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Domestic Terrorism
Melenni
[Institutional Affiliation(s)]
Author Note
Domestic Terrorism
The September 11 attacks in the U.S. served as a major turning point in how terrorism came to be perceived, leading it to form a global coalition against it. However, the problem of domestic terrorism soon became an even more concerning issue especially with the rise of right-wing extremism across the nation, who were essentially motivated by the same elements as global terrorists are. To understand and counter these elements and motivations at the domestic level can be challenging because members of these groups have their civil liberties protected by the constitution and often find political support among right-wing conservative lawmakers. In this regard, online communications monitoring and profiling may help law enforcement and homeland security in identifying potential attackers and preventing attacks.
Domestic terrorism, by its function, includes activities occurring within the geographical boundary or the jurisdiction of the U.S. A common source are far-right organizations motivated by anti-regulatory, anti-government, or white-supremacist beliefs, often including extremist Christian groups seeing themselves as crusaders in upholding their traditional culture, or beliefs. Moreover, there are certain communist and anarchist factions who reject U.S. taxation, currency, federal or state laws CITATION Gal12 \l 1033 (Galhotra, 2012). Thus, racism, religion and anti-government thinking underpin these organizations manifesting itself in the form of hate crimes, attacks on particular communities, or attacks on abortion clinics.
Over the past decade, law enforcement has generally made significant strides in understanding the nature of homegrown terrorism. One reason is due to the role and influence of domestic political issues in motivating violence and crime. Any domestic act of terrorism usually involves an individual or group of people enraged by a few issues, with access to means of causing mass casualties and the ability to travel; however the matter becomes complicated owing to the constitutional protections which allow people to have radical extremist beliefs and voice these beliefs as long as it does not involve supporting a violent terrorist group or engaging in crime. Yet, the line between behavior and constitutional rights can be thin. In this regard, the Supreme Court’s decision, which held that those individuals who are connected to terrorist organizations cannot be said to be exercising free speech if they speak or write in favor of that group, provided clarity and lay grounds for a counter-terrorism approach to prevent domestic terrorism CITATION Whi16 \l 1033 (White, 2016).
When formulating a counter-terror approach in the case, it is necessary to abide by the constitutional protections afforded to individuals. In this regard, their speech, writings, and open source communications can lead investigators into determining their motivations and extent of radicalization. When an individual sympathizes with a radical group or shares their ideology, they are likely to act in that cause, or on behalf of the group. Restricting communication would not only be costly but also raise political and civil liberty concerns. Therefore, using behavioral markers to profile individuals likely to engage in violence through fixation, leakage, and identification. Identification involves tracing their links or identification with a cause or a role-model, leakage involves communications with a party that contemplates harm towards a target, while Fixation involves the individual's pathological preoccupation with the cause or individual. Together, these behavioral markers serve as useful indications of someone inclined towards or intending a terror attack. Similarly, individuals that are known to be active on certain radical platforms or websites have to be identified and their open source content be investigated and analyzed to establish intent. These can be done through tracing the individual's use of certain phrases or keywords associated with the radical ideology they belong to CITATION Bry13 \l 1033 (Brynielsson, et al., 2013). Together with behavioral markers, a significant increase in the use of keywords can point law enforcement towards establishing their object of focus, helping them to establish intent and narrow their monitoring to search for plans that can be unintentionally or intentionally leaked.
To conclude, domestic terrorism is a threat on par with global terrorism and the approach towards countering the threat has to evolve with changing times. Analyzing the communications of these organizations and connected individuals will help law enforcement create profiles that will aid them in narrowing down potential threats while not overtly violating their constitutional rights. This will allow investigators to plan their counter-measures and prevent potential domestic threats.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY Brynielsson, J., Horndahl, A., Johansson, F., Kaati, L., Mårtenson, C., & Svenson, P. (2013). Harvesting and analysis of weak signals for detecting lone wolf terrorists. Security Informatics, 2(1), 1-15. doi:10.1186/2190-8532-2-11
Galhotra, S. (2012, September 17). Domestic terror: Are we doing enough to combat the threat from within? Retrieved April 3, 2019, from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/16/us/domestic-terrorism/index.html
White, J. R. (2016). Domestic Terrorism. In Terrorism and Homeland Security (9th ed., pp. 280-301). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
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