The Structure and Study of

Domestic Terrorism
Chapter 14

Prepared by: Babette Protz

 Examining the History of Domestic
Terrorism
 Gurr argues that terrorism is a tactic used by the
weak to intimidate the strong and in turn used by the
strong to repress the weak
 Terrorism in the 19th century was primarily aimed at
protecting the status quo and economic environment
 Labor movement of the late 19th century was filled
with violence
 Frontier had its own form of violence
 Settlers developed their own brand of justice
 Character of domestic terrorism began to change in
the 1960s
 Rooted in radical politics, nationalism, and the international
community’s experience with terrorism
 Domestic terrorism defined as a radical phenomenon
Examining the History of Domestic
Terrorism
 Bell & Gurr – Political revolutionary groups
and nationalistic groups in the U.S. took their
ideas from terrorists in the Middle East and
Asia
 U.S. terrorist groups did not have the same
impact as their foreign counterparts
 American public rejected the violence of
revolutionary groups
 Popularity never fully achieved
 Ended up as small bands of social misfits with little
effect on the political system
Examining the History of Domestic
Terrorism
 According to Bell & Gurr – Two caveats
with their conclusion
 U.S. has avoided significant domestic terrorism
 Nationalistic terrorists from Puerto Rico were
more successful than revolutionaries at
launching terrorist campaigns
 Indigenous support
 Gurr outlines three types of terrorism
 Vigilante terrorism
 Insurgent terrorism
 Transnational terrorism
Examining the History of Domestic
Terrorism
 Vigilante Terrorism – growth of right-wing
extremists
 Ku Klux Klan, Christian Identity movement, and
other white supremacy organizations
 Insurgent Terrorism – aims to change
political policies through direct threats or
action against the government
 Black militants, white revolutionaries, Puerto
Rican nationalists
 Transnational Terrorism – non-indigenous
terrorists cross national borders
 Jihadist movement inside the U.S.
 Problem of Understanding
Terrorism in Law Enforcement
 American law enforcement is a localized affair
 Chiefs and sheriffs report to local boards
 State and federal agencies exercise law
enforcement power
 Leads to confusion in preparing for terrorism
 Agencies approach terrorism with their own
interpretations
 Terrorism does not exist in most jurisdictions
 Police officers in the U.S. remain focused on local
issues
 Terrorism is too exotic for most agencies
 Classifying Terrorism as Normal
Crime
 FBI labels the majority of domestic
terrorist activities under the common titles
of crime in the Uniform Crime Report
(UCR)
 FBI became the only agency coordinating
thousands of U.S. police departments in a
counterterrorist direction
 Dyson reports nearly 300 terrorist
incidents in the U.S. between September
11, 2001 and December 2004
 Greater number of bombings in the U.S. deals
with individual criminal vendettas and single-
issue terrorism
 Confusing Hate Crime and
Terrorism
 Hate crime is frequently used in
conjunction with domestic terrorism
 Legal definition, not a manifestation of
terrorism
 Hamm – hate crime is an illegal act
designed to target a particular social
group
 Classifying Terrorism in Criminal
Justice
 A beat police officer is generally the first responder
to domestic terrorism
 Investigation techniques used in large,
sensationalized terrorist incidents are the same as
those used to investigate routine crime
 Counterterrorism depends on the fundamentals
 Good investigative skills
 Good interviewing techniques
 Understanding the context of the crimes investigated
 Terrorist behave differently, calling for increased
intelligence, long term surveillance and informant
development
 FBI Classification System
 FBI developed a general classification
system of domestic terrorism in the
1980s
 Harris – summarized the FBI view
 White leftists
 Puerto Rican leftists
 Black militants
 Right-wing extremists
 Jewish extremists
 Types of groups defined by location
 FBI Classification System
 Two categories cover the classification system and
provide format for guiding investigations
 Domestic Terrorism (DT)
 Political extremism involves violent left and right-wing
extremists
 Single issues include violent activities associated with
debates over abortion, ecoterrorism, genetic engineering
 Lone wolves included in DT when actions are politically
motivated
 International Terrorism (IT)
 Composed of three subsets
 State-sponsored terrorism
 Clearly defined autonomous groups
 Jihadists
Using the Classification System
 Smith & Roberts – place terrorist groups
into three broad categories
 Right-wing extremists
 Left-wing and single-issue terrorists
 International terrorists
 Factor separating the average criminal
from the average terrorist is motivation
 Terrorists remain criminals
 Motivated by ideology, religion, or a political
cause
 Engage in activities avoided by most criminals
Using the Classification System
 As the government was improving its
counterterrorist tactics in 1985, U.S.
terrorism grew to a high level
 Left-wing extremists remained a viable
entity
 Left-wing extremists were typically
more loyal to their causes than were
their right-wing counterparts
 Terrorist Characteristics
 U.S. terrorists differ from their
international counterparts
 Native-born U.S. terrorists tend to be
older than international terrorists
 Foreign operatives working in the U.S.
are also older
 With the exceptions of financing
themselves, left and right-wing
terrorists are quite different
 Left and Right-Wing Terrorists
 Ideology and beliefs about human nature
 Left-wing favor Marxism
 Right-wing terrorists are vehemently anti-Marxist and very
religious
 Economic views
 Left-wing target economic status quo
 Right-wing support economic system
 Geographic bases of support
 Left-wing base themselves in urban environments
 Right-wing base themselves in rural areas
 Selection of targets
 Left-wing select symbolic targets of capitalism
 Right-wing focus attacks on governmental authority
 Tactics
 Both groups use similar terrorist tactics
 Left-Wing Terrorists
 Left-wing terrorists have remained the
same from the 1960s to the present
 Left-wing groups tended to act in a
coordinated fashion
 Evidence indicated they were linked
internally
 U.S. left-wing terrorist groups include:
 May 19 Communist Organization (M19CO)
 United Freedom Front (UFF)
 Evan Mecham Eco-Terrorist International
Conspiracy (EMETIC)
 Animal Liberation Front
 American Terrorism Study
 Found common behavioral characteristics
surrounding terrorist events
 Several domestic extremists advocated the
use of leaderless resistance
 Incorporated in umbrella organizations such as
Hezbollah, Egyptian Islamic Jihad
 Purpose of leaderless resistance is to fight
independent of other groups
 American Terrorism Study
 Damphousse & Smith – three measurable
ideas
 If groups are truly leaderless, groups should be
smaller
 Federal criminal cases should indicate that the number of
defendants per terrorist case declined
 If individuals are truly alone, they should be
committing more crimes as they can only rely on
themselves
 If criminals are more committed, they should be
less likely to cooperate with the government
 American Terrorism Study
 Damphousse & Smith – found evidence that
may indicate leaderless resistance has
affected terrorist activity
 Size of domestic terrorist groups has been
decreasing since 1992
 May also indicate that the federal government is
prosecuting cases differently
 Terrorists are committing more crimes
 Found less plea bargaining among suspects
 May be due to either a change in federal plea
bargaining; or
 Lone wolves cannot make deals because they do no
have fellow criminals they can testify against
 American Terrorism Study
 48% of domestic terrorist attacks occur within 54
miles of a suspect’s residence
 Domestic terrorists tend to operate close to their home base
 Most domestic terrorists are also recruited close to home
 Cells operate for an average of 470 days prior to an
incident
 This provides a key for counterterrorist investigations
 When a group prepares for an attack, they commit
about four crimes prior to the attack 3 – 4 months
before the actual attack
 If law enforcement is aware of the types of crimes terrorists
commit – they are in a better position to stop an attack
 Jihadists in America
 Jihadists appeared in the U.S. prior to the 9-11
attack and remain active today
 Two types of Jihadist terrorist groups
 Interaction of the two may create a third group
 First group is composed of international Jihadists who
have come to the U.S. to launch an attack or engage in
criminal activities to support Jihadist terrorism
 Second style is homegrown Jihadist group
 Americans who adopt the Jihadist philosophy
 Third group is appearing – a hybrid combination of
homegrown and foreign terrorists
 International Jihadists
 Emerson – reports research supporting the
existence of a Jihadist terrorist
organization in the U.S.
 Emerson’s research group, Investigative
Project, has gathered an array of reports
 Many of the reports point to a Jihadist network inside
U.S. borders
 Homegrown Jihadists are appearing in the U.S.
 Critics of Emerson argue that
 He is sloppy with facts
 He arrives at incorrect conclusions after major
terrorist incidents
 He is Islamophobic
 Homegrown Jihadists
 Wahhabi missionaries covertly preach
religious militancy in America’s prisons
 Homegrown Jihadists appear in different
areas
 Groups with limited understanding of Islam
or the Jihadist movement may become the
greatest domestic threat
 Self-recruited, self-motivated, and self-trained
 Only direct contact with the Jihadists is through
the Internet
 Homegrown Jihadists
 Homegrown terrorists are produced in various
ways
 Born in the U.S.
 Immigrate and find themselves alone
 Gravitate to the Jihad to find a purpose in life
 Others leave the U.S. to join Jihadists overseas
 Hybrid form
 U.S. citizens recruited to train overseas
 Normative U.S. Muslims radicalized in their mosques
 Muslims radicalized in foreign countries and return to
the U.S.
 Nationalist Separatism: Puerto Rico
 A number of revolutionary organizations in Puerto
Rico embraced the nationalist terrorist campaign
 Puerto Rican terrorists have engaged in terrorist
activities on U.S. soil since the 1950s
 Planned assassination of President Harry Truman
 Shooting at members of Congress in the House of
Representatives
 In 1998 the House of Representatives asked for a
binding vote to determine Puerto Rico’s status
 46% of Puerto Rican voters wanted statehood
 3% wanted independence
 50% do not want to accept statehood, commonwealth
status or independence
 They did not say what they wanted
 Right-Wing Violence
 In the U.S. right-wing extremism has been around since
the 1700s
 Whiskey Rebellion
 Anti-federal attitudes were common in the early 1800s
 Anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, and anti-immigrant
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
 Operated in three phases
 Terrorizing African Americans
 1920s sought political legitimacy
 Collapsed in the wake of a criminal scandal
 Present day is dominated by hate filled rhetoric
 Development of modern KKK parallels growth of right-
wing extremism from 1930s to present
 Christian Identity
 Blend of Jewish and Christian biblical passages
 Based on premise God was white
 Identity theology is based on conflict and hate
 Christian Identity helped provide basis for
violence among the extremists
 Provided new twist to extremist movement
 Demonize Jews
 White people originated with God
 Jews came from the devil
 Contemporary Right-Wing
Behavior, Belief, and Tactics
 Right-wing extremism came to fruition around 1984
and has remained active since that time
 Issues holding the movement together
 Right-wing tends to follow one of the extremist religions
 The Name of God is usually invoked
 The movement is dominated by belief in conspiracy and
conspiracy theories
 Followers feel they are losing economic status because of sinister
forces
 Followers continue to embrace patriotism and guns
 They want to arm themselves for a holy war
 Contemporary Right-Wing
Behavior, Belief, and Tactics
 Stern – Three issues rejuvenated the extremist
right
 The Brady Bill
 Ruby Ridge standoff
 Branch Davidian siege
 Religious messages changed in the 1990s
 Patriotism and anti-Semitism as strong as the Christian
Identity message
 Movement mutated after 9-11
 Following the pattern of international terrorist groups
members of right-wing groups organized chains or hubs
 Small groups operating autonomously engaging in more
individual violence
 Right-Wing Conspiracies, Militias,
and the Call to Arms
 1990s Nordic Christianity took root in Michigan,
Wisconsin, Montana, and Idaho
 Claim to worship the Triune Christian Deity
 Creatorism rejects Judaism and Christianity
 Claim the Creator left each race to fend for itself
 Call for a racial holy war (RAHOWA)
 Free-Wheeling Fundamentalists include in its ranks a
majority of right-wing extremists
 Federal and local governments are the enemy
 God will assist them in their confrontation of evil
 Right-Wing Conspiracies, Militias,
and the Call to Arms
 Militias thrive on conspiracy theories
 Believe the U.S. government is leading the
country into a single world government
 New World Order
 Militias are generally issue oriented
 Groups gather around taxes, abortion, gun control,
and/or Christian Identity
 Militias are almost always religious
 Rely on violent passages of Christian scripture as
justification
 Many militia members unable to cope with changes in
the modern world are frustrated
 May be extremists, but not necessarily terrorists
 Right-Wing Conspiracies, Militias,
and the Call to Arms
 Paramilitary groups consist of armed civilian
militias organized into a military manner
 Operate on different levels
 Freemen of Montana
 Paramilitary groups come in a variety of
shapes and sizes
 Most of their action is rhetorical
 Third Position tried to unite left-wing radicals
and right-wing reactionaries
 Both share hatred of government and large
corporations as well as distrust of the media
 Turner Diaries
 Decline of the Left and Rise of
Single Issues
 Left-wing terrorist groups dominated terrorism
in the U.S. from 1967-1985
 Riley & Hoffman – left-wing groups engaged in
symbolic violence
 Intellectual elites controlled the movement
 Lost its base when student activism began to
disappear from American academic life
 Government actions, improved police tactics,
and lack of tolerations for violent activities
may have contributed to the decline of left-
wing terrorism in the U.S. and Europe
 Decline of the Left and Rise of
Single Issues
 Left-wing terrorism transformed
 Ecological and animal-rights extremists have united
 Variety of names
 Myriad of extremist causes
 Focus on particular causes
 Individual harassment and property destruction
 Earth Liberation Front (ELF)
 Monkey Wrench Gang
 Ecoterrorists
 From 1995-1999, damages totaled $28.8M
 Destruction of animal research laboratories, sabotage against industrial
equipment, raids against farms
 Ecology as surrogate religion
 Positions are contradictory
 Black Hebrew Israelism
 Black Hebrew Israelism is an African American
version of Christian Identity
 Claims that black Africans were the original
Israelites
 Hulon Mitchell, Jr.
 Nation of Yahweh
 Demonized whites, called for their destruction
 Beheaded members who tried to leave
 FBI indicated that it has the potential to become a
violent group
 Critics argue that the FBI overreacted to a set of beliefs
 Others argue the FBI has identified dangerous violent
religious trends
 Anti-Abortion
 Abortion is a heated topic
 Most pro-lifers denounce violence as contradictory to their
beliefs
 Violent pro-lifers justify their actions in the same manner as
other political extremists
 Manual of the Army of God
 Nice – abortion clinic bombings are related to several social
factors
 Most occurred in expanding areas of population (urban areas)
 Abortion bombers feel compelled to act by social and political
circumstances
 Individuals who kill abortion doctors felt murders were necessary
to make a political statement
 Abortion debate represents a political issue with positions
identified by militant extremes
 Perfect example of terrorism