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Terror in the United States
Helms School of Government, Liberty University
HLSC 510: Homeland Security Organization and Administration
Dr. Jeffrey Fox
By submitting this assignment, I attest this submission represents my own work, and not that of another
student, scholar, or internet source. I understand I am responsible for knowing and correctly utilizing
referencing and bibliographical guidelines.
Terror in the United States
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Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as “the unlawful use of force and
violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian
population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (FBI, 2020).
When these actions are used inside of the United States or state-owned lands, it is considered
Domestic terrorism. The threat to the United States from domestic terror has been ever-changing
in how the threat was presented, from initial incidents when our country was founded until
present day.
Foundations – WW1
Abrahams Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 changed the
dynamic of a country, that was already in the middle of Civil war. Brown states that after the
Civil War had ended, a new era of crime had begun, which included the beginning of organized
criminal groups, freelance serial murders and gangs. He argues that the political assassinations
became more prevalent after the Civil War, starting with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was the first president to be killed in an assassination (Brown,1975). Brown continues
that assassinations would be a characteristic of newly created terrorist organizations who would
shift to more deadly attacks. John Wilkes Booth’s assignation of Lincoln would not be
considered a terrorist act due to the motive and nature of attack presumed. The assassination
marked a Post-Civil War era that would be filled with issues regarding race, a country operated
by capitalism and industrialism and the reintegration of the new south into the American
structure.
Ku Klux Klan
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In 1866 the Ku Klux Klan “Social Club” had been established; this group had chosen its
leader as former Confederate General Nathan Forrest. Between 1865 and 1877, it is believed that
the Klan was responsible for 3,000 deaths of black freedmen (Archer, 1997). These attacks were
clearly an unlawful use of force for purposes of intimation against the black population. In 1871,
the Force Act was passed; this was also known as the Civil rights act of 1871, which empowered
the President to use Federal armed forces to fight against those who were looking to deny equal
protection of laws (Enforcements acts of 1871, 2020). This act made the Klan lay low and out of
sight for a short period of time. This act gave the federal government more ability to deal with
local or state entities that were not protecting individual’s 13th and 14th amendment rights.
Haymarket Affair
On May 3rd of 1886, during a protest outside of the McCormick factory in Chicago, one
Labor union member was killed by police while confronting the strike breakers leaving the
factory at the end of the day (Green, 2006). August Spies, a labor activist and considered
anarchist, attended a large protest which occurred the next day in Haymarket Square. The protest
was against police brutality and for labor rights. The protest was peaceful and continued into the
night. Around midnight, a group of police entered the square and attempted to end the protest
when a bomb was thrown by an unknown member of the protest and police responded by
returning fire randomly into the crowd. This event left seven police officers dead and dozens
wounded and four civilians killed. This incident marked an ongoing battle between labor unions
and large companies (Dunnigan,1998).
World war 1 to 1990
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Wall street bombing
Around 12 noon on September 16th, 1920 as the bells that marked a lunch break rang, a
bomb that was planted in horse drawn wagon at the corner of Wall St. and Broad St. in New York
City exploded, killing thirty-eight people wounding hundreds (Gage,2009). The location of the
bomb was not only the center of the financial district of America, but also the location where
Washington in 1789 had taken his oath as the first president (Martinez, 2012). The bombing
remains an unsolved case and many theories and motives exist for this incident. Martinez argues
that this was violent act, targeting civilians at a time where there was no doubt about the civilian
presence and that this event was a turning point for the study of organized crime violence.
16th street Baptist church bombing
In September of 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama four young children died after a bomb
was placed near the basement of the 16th street Baptist church. This incident occurred during the
ongoing civil rights movement of the 1960s and shows the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan’s
violence towards innocents (Martinez, 2012). The location of the incident was important due to
the historical nature of the Church and large congregation, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had
addressed citizens from its step’s multiple times in the 1960s. This attack was clearly racially
motivated to intimidate the black civilian population who were in an ongoing battle inside their
community. This incident was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement, especially in
regard to the Ku Klux Klan, it was no longer Klan members against protesters they had targeted
once again innocent members of the community.
1984 Wasco County
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In September of 1984, in the city of Dalles, which is inside Wasco County, Oregon, a
population of around ten thousand people, the department of health began to receive multiple
reports of persons with salmonella poisoning. At this time in Wasco County, a group of followers
of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (OSHO), had moved in and attempted to sicken the population of
the county to win control over the county’s elections. This incident marks the first bioterrorism
attack in United states history. Seven hundred and fifty one people would be infected and 45 of
those would need to be hospitalized for the illness. CDC investigations would link followers of
Osho to the purposeful contamination of salad bars in two restaurants in Dalles. The CDCs
further investigated the event and initially thought It was not bioterrorism event but later the FBI
located a vial of S. Typhimurium identical to the outbreak strain inside of a lab on the cult’s
compound. (McDade & Franz, 1998).
The CDC offers support to local communities during attacks and outbreaks according to McDade
& Franz 1998:
In partnership with state health departments, the agency maintains infectious disease
surveillance systems and provides reference laboratory diagnosis and epidemiologic
support, especially during outbreak investigations; disseminates public health
recommendations and other information, issues quarantine measures, and provides expert
advice on worker health and safety; and is the logical bridge between the public health
community and FBI's scientific and response capabilities. (para 6)
1990-2001
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World Trade Center
On February 26th, 1993, a truck bomb was detonated at the world Trade Center in New
York City. This attack was intended to cause the collapse of the North Tower but was
unsuccessful. The men that were found to be responsible for this attack were related or had
connections with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a high-ranking Pakistani terrorist and a member of
al-Qaeda (Dahl, 2013). Before this attack only a failed attack in Aden, Yemen was attributed to
Al-Qaeda against America. This would bring in a new era of radical Islamic terror.
Oklahoma City Bombing
On April 19th, 1995 a truck bomb was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City, the result of this attack left 168 dead and 759 injured. Children and
infants included in this attack as the explosion happened near the daycare of the building
(Martinez, 2012). The attack was conducted by Timothy McVeigh in response to the Federal
government’s involvement in Waco, Tx in 1993 among other motives. While McVeigh did not
work alone this incident has been considered by some to be a lone wolf style domestic attack,
although the lines are blurry with the exact definition of lone wolf. McVeigh timed his attack to
make sure the people inside were at their desks to help ensure maximum casualties (Martinez,
2012). McVeigh used a rental truck filled with explosives parked near the Murrah building in this
attack, after the attack structural changes were made around federal building including the use of
barriers to limit access to by vehicle (Naylor, 2015). Other changes included new code and
standards for building that were constructed to attempt to limit collapse.
2011-2020
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Following attacks in the 90s, the FBI established the Counterterrorism center to help
protect against and investigate International terrorism, domestic terrorism and countermeasures
for both. This represented a new way the FBI responded to terror. This center would include The
Defense Intelligence Agency, Secret Service, and the CIA. The goal of this was to improve
information sharing and analysis. Unfortunately, the execution of the communications and
information sharing had not been honed before 2001 when the deadliest terrorist attack ever
occurred.
September 11th
For most when terrorist attacks are being discussed September 11th, 2001 is thought of
immediately. The deadliest terrorist attack in human history with 2,977 dead and 25,000 injured.
This incident was conducted by multiple Islamic terrorists belonging to AL-Qaeda. Following
this incident, the federal government seen a large overhaul with the creation of Department of
Homeland Security. The Homeland security Act effective in 2002 mandated several things such
the development of the National Response Plan which would include state and local government
into the Federal Response plan (Sylves, 2020). The largest reorganization of governmental office
would occur since the DOD was created. This would include the merging of several communities
into homeland security such as Customs, Secret Service, FEMA, Coast Guard and Border Patrol
to name a few. A total of 22 agencies were restructured to create the New Department. Changes
in intelligence community, were all included in the U.S. Patriot Act (HR 3162) (Etzioni,2005).
Fort Hood 2009
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On November 5th, 2009, an army major stationed at Fort Hood opened fire and killed 13
people and injured 30. The Major, Nidal Hasan, had been radicalized and was in communications
with Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American who has been considered a charismatic figure
and member of Al-Qaeda. He was an English-speaking Muslim who was using the internet to
recruit young people (Ingram, 2004). Hasan had been being watched by the FBI after
communicating with Al-Awlaki nearly a year before the attack (Wolverton,2010). Following the
2009 attack at Fort Hood the United States Army implemented changes in their response to
threats on the base and an alert system to notify those on base of what is occurring.
Conclusion
Returning to the definition of Terrorism according to the code of Federal regulations, “the
unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a
government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social
objectives” (FBI, 2020). These incident are just a handful of what has occurred just on United
States soil, countless other events have occurred to United States civilians and military members
across the world by those who are trying to disrupt our way of life. Whether it be for religious or
cultural reasons, political, or due to ongoing labor disputes all these incidents are aimed to
intimidate civilians to change or stop their way of life. “For God Has not given us a spirit of fear,
but power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
References
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Archer, B. (1997). The Ku Klux Klan. Appalachian Heritage, 25(2), 32.
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdocview
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Brown, R. (1975). Strain of violence : historical studies of American violence and vigilantism .
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Dahl, E. J. (2013). Intelligence and surprise attack: Failure and success from pearl harbor to 9/11
and beyond. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Dunigan, B. (1998, April 27). Haymarket Affair. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from
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Etzioni, A. (2005;2004;). How patriotic is the patriot act?: Freedom versus security in the age of
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Gage, B. (2009). The day Wall Street exploded a story of America in its first age of terror .
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Johnson, J. (2018). The 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing. New York: Routledge, https://doi-
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Green, J. R. (2006). Death in the haymarket: A story of chicago, the first labor movement, and
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Martinez, J. M. (2012). Terrorist attacks on american soil: From the civil war era to the present.
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McDade, J. E., & Franz, D. (1998). Bioterrorism as a public health threat.
Naylor, B. (2015, April 17). Oklahoma City Bombing A 'Wake-Up Call' For Government
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bombing-a-wake-up-call-for-government-security
Wolverton, J. (2010). Major Nidal Malik Hasan: an officer and a jihadist: since 9/11, numerous
Muslims living in america have taken the path of violent jihadism, a path also followed
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