Chapter Thirteen: Conceptualizing Terrorism in America

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Chapter ThirteenConceptualizing
Terrorism in America
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Early Studies of Domestic Terrorism
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Early Studies of Domestic Terrorism

• H.H.A. Cooper and the National Advisory
  Commission
• Cooper and his coauthors provided the conceptual
  framework for domestic terrorism
• They presented a series of recommendations for
  emergency response
• Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism

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Early Studies of Domestic Terrorism

• Ted Robert Gurr and J. Bowyer Bell
• 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 nineteenth century was primarily
  aimed at protecting the status quo and the
  economic environment
• Some vigilante actions equaled terrorism, e.g.,
  the Ku Klux Klan
• The shift toward left-wing violence was derived
  from foreign models
• Even though the United States has avoided
  significant domestic terrorism, both criminals
  and political activists have used terrorist
  tactics on a local level
• Nationalistic terrorists from Puerto Rico have
  been far more successful than revolutionaries at
  launching terrorist campaigns because they have
  an indigenous base of support

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Early Studies of Domestic Terrorism

• Gurrs three types of terrorism
• Vigilante terrorism
• The purpose of vigilantes is to defend the status
  quo or return to the status quo of an earlier
  period
• Insurgent terrorism
• Insurgent terrorism aims to change political
  policies through direct threats of action against
  the government
• Transnational terrorism
• Transnational terrorism occurs when nonindigenous
  terrorists cross national boarders

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The Problem of Conceptualizing Terrorism
in the United States
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The Problem of Conceptualizing Terrorism in the
United States

• Reasons police departments have not prepared for
  terrorism
• American police officers do not spend a lot of
  time thinking about terrorism A number of U.S.
  law enforcement agencies remain focused on local
  issues
• Although U.S. law enforcement officers routinely
  deal with terrorism, they call it something else
• Even after September 11 most domestic terrorism
  goes unnoticed
• William Dyson has identified nearly three hundred
  terrorist incidents between September 11, 2001
  and December 2004
• Terrorism developed slowly in America. Terrorists
  did not routinely target the United States until
  1982

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The Problem of Conceptualizing Terrorism in the
United States

• Hate crime
• The term hate crime is frequently used with
  terrorism
• Hate crime is a legal definition, not a
  manifestation of terrorism
• Hate crime is a specific violation of the law

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice
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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• Issues police and security forces should keep in
  mind
• A beat police officer is usually the first
  responder to domestic terrorism
• The investigation techniques used in large,
  sensationalized terrorist incidents are the same
  techniques a local agency would use to
  investigate a stink bomb placed in the locker
  room of a high school football team
• Counterterrorism depends on the fundamentals

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• Spectrum of conflict
• The spectrum was a continuum that ranged from
  low-intensity conflict to full-scale war. This
  scale probably more correctly reflects the human
  condition than the belief that we can either be
  at war or at peace. It also helps us understand
  terrorism

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• Whites typology
• Whites typology is a typology to train military
  and police personnel in counterterrorism
• The first measure shows the level of activity
• The second line represents the type of activity
• Generally, the larger a group, the greater its
  potential for terrorist violence
• Terrorists are free to move between the criminal
  and political boundaries
• The final continuum illustrates the type of
  response

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• The National Advisory Commission on Criminal
  Justice Standards and Goals, Task Force on
  Disorders and Terrorism
• The report cites several types of terrorism
• Political terrorism is described as violent
  criminal behavior designed to produce fear for
  political outcomes
• Nonpolitical terrorism is designed simply to
  produce fear quasi-terrorism involves
  nonpolitical terrorist activities during the
  commission of crimes

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• John Harris and the FBIs tactical typology
• White leftists
• Puerto Rican leftists
• Black militants
• Right-wing extremists
• Jewish extremists
• According to Harris, all domestic terrorist
  groups, with the exception of Puerto Rican
  nationalists, lack an indigenous base, and they
  tend to have localized ideological bases. Types
  of groups are generally defined by location
• American terrorism does not affect all local
  police agencies in the same manner

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• Domestic Terrorism (DT) and International
  Terrorism (IT)
• DT involves violent political extremism,
  single-issue terrorism, and lone wolf or
  berserker activities
• IT is defined as threats that originate outside
  the United States. The FBI defines activities on
  the basis of origin
• For DT, political extremism involves violent
  left- and right-wing extremists. Single issues
  include violent activities associated with
  debates over abortion, ecoterrorism, animal
  rights, and genetic engineering. Lone wolves are
  included in the category when their actions are
  politically motivated
• IT is composed of three subsets state-sponsored
  terrorism, clearly defined autonomous groups, and
  Jihadists

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Classifying Terrorism in Criminal Justice

• Brent Smiths categories of terrorist groups
• Right-wing extremists
• Form a category by themselves
• Left-wing and single-issue terrorists
• Single-issue groups, criminal gangs, ecologists,
  and old-style leftists
• International terrorists
• The remaining group

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism
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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Difference between the average criminal and the
  average terrorist
• The factor separating the average criminal and
  the average terrorist is motivation
• Smiths findings
• American terrorism grew increasingly to a high
  level about 1985, just at the time the government
  was improving its counterterrorist tactics
• Smith believes ecological terrorists have a great
  potential for violence in the future

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Difference between American terrorists and their
  international counterparts
• Native-born U.S. terrorists tend to be older than
  international terrorists, and foreign operatives
  working in the United States follow that trend
• Funding
• Those on both the left and the right tend to fund
  themselves through armed robberies

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Smiths right- and left-wing comparison
  categories
• Ideology and beliefs about human nature
• Economic views
• Geographic bases of support
• Tactics
• Selection of targets

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Difference between left- and right-wing terrorism
• Left-wing terrorists favor Marxism, target the
  economic status quo, base themselves in urban
  environments, and select symbolic targets of
  capitalism
• Right-wing terrorists are vehemently anti-Marxist
  and very religious. In addition, they support the
  economic system without supporting the
  distribution of wealth, base themselves in rural
  areas, and focus attacks on symbols of
  governmental authority
• Left-wing terrorists were more active in the
  1980s than right-wing terrorists
• Left-wing groups tend to follow the Marighella
  model of revolution, whereas right-wing groups
  stay in fortresses in rural areas

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• The May 19 Communist Organization (M19CO)
• The M19CO united several violent leftists under a
  common umbrella in 1977
• The MC19CO was most active from 1980 to 1984
• By 1989, all members of the M19CO wither were in
  prison or were in hiding

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• United Freedom Front (UFF)
• The UFF was composed of mainly anti\-Vietnam War
  activists and protestors
• The UFF became infamous for its ability to bomb
  American businesses

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Ecological terrorists
• Evan Mecham Eco-Terrorist International
  Conspiracy
• Focused on land-use issues, attacking developers
  and loggers
• Animal Liberation Front
• Protests the use of animals in scientific
  experimentation

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Smiths Analysis of Domestic Terrorism

• Laws regarding terrorism in the United States
• Laws regarding terrorism in the United States are
  exceptionally vague
• International terrorists tend to plead guilty
  more frequently than right-wing and left-wing
  terrorists
• Left-wing terrorists fare the best in court,
  whereas few right-wing cases are dismissed
• Limited data indicate terrorists receive
  substantially longer sentences than traditional
  criminals
• Terrorism is a matter of attitude

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics
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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• Jihad in America
• Jihadist organizations took root in the United
  States during the Soviet-Afghan War
• Emerson linked the 1993 World Trade Center
  bombing to the domestic terrorist networks before
  the government convicted some of their members
• Once the mujahadeen and their associates came to
  the United States, they found a hospitable
  environment
• For the first time in its history, the United
  States housed a terrorist infrastructure that
  stretched from the American heartland all the way
  through the Middle East to Southeast Asia

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• Abdullah Azzam
• Emerson credits Abdullah Azzam, one of the
  founders of al Qaeda, with the construction of
  the financial network
• Azzam understood the vast amount of support
  available in the United States after helping to
  establish the Alkifah Refugee Center in New York
  City
• The Alkifah Refugee Centers Arabic letterhead
  called for holy war

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• Prominent officials in the domestic jihad
• Tamim al-Adnani is the most vigorous recruiter
  and successful fundraiser among all the leaders
• Elsayyid Nossair
• Emerson says the most important holy warrior
  operating in the United States was Sheik Omar
  Abdel Rahman
• Sheik Abdul Wali Zindani, who has been involved
  in assassinations and bombings around the world,
  has taken Rahmans place

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• Terrorist groups in the United States
• Under the name Aqsa Vision, theIslamic
  Association for Palestine (IAP) is Hamass chief
  propaganda arm in the United States
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has a base in
  Tampa, Florida
• Hezbollah also has a network in the country
• Emerson claims to have found more than thirty
  radical Middle Eastern groups in the United States

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• John Suggs criticism of Emerson
• Sugg believes that Emersons conclusions about
  terrorism are painfully incorrect, but the
  Investigative Project can point to the arrest of
  alleged PIJ members in southern Florida as
  evidence of success
• Ibrahim Hoopers criticism of Emerson
• Hooper believes that Emerson is overly critical
  of Islam, calling Emerson an Islamophobic

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Steven Emersons View of Jihad and His Critics

• Nihad Awads criticism of Emerson
• Awad, head of CAIR, attacked Emersons research
  in written testimony in the Senate Subcommittee
  on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security.
• Awad agrees with Hoopers label Islamophobic