The Latest - Homegrown Terrorism
The Homegrown Terror Threat
Homegrown terrorism has been much discussed on cable news channels and the op-ed pages of major newspapers in recent months. The attention is unsurprising. After all, 2009 saw more homegrown terrorist activity in the U.S. than any other year since the 9/11 attacks, and the phenomenon continues to threaten the country in the new year. more...
Times Square Bomber Discusses Taliban Ties at Plea Hearing
During a plea hearing in New York on Monday, Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1, pled guilty to all of the charges levied against him and discussed his ties to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (the TTP, or Pakistani Taliban). In a back and forth with District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, Shahzad said he had made a "pact" with the TTP. more...
Reflections on Brian Michael Jenkins’ ‘Would-Be Warriors’
Recently RAND released a new paper by Brian Michael Jenkins entitled Would-Be Warriors: Incidents of Terrorist Radicalization in the United States Since September 11, 2001. The paper constitutes a competent contribution to the study of homegrown terrorism; it is worth reading for both its analysis and also the data set it contributes. more...
Time Square message: Many ‘lone wolves’ attempts makes it a terror campaign
In the first few hours following the discovery of the car bomb in Time Square and the subsequent arrest of Faisal Shahzad at the airport, New York’s Governor David Patterson labeled the foiled car bomb attack in Times Square an “act of terror.” Janet Napolitano, our secretary of Homeland Security described it as “potential (then) act of terror.” Gradually US officials agreed, as information was gathered and more arrests were made, that this was an attack with the goal of mass killing in an urban area. Indeed, if the three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components found in the back of the Nissan Pathfinder, had exploded they would have –in the words of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly “caused a significant ball of fire.” New York’s Mayor Bloomberg said the explosion could have caused “huge damage on a block of Broadway theaters and restaurants teeming with tourists.” In short, federal and local officials understand clearly that the SUV-bomb was aimed at killing a large group of New Yorkers and visitors, causing severe damage to the area and a shock to the public (who would be traumatized by the sight of such pictures), had the “act of terror” been successful. more...
American-born Shabaab commander releases recruitment tape
An American-born member of Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has released a propaganda tape that is aimed at recruiting Westerners to wage war against their home countries and establish an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/05/americanborn_shabaab.php#ixzz1MjJFeuJ7 more...
Not A “One-Off” Event
On Sunday morning, Janet Napolitano twice suggested that the attempted attack in Times Square was a "one-off" event during an interview with ABC News. more...
FBI arrests Pakistani-American sought in failed Times Square car bombing
The FBI has detained a Pakistani-American suspect who was wanted for his involvement in the failed May 1 car bomb attack at Times Square in New York City. Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/05/fbi_arrests_pakistan.php#ixzz1MjEHeGCB more...
Did The “System” Fail, Again?
Faisal Shahzad, a 30 year-old naturalized American citizen from Pakistan, has been arrested as the chief suspect behind the failed car bomb attack on Times Square this past Saturday. The good news is, of course, that the bomb was fairly unsophisticated (showing a low-level of expertise), it failed to detonate (sparing the lives of New Yorkers and tourists), and the man believed to be responsible for assembling and deploying the car bomb was apprehended in short order. Authorities were able to pinpoint the would-be terrorist in impressively little time. more...
US-born cleric Awlaki “proud” to have taught al Qaeda operatives
An American-born Muslim cleric who is a senior member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has admitted to training two terrorists who carried out attacks against the US over the past six months. Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/04/usborn_cleric_awlaki.php#ixzz1MjBuywrj more...
The Next Wave of Jihadists
The arrest of “JihadJane,” aka Colleen Renee LaRose, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, 46-year-old American, ought to make us reflect on a major ingredient in contemporary jihadism: Westernization. European internal-security and intelligence officers have long feared Western converts to radical Islam—the type of people who once embraced Europe’s Cold War-era hard-core left-wing organizations. more...
Najibullah Zazi: Genome of the Homegrown Jihadist
Najibullah Zazi is not just an "isolated extremist" caught in September 2009 while crossing a New York bridge with plans to bomb few tunnels -- end of the story. Zazi's "jihad" story is way more than the impressive facts the Justice Department has already revealed. If we focus more on the journey of this determined jihadist, we would discover that one of the "genomes" of homegrown terror. In this essay, I'll only follow the government's release: more...
The Massacre at Fort Hood
Report #24 in the "Target: America" Series Overview •At approximately 1:30 pm CT on November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire on the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas. The Center is where soldiers are processed for deployment overseas. •Hasan, who was dressed in uniform, shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great") and proceeded to shoot for a 10 minute‐period killing 12 soldiers, one civilian, and injuring more than 30 others. •Hasan was confronted by two civilian police sergeants. Sergeants Mark Todd and Kimberly Munley both responded to the scene in separate cars. Sgt. Munley was wounded in an exchange of fire with Hasan. Witness reports confirm that Sgt. Todd shot and disabled Hasan, ending the rampage. •Hasan remains paralyzed from the waist down. To read the full report, please click here. more...
Ft. Hood: The Largest ‘Terror Act’ Since 9/11?
The Fort Hood killings, perpetrated by Major Malik Nadal Hasan a psychiatrist by training, no matter what the judiciary reports conclude is, for now, the largest single terror act in America since 9/11. more...
Daniel Patrick Boyd Charged With Plotting Attack on Quantico Marine Base
On Sept. 24, a superseding indictment was filed in the criminal case against Daniel Patrick Boyd and his codefendants. more...
KSM’s Sleeper Agents Posed A Serious Threat
You would think the identification and arrest of sleeper agents working for al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), and operating on U.S. soil in 2003, is a success story our intelligence and law enforcement agencies can rightly trumpet, no? more...
How Do They Radicalize Others?
The shooting in Arkansas last week that claimed the life of a 24-year-old soldier and the bomb plot that was disrupted in the Bronx in late May put questions about homegrown terrorism into sharp focus. more...
Inverse False Alarms
THE FBI'S NATIONAL SPOKESMAN was already prepared to dismiss a connection to terrorism the day after ricin was found in a Las Vegas hotel room. Special Agent Richard Kolko told the press on Feb. 29 that the presence of ricin appeared unrelated to terrorism "based on the information gathered so far." He made this announcement before any details about the incident hit the press--and when they did, it made the announcement seem premature, to say the least. more...
Special Preview: When Jihad Came to America
On May 2 and 3, 1990, the U.S. embassy in Cairo alerted its counterpart in Khartoum that Egypt’s “leading radical,” Omar Abdel Rahman, was on his way to Sudan. Warning that his ultimate plan might be to seek exile in the United States, the Cairo embassy asked its colleagues to pass along any information they might learn about his activities on Sudanese soil. more...
Terrorist TV in Eurabia
While much has been made about the anti-American bias of Arabic-language television networks like al-Jazeera in recent years, policymakers have largely ignored the incitement and violent propaganda emanating from satellite television stations that are owned and operated by Middle East terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hizbullah. These terrorist channels have played an important role in the radicalization of Europe's Muslim populations. Yet, few steps have been taken to prevent these channels from disseminating jihadist propaganda. more...
Symposium: The “Moderate” Muslim Brotherhood?
Just recently, the Muslim Brotherhood released its political platform, part of which would establish an Iranian-style mullah council overseeing Egypt's democratic institutions. It also prohibits Christians and women from serving as President. more...
Experts
Director, Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization
Military Affairs Fellow and Director, FDD’s National Security Fellows Program