The analytic challenges of shifting to domestic terrorism

ABSTRACT

After many years of fighting the Global War on Terrorism, the U.S. Intelligence Community is increasingly focusing on the issue of domestic terrorism. This shift in analytic effort raises intriguing questions about the most appropriate tools needed to combat this growing threat. This article addresses the historical approach and possible solutions from similar countries and organisations before proposing a broader focus on extremist movements over designated terrorist groups.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The leftist groups included the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), the Shining Path, the Khmer Rouge, the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front – Dissidents (FPMR-D), the Japanese Red Army (JRA), the Tupac Amaru Revolution Movement (MRTA), Revolutionary Nuclei, and the Revolutionary Organisation 17 November (17N).

2 The Palestinian groups included the HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement), Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC), DFLP-Hawatmeh Faction (DFLP), the DFLP-Hawatmeh Faction (DFLP), and the Abu Nidal Organisation.

3 The Islamic extremist groups included the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Gama’a al-Islamiyya, Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM), Hizballah (Party of God), and the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

4 The ethno-nationalist groups included Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Fatherland and Liberty or ETA), the Kongra-Gel (formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party or KGK), and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

5 The remaining groups included the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo, the radical Orthodox Jewish group Kahane Chai (KACH), and the Iranian opposition group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

6 Several groups on the list have been affiliated with and even directly subordinate to both al-Qa’ida and ISIS in their lifetimes, thus making the distinction between al-Qa’ida or ISIS groups meaningless for our purposes here.

7 The understudy of domestic terrorism relative to international terrorism is not just a U.S. problem, but is a global issue in terrorism research.

8 The tactic of ‘Leaderless Resistance’ was popularised by White supremacist Louis Beam Jr. in an essay in his magazine The Seditionist.

9 The FBI and DHS define a ‘lone offender’ as ‘an individual motivated by one or more violent extremist ideologies who, operating alone, supports or engages in acts of unlawful violence in furtherance of that ideology or ideologies that may involve influence from a larger terrorist organization or a foreign actor.’

10 Please note, however, that some larger incidents fall into this ‘other’ category because the reports do not differentiate between numerous motivations and instead refer to ‘Multiple threat actors – including DVEs adhering to various DT ideologies and criminal actors … ’ which artificially increases the ‘other’ category at the expense more specific designations. Examples of such incidents include the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the nationwide protests in the summer and fall of 2020.

11 Again, the January 6th insurrection and 2020 protests skew the data somewhat since no fatalities are listed for either incident in the FBI/DHS reports.