Integrity Score 2097
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it wouldn't surprise me if there was a domestic terror attack in the U.S., the LAST president gave a pass to every crazy yahoo to act crazy. terrible to even thing about
A small band of militants from Afghanistan, the 9/11 perpetrators, were seen as the biggest threat to national security. Twenty years later, Al Qaeda (nearly wiped out) and similar networks do pose a threat, but an arguably bigger threat is from domestic terrorism. Is the US prepared to meet the challenge of the far right, white supremacists, neo-nazis and others at home?
What is terrorism for one could be only ‘violent political struggle’ for the other – and that’s as true for the Taliban as for Proud Boys. [For definition, see: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism] The January 6 rioting terrorized the people on the Capitol Hill; shouldn’t it be called by its name? (None of the insurrectionists has been charged with terrorism.) White supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine Black people in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 (and insisted that it was “worth it”). Wasn’t it an act of terrorism ? [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/charleston-church-shooter-i-would-like-to-make-it-crystal-clear-i-do-not-regret-what-i-did/2017/01/04/05b0061e-d1da-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_11]
If a federal office building is blown up, as two people did in Oklahoma in 1995, it is terrorism, even if the terrorists in this case were both Americans, and white too. [https://www.today.com/health/oklahoma-city-firefighter-holding-baby-iconic-photo-retires-t109746] As Jason M. Blazakis, director of the State Department’s Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office in the Bureau of Counterterrorism during 2008-18, writes,
“Domestic terrorism — fueled by government-hating extremists — awakened the nation in April 1995. … we must confront the real possibility that our next 9/11 could arrive from within.” He believes the US “war on terror” after 9/11 has left the nation “unprepared for the domestic threat that grows by the day”. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/06/its-real-possibility-that-our-next-911-could-arrive-within/]
The FBI has been sensitive to this threat, but fully. In 2019, an officer in Congressional testimony said about 20% of the FBI counterterrorism agents worked on domestic terrorism – the rest on the international variety.
Unless there are stronger provisions in laws, unless social media is better monitored and regulated, and unless the problems is seen as transnational, the hate groups with their arms, funds and international alliances are in a position to deliver the next 9/11, Blazakis warns.
Also read:
‘Far-right terror poses bigger threat to US than Islamist extremism post-9/11’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/08/post-911-domestic-terror
Overall threat perception:
https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/terrorism-in-america/what-threat-united-states-today/
RAND on domestic terrorism:
https://www.rand.org/topics/domestic-terrorism.html