International and Domestic Threats to the US Terrorism

TERRORISM

Terrorism: International and Domestic Threats to the US

Introduction

There is no doubt that crime and its various aspects keep evolving over time. It therefore follows that the relevance of adapting the methodologies and approaches used to combat crime cannot be overstated. Similarly, in seeking to counter terrorism, there is need to be aware of the emerging trends of terrorism.

Discussion

The decision by the Department of Homeland Security – DHS to designate a total of $80 million towards efforts to counter domestic terrorism is not, in my opinion, optimal. The $80 million in this case happens to be part of the nearly $2 billion allocated to generally combat terrorism – with the millions allocated to fight domestic groups effectively representing approximately 4% of the total allocation. In my opinion, domestic counterterrorism efforts ought to have received a minimum of 10% of the total allocation. This is more so the case given that available data indicates that domestic terrorism (i.e. far-right, far-left threats) has been on an upward trend (Center for Strategic and International Studies – CSIS, 2022). In addition to being on an upward trend, domestic terrorism fatalities per year have also increased in recent times, i.e. when data from the 1994 to 2013 period is compared with that from the 2014 to 2021 period (CSIS, 2022). With the number of incidents or suspected incidents of domestic terrorism outnumbering those of international terrorism (i.e. jihadist; al-Qaeda, ISIS), there is need to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to counter domestic terrorism.

There is no doubt that at all that radical actions and beliefs have been impacted by political rhetoric and social media. For instance, according to O’Harrow, Tran, and Hawkins (2021), recent research indicates that most perpetrators of domestic terrorism are ‘social media junkies’ and tend to be lone operators – i.e. they operate independently. More specifically, in the words of O’Harrow, Tran, and Hawkins (2021), “some of those loners are prolific users of social media out of which they assemble a jumble of personal beliefs or ideologies...” The input of political rhetoric could be considered from the perspective of the attack on the U.S. capitol. The utterances of some politicians were largely blamed for the Capitol insurrection. This is one example of the political leadership inciting what could be deemed an act of domestic terrorism. With this in mind, there is no doubt at all that some of the most crucial considerations in as far as the radicalization process is concerned are social media and political rhetoric.

One other issue that could be behind the evolving threat environment is the amplification of what the Department of Homeland Security – DHS (2022) refers to as pre-existing misleading or false narratives by terror elements in the domestic or foreign realm. These narratives result in the erosion of public trust in existing organizations (i.e. churches and synagogues) and constitutional/government bodies and institutions – thus effectively making the said organizations or institutions a target of extremist attacks.