inspired the ecoterrorists. The Monkey Wrench Gang, a 1975 novel by Edward Abbey, told the story of a group of ecologists who were fed up with industrial development in the West. “Monkey wrenching” referred to small acts of sabotage against companies undertaking projects in undeveloped areas. Abbey, however, was an environmental activist rather than a hate-filled ideologue like William Pierce. His novel is a fictional account that inspired others. In The Monkey Wrench Gang, the heroes drive through western U.S. states sabotaging bulldozers, burning billboards, and damaging the property of people they deem to be destroying the environment. (This is the same type of low-level terrorism German leftists used in the mid-1990s.) Such monkey wrenching has become a key tactic of ecoterrorists.
Bryan Denson and James Long (1999) conducted a detailed study of ecological violence for the Portland Oregonian. They found a shadowy conglomeration of violent ecologists who were unwilling to watch developers move into undeveloped areas. ELF had no hierarchy and was not tied to any particular location. The group used a terrorist tactic long associated with the past, however: ELF targeted its victims with arson.
According to Denson and Long, most violence associated with ecoterrorism has taken place in the American West. From 1995 to 1999, damages totaled $28.8 million. Crimes included raids on farms, destruction of animal research laboratories at the University of California at Davis and Michigan State University, threats to individuals, sabotage of industrial equipment, and arson. ELF activities have increased each year since 1999 and have expanded throughout the country (Schabner, 2004). At least some members want to take their actions in a new direction. In September 2002, an ELF communiqué stated that it would “no longer hesitate to pick up the gun” (Center for Consumer Freedom, 2004). That did not happen. After the arrest and conviction of prominent members of ELF, the group began to disappear. Official speculated that a few people had been causing most of the damage (Kirchner, 2015). Ecoterrorism continues under other banners.
A study of global activity looked at both animal rights and environmental actions and questioned the validity of the term ecoterrorism. Siv Hirsch-Hoeflen and Cas Mudde (2014) say that very few academics and analysts spend time studying the subject. Combining all groups under the broad term Radical Environmentalists and Animal Rights (REAR), they offer an assessment of the movement.
REAR activists are diverse and international, and they approach their causes in a variety of ways. The majority of people involved in the movement neither engage in violence nor commit crimes. The total number of activists is unknown, but they have operated in 25 countries. Despite this diversity, REAR individuals and groups share some common qualities. They all have uncompromising attitudes and are convinced that their perceptions are absolutely correct. They are not highly organized; rather, they exist in loosely bound grassroots organizations. Finally, whether they act peacefully and legally or in violation of the law, they believe in direct action.
Looking at criminal activity in the United States from 1970 to 2007, Hirsch-Hoeflen and Mudde found several violations related to criminal activity. REAR activists committed three assassinations, 30 unarmed assaults, 44 armed assaults, 55 bombings, and 933 attacks on property. Animal rights activists committed the vast majority of attacks but no assassinations. Comparing these statistics to international data from 2003 to 2010, the researchers counted 58 cybercrimes, 80 bombings, 247 arsons, 690 raids to free animals, 808 confrontations at a victim’s home, and 3,695 acts of vandalism. The most frequent crimes occurred outside the United States. The United Kingdom experienced 997 violations, Sweden 769, Italy 458, the United States 446, and Germany 379. Most ecoterrorism takes place in the West.
Hirsch-Hoefler and Mudde ask if these activities can rightly be called terrorism. The primary test, they say, is whether the criminal actions are intended to create fear to change behavior. The majority of REAR adherents engage in legal activities. Clearly, assassinations seem to belong in the category, but animal rights activists do not engage in such killings. They are less clear about arsons, assaults, and bombings. Hirsch-Hoefler and Cas conclude that slightly less than 10% of REAR activities can be classified as terrorism. Just as antiabortion activists are painted with the terrorism label because of the actions of a minority of violent people, they say, REAR activists should be viewed in criminal terms. The small number of people who use crime to intimidate a wider audience can correctly be called ecoterrorists.
12-4dAntiabortion Violence
For the past three decades, violence against abortion clinics and personnel has risen. Violent antiabortionists began with bombing and arson attacks more than 20 years ago, and they have expanded their tactics since then. Doctors and nurses have been assaulted when entering clinics. A gunman murdered Dr. David Gunn as he entered a clinic in Pensacola, Florida, in 1993. A year later, the Reverend Paul Hill killed a doctor and his bodyguard as they entered the same clinic (Risen and Thomas, 1998). Hill was convicted of murder and executed in 2003. Dr. Barnett Slepian was killed at home in Amherst, New York, in 1998 when a sniper shot him through his kitchen window. Another violent perpetrator, Eric Rudolph , evaded federal authorities for years after bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a gay nightclub, and an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
Abortion is a heated topic that pits pro-life and pro-choice advocates against one another. Most pro-life advocates abhor and denounce antiabortion violence because it is a contradiction of what they represent. Violent antiabortion advocates, however, justify their actions in the same manner as other political extremists. They feel they have the right to define morality in absolute terms. According to Risen and Thomas (1998), both murderers in Pensacola felt a specific holy duty to kill the doctors they confronted. Paul Hill, for example, shot his victims five times, laid his gun down, and walked away. Michael Griffin, Gunn’s murderer, felt that God gave him instructions to give Gunn one final warning before he was killed. When Gunn ignored him, Griffin waited for five hours and then shot him three times in the back as he left the clinic. To these extremists, accepting the status quo is more evil than using violence to change behavior. This is the standard justification for terrorism (see the feature later in this chapter titled “Alternative Perspective: Tactics Used in Violent Antiabortion Attacks”).
Violence is not the only illegal action perpetuated by those who break the law. The Army of God’s manual (n.d.) includes information about “99 Ways to Stop an Abortionist.” It discusses low-level tactics such as gluing locks, shutting off water, and slashing tires. These are the tactics of radical ecologists in Germany (Horchem, 1986), but the manual does not credit a source of inspiration for the suggested tactics. The manual also describes methods for confronting workers and women seeking an abortion.
Another Perspective
Tactics Used in Violent Antiabortion Attacks
· Suspected anthrax sent through the mail
· Malicious destruction of property
· Threatening letters and phone calls to workers
· False bomb threats
· Individual harassment
· Bombing and arson
· Bombing with secondary devices (designed to kill the people who respond to the first bombing)
· Assaults
· Intentional murder on the premises
· Assassination-style murders
When informal social norms fail to control public behavior, some people want to replace norms with law. If the norm involves an important moral aspect of behavior and laws do not replace former norms, some people feel called to violence. They say that their opposition to a grossly immoral act, such as abortion, justifies their actions. This thought process represents the logic of terrorism. As social controls decrease and the desire to substitute political controls increases, bombings come to be seen as a form of political action. Nice notes that the literature reveals several explanations for violent political behavior. One theory suggests that social controls break down under stress and urbanization. Another theory says that violence increases when people are not satisfied with political outcomes. Violence can also be reinforced by social and cultural values. Finally, violence can stem from a group’s strengths or weaknesses, its lack of faith in the political system, or its frustration with economic conditions.
Some of Nice’s findings seem applicable to antiabortion violence that has occurred since his study. According to Risen and Thomas (1998), murderers who kill doctors who perform abortions felt that the killings were necessary to make a political statement. Killing was a means of communication. Paul Hill was so excited by Gunn’s murder that he successfully publicized it by appearing on The Phil Donahue Show and confronting Gunn’s son. Activists were also prominent in the geographic area where the shootings took place. All these factors created an atmosphere in which the killers sought to make a stronger statement than merely persuading women entering the clinic not to have an abortion.
Other issues have changed since Nice’s study. Deana Rohlinger (2002) argues that current media coverage of abortion issues differs from that of the 1980s and early 1990s. She states that organizations favoring a woman’s right to an abortion understood two critical aspects of media coverage in the previous decades. They knew how certain news organizations framed the debate and how they would cover a story. They also understood the power of news coverage and were able to attract media coverage for their point of view. Organizations against abortion did not know how to attract media coverage or how to utilize it as a propaganda tool. If Rohlinger is correct, it would be wise to follow Brent Smith’s path of empirical analysis. Nice’s theory of bombing and frustration could be tested against the ability of the antiabortion movement to affect outcomes by media publicity.
Carol Mason (2004) argues that frustration may be building on the pro-choice side. She believes that the antiabortion movement has not only effectively conveyed a message but glorified apocalyptic violence. Antiabortion terrorists become heroes in the antiabortion movement, even though their actions are publicly denounced. She uses the case of Eric Rudolph to illustrate her point. Wanted for a string of violent antiabortion acts, Rudolph was finally captured after years of being a fugitive. Rudolph was allowed to play the role of right-wing folk hero, Mason says, after he was taken into custody. She believes that such glorification could lead to a backlash.
Laws protecting access to abortion have not resulted in a backlash. Studies by and Joshua Freilich and William Pridemore (2007) found that laws protecting access to abortion had little effect. They neither reduced attacks nor caused a backlash from groups opposing abortions. They found that extremists who attack clinics and providers are more concerned with their cause than with obeying the law.
Freilich and Pridemore also found that about 40 percent of the clinics in the United States had experienced some form of attack, vandalism, or harassment. Incidents ranged from murder to vandalism against property. The study of self-reported victimization revealed that extremists practiced several methods of attack. Employees reported that they had been harassed, subjected to picketing at home, stalked, threatened; received nuisance telephone calls; and had their property damaged. They also had personal data and their pictures distributed on “wanted” posters and displayed on the Internet.
After the murder of a physician in the vestibule of a Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, Amanda Robb’s article in a popular magazine (2010) raised questions about lone wolves. The doctor, who ran a late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, was murdered just before a Sunday worship service. Robb argues that the murderer was not a lone wolf but the product of a right-wing mindset that promotes antigovernment violence. Critics of positions like this feel that the government and liberals in the media are trying to create an atmosphere of political repression. They argue that the government wants to use individual acts to move against people with conservative political beliefs (New American, 2009).
Examining evidence about the effectiveness of terrorism, James Lutz and Brenda Lutz (2008) found that antiabortion terrorism falls into a unique category. There are a variety of political and tactical debates because the movement is based in religion, but it does not represent a single theological perspective. The vast majority of people in the movement protest with peaceful tactics, causing the violent actors to form their own subcategory. From this perspective, antiabortion violence is effective. It is contagious among the subset, and it is effective. Murders and other violent attacks are designed to frighten health care workers and to change their behavior, and these tactics work. They deter doctors and nurses from performing abortions, and potentially violent people are inspired to take action. Lutz and Lutz conclude that there can be no doubt that violent antiabortion terrorism has made abortions more difficult to obtain in the United States, even though the majority of antiabortion activists denounce violence.
There is no easy solution to the abortion debate, as proponents of each side believe that they are morally correct. Those who are pro-choice feel that they are defending constitutional rights, and those who are pro-life often believe that they are following God’s will. The abortion debate represents a political issue in which the positions have been defined by extreme political positions, and this frustrates other people who believe a moral solution lies between the two extremes. The atmosphere surrounding the abortion debate is similar to extremist positions surrounding terrorist conflicts in other parts of the world.
Self-Check
· What single issues have replaced left-wing ideological terrorism?
· Is the use of the term ecoterrorism justified?
· Is antiabortion violence terrorism?
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12-5Homegrown Jihadists
Homegrown terrorists are produced in a number of ways (Holden and White, 2010). The United States has experienced two styles of homegrown attacks or attempted attacks. The first involves individuals who become radicalized by personal experiences. These personal experiences can vary from listening to radical sermons to being encouraged to commit suicide bombings by family members. The second might involve a similar path to radicalization, but it also involves some type of foreign connection. For example, Nidal Hasan went on a shooting spree in Fort Hood, Texas, killing several U.S. service personnel and wounding others. He appears to have been influenced by radical preaching and literature on the Internet. Faisal Shazad attempted to detonate a bomb in Times Square. He apparently received training in Pakistan. There is a fear that returning jihadists will launch domestic attacks, but data suggest this does not happen as frequently as predicted.
Some homegrown terrorists choose not to strike in the United States. For example, John Walker Lindh and Adam Gadahn left the United States to join the jihad overseas. Such actions always leave the possibility of returning home. If that happens, a new third type of threat could come in a hybrid form: a returning homegrown jihadist experienced and trained in terrorism. Authorities fear that American citizens may join experienced international sleeper cells hiding in America (see Thachik, Bowman, and Richardson, 2008).
The country has had some experience with hybrid terrorists. One instance includes black Muslims who were recruited away from the faith in which they were raised or converted to a traditional form of Islam. Afterward, they experience further conversion into militancy. Still another model involves normative American Muslims radicalized in their mosques. Finally, some Muslims are radicalized while in foreign countries and then return to the United States. Mark Hamm (2007, 2009) says that prison recruiting creates a problem because it is much easier to radicalize people in jail. For example, a group of convicted armed robbers in Southern California formed a jihadist cell in this manner.
Another Perspective
Hamas in the United States
· In the summer of 2004, the Department of Justice charged several people with terrorist activities, including money laundering, threatening violence, possessing weapons, and a series of other related crimes. The indictment charged the suspects with being members of Hamas.
· In October 2003, law enforcement officers found small Cincinnati grocery stores raising millions of dollars for Hamas through price fraud.
· In September 2003, agents seized two men in the Virgin Islands after they left the mainland to launder money for Hamas.
· In Dearborn, Michigan, law enforcement officials charged two men with bank fraud. The alleged purpose was to raise money for Hamas.
Source: United States of America v. Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook et al., 2003
The Charlotte Hezbollah Cell
A deputy sheriff moonlighting as a security guard in Charlotte, North Carolina, noticed a group of people buying cigarettes at a discount tobacco store. He noticed them because they were buying hundreds of cigarette cartons and loading them into vans. The deputy assumed it was a cigarette smuggling operation and called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). Buying cigarettes in one state and then selling them in another can be criminally profitable because of varying state tobacco laws and tax systems. When the ATF agents started investigating, they were surprised at what they found. The FBI, CIA, and many other agencies were also interested in the case.
Hezbollah was operating in Charlotte.
In this case, the suspects purchased cigarettes in North Carolina and ran them to Michigan. North Carolina had a tax of $0.05 per pack on the cigarettes ($0.50 per carton). Michigan, however, taxed cigarettes at $0.75 per pack and $7.50 per carton. North Carolina did not require a tax stamp, but Michigan did. Smugglers transported the cigarettes from North Carolina to Michigan, stamped them with Michigan tax stamps, and then sold them at regular prices without paying the taxes.
The U.S. attorney for western North Carolina, Robert Conrad, assumed the suspects were smuggling North Carolina cigarettes to Michigan and profiting by not paying tax. This turned out to be the base of the investigation, as the smugglers kept some of the money, but other illegal profits took a strange path. Conrad followed some of the money to Vancouver, Canada; other profits went overseas. Conrad’s office traced the money to Lebanon. Far from a simple cigarette scheme, the smuggling operation turned out to be an operation to support Hezbollah. The Charlotte Hezbollah cell, as it came to be known, was broken because investigators and prosecutors looked beyond the surface.
Source: United States v. Mohamad Youseff Hammoud et al., 2002
In 2006, after British authorities uncovered a homegrown jihadist plot, FBI director Robert Mueller stated that the United States had to be vigilant against similar plots. International jihadists are a threat, Mueller said, but like the United Kingdom, the United States could be threatened by its own citizens. One of the incubators for homegrown jihadists is the American prison system. America’s prisons are already awash with many variations of Islam, and Wahhabi missionaries covertly preach religious militancy in the prisons. Aware of this danger, some institutions have established special units to gather information about religious militancy and to intercept violent missionaries (Moore, 2006).
Although prisons and jails are recruiting grounds, homegrown jihadists appear in different areas. In June 2006, JTTF officers in Miami and Atlanta arrested a group of jihadists who were not involved in any network but who, authorities claimed, were plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. The group did not even follow Islam. Its leader made up a religion combining Islam and other beliefs. According to media reports, the suspects were amateurs who had no real understanding of explosives, Islam, or the jihadist movement. Mueller said that such groups might become the greatest domestic threat. They are self-recruited, self-motivated, and self-trained. Their only direct contact with the jihadists is via the Internet (Josson, 2006). The jihadists who pulled off the March 11, 2004, Madrid attacks were amateurs, too.
Homegrown terrorism is not an American problem alone, nor is it limited to radical Islam. It is a “bottom-up event,” in which a person hears a radical message and decides to pursue the radical goal. Lorenzo Vidino (2009) argues that this is hardly new, citing several cases to illustrate the point. For example, in 1977, a group of 10 homegrown religious radicals stormed three sites in Washington, D.C., taking more than 150 hostages. This is just one of many homegrown instances in the second half of the twentieth century. While it may differ in scope from modern suicide bombing, Vidino concludes that it represents an extension of a problem. Homegrown terrorism is not something new.
Homegrown jihadist terrorism began drawing attention after 9/11. In May 2007, a group in New Jersey planned to enter Fort Dix and murder American soldiers. They were indicted after police were informed of their videotaped training exercises (Hauser and O’Connor, 2007). A month later, the New York City Police Department and the New York JTTF completed an 18-month investigation of an attack planned for JFK Airport (MSNBC, 2007). In 2009, FBI agents arrested an Afghan-born permanent legal resident of the United States and two friends for planning suicide attacks in New York City. They were tied to groups in Pakistan and had possible links to al Qaeda, according to the New York Times (Rashbaum, 2010). The plot was followed by an attempted bombing in Times Square by a Pakistani-trained homegrown terrorist in 2010, according to ABC News (Katersky, 2010).
Brian Jenkins (2010) found that 46 publicly recorded attacks or attempted attacks came from homegrown jihadist terrorists between September 11, 2001, and December 2009. Far from having been recruited by a nefarious network of hidden operatives, most of the people involved in the cases were self-radicalized, seeking to join the jihad on their own. Jenkins believes that the attacks were thwarted because American law enforcement changed its focus from apprehension after the fact to prevention. This is effective when criminal intelligence is gathered and analyzed on a local level, he argues. He also warns about overreacting. Although a single event can produce massive casualties, the United States experienced more domestic terrorism in the 1970s than it did in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Intelligence gathering is necessary, Jenkins concludes, but it must take place within the norms of democracy.
Self-Check
· How are homegrown terrorists involved in the jihadist movement?
· How are homegrown terrorists supported?
· What are the characteristics of homegrown terrorists?
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12-6Emphasizing the Points
There is some confusion over the amount of domestic terrorism because most terrorists are arrested and charged with violations of statutory crimes. There is also a fear that political dissent may be criminalized. A practical approach for law enforcement and criminal intelligence agencies is to categorize the type of terrorist activity motivating attacks or attempted attacks and apply the unique prevention and investigation techniques that work best in each instance. Racism is a part of terrorism in the United States. Although it is fragmented today, the Ku Klux Klan and its offshoots have a long history of domestic terrorism. Racists and antigovernment extremists today dominate domestic terrorism, and the left has been subsumed in single-issue terrorism with the exception of antiabortion violence. Law enforcement and other officials are preparing for homegrown jihadists. While jihadists have called for it, home grown Jihadi Salafism has not materialized.
Chapter Review
12-7aSummary of Chapter Objectives
· There is confusion over the meaning of domestic terrorism and political disagreement over its meaning. Law enforcement officers and criminal intelligence agencies do best by avoiding the debate and focusing on successful tactics that work against the individual or group acting in violation of the law.
· Extremism differs from terrorism, and it is not a crime. Very few criminals are terrorists, but all terrorists act outside the law.
· There are several typologies for classifying domestic terrorism. Placing a type of terrorism in a category based on tactics, operations, and likely targets is an effective counterterrorist tool. The categories used in this chapter are racism, antigovernment extremism, single issues, and homegrown Jihadist Salafism.
· Racism has been an important factor in America terrorism. It dates back to the Civil War and is still prominent in many areas today.
· The Ku Klux Klan is one of America’s most successful terrorist groups. During its three-phased history, the KKK used violence and intimidation to change the political behavior of African Americans and opponents of racism. Although fragmented today, the KKK’s legacy lives on in a number of racist groups.
· The current status of right-wing terrorism today is dominated by violent antigovernment extremism. Sovereign citizens claim that the U.S. government has no power of them. Americans police agencies think right-wing terrorism is more important than the jihadist threat. Right-wing extremists have killed a number of police officers over the past two decades.
· Left-wing ideology was the force behind domestic terrorism in the 1960s and 1970s, but it faded in the late part of the twentieth century. Crime motivated by left-wing issues tends to take place within single-issue groups inside the radical ecology and animal rights movements.
· Single-issue terrorism involves extremist crimes committed to support a particular cause.
· The single issues discussed in this chapter are ecoterrorism, animal rights crime, and antiabortion violence.
· The homegrown jihadist movement involves religious radicals taking criminal action in the name of Salafist Islam. There is no standard pattern of radicalization, and it may range from unorganized individual attacks to highly complex operations supported by an international infrastructure. Research shows that this is not an Islamic problem and that most American Muslims do not support criminal violence.
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Chapter Review
12-7bLooking into the Future
In October 2014, four New York City Police Department patrol officers were on duty in a subway station when they stopped to let a freelance photographer take their picture, according to an NBC television affiliate (Dientst et al., 2015). Suddenly, a man with a hatchet lunged at them. Officer Kenneth Healey was severely wounded and fell to the floor. His partner, Officer Joseph Meeker, was wounded in the arm. When the attacker approached the two remaining officers, they drew their weapons and killed him. The man was a recent convert to Islam and had been influenced by Jihadist Salafism.
This atmosphere creates a social climate conducive to extremism and intolerance. It has happened at a time when many political leaders criticize the value of a college education and social polarization is celebrated. A lone individual who is potentially violent and influenced by only one extreme point of view may sink deeper and deeper into radicalism. This in turn could lead to violence. If this social trend continues, lone wolf terrorism may well become a factor in domestic terrorism.
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Chapter Review
12-7cKey Terms
· Skinhead
· Nordic Christianity (neo-paganism)
· Free-wheeling fundamentalism
