Comparing Pre- and Post-9/11 Terrorist Attacks in America

Introduction

The Oklahoma City Bombing was a domestic terrorist attack perpetrated in 1995 by Timothy McVeigh — a Gulf War veteran — and Terry Nichols, a former Army serviceman who had obtained a hardship discharge after only a year in service. The two targeted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in retaliation for the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs. More than 150 people were killed in the blast and nearly 700 more were injured (Collins, 1997). The Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting occurred in 2016 and was committed by Omar Mateen at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Florida. Mateen was motivated to act by the killing of Abu Waheeb in Iraq and swore allegiance to the Islamic State before being shot and killed by Orlando police after a brief standoff (Doornbos, 2016). Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 more.

These two attacks serve as useful comparison points because each involved actors motivated by hatred for the U.S. government or triggered by actions taken by that government against others. In the case of the Oklahoma City Bombing, McVeigh and Nichols were outraged by the government's treatment of the Branch Davidians at Waco, where the ATF laid siege to the compound, set it on fire, and killed the men, women, and children living there (Collins, 1997). In the case of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Mateen was angered by the U.S. government's role in destabilizing the Middle East and targeting the Islamic world. He was taking revenge for the government's killing of Muslim civilians abroad (Greenwald & Hussein, 2018).

The two attacks also illustrate how terrorist attacks have evolved over time. The Oklahoma City Bombing was a carefully plotted attack that took months to plan. The Orlando shooting was far less premeditated — Mateen had not even selected his target until minutes before opening fire (Greenwald & Hussein, 2018). This evolution demonstrates that terrorist attacks today are often more impulsive, spur-of-the-moment reactions carried out by individuals who can hide in plain sight — as was the case with Mateen, who worked as a security guard by day. By contrast, McVeigh and Nichols essentially lived off the grid for months, if not years, before carrying out their attack on the federal building and the innocent people who had no direct connection to the events at Waco or Ruby Ridge (Collins, 1997).

Pre-9/11 Terrorist Event: The Oklahoma City Bombing

The Oklahoma City Bombing was essentially a revenge attack by McVeigh and Nichols. Largely in response to what they perceived as an unjustified assault by the government on American citizens at Waco and Ruby Ridge, the two decided to strike back by targeting government workers and their families at the federal building in Oklahoma City. The attack was coordinated between the two, though some suspected that additional individuals were involved. A third co-conspirator, Michael Fortier, was charged for knowing about the plot and failing to warn the authorities. Both terrorists held strong anti-government sentiments. McVeigh wore a shirt bearing quotes from Brutus and John Wilkes Booth — two assassins — as well as a quote from Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" (Michel & Herbeck, 2015).

The perpetrators of the Oklahoma City Bombing used a truck bomb to attack the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. A rental truck was packed with approximately 5,000 pounds of explosives. McVeigh and Nichols loaded the truck together before separating; McVeigh then drove the truck to the building, parked it outside, and detonated the device. After the explosion, McVeigh drove onto the interstate but was arrested for driving without a license plate and carrying a concealed weapon.

Authorities initially suspected the same group responsible for the first World Trade Center attack. However, as they examined footage of the truck bomber and analyzed available evidence, they concluded this was an act of homegrown terrorism. Federal authorities linked McVeigh to the bombing through eyewitness testimony and physical records, and they tied him to both the Fortiers and to Nichols. The Fortiers entered into a plea bargain and testified against McVeigh, who was subsequently sentenced to death. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Michael Fortier received a 12-year sentence for failing to notify authorities about his foreknowledge of the bombing plot.

Post-9/11 Terrorist Event: The Orlando Pulse Nightclub Shooting

The nature of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting was similar to that of the Oklahoma City Bombing in that it was a revenge killing for what the terrorist believed to be unjustified attacks by the U.S. government on a civilian population. In this case, Mateen believed the U.S. government was targeting Muslims in the Middle East and was responsible for the deaths of innocent Muslim civilians (Doornbos, 2016). Mateen revealed his motive in a 911 call made after the shooting: "You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They are killing a lot of innocent people" (Doornbos, 2016).

Mateen used a 9mm Glock handgun and a semi-automatic rifle to shoot into the crowd at the nightclub. He did not select the venue because it was an LGBTQ establishment; rather, he chose it because it was within driving distance from where he was the night he decided to act, and it offered the least resistance in terms of police presence and on-site security (Greenwald & Hussein, 2018). There was no other substantive planning behind the attack. His wife testified that Mateen had been driving between several clubs that night, attempting to determine which one to target. The defense consequently argued that no advance plan or plot existed, which was why they contended that his wife should not be prosecuted for foreknowledge of the attack.

Mateen called 911 immediately after opening fire and confessed to being the shooter. Despite this, he remained inside the club for approximately three hours and did not surrender. The standoff between the terrorist and police ended in a shootout that left Mateen dead. His wife was later prosecuted for aiding and abetting in the terrorist attack (Greenwald & Hussein, 2018). The Islamic State recognized Mateen as one of their own following the attack. Some speculated that the attack was actually motivated by Mateen's own internal conflict over sexual identity, but the evidence for this claim has not been verified (Greenwald & Hussein, 2018).

Conclusion

The terrorism seen in the Oklahoma City Bombing was perpetrated by two Americans who had served in the military. They were not motivated by religious extremism but by deep anti-government sentiment, and they were furious about the government's role in the Waco massacre and the Ruby Ridge standoff. Their goal was to strike back at the federal government in a major way, and they did so by packing a rental truck with explosives and detonating it outside a federal building — aiming to maximize casualties among both government employees and civilians. The Orlando shooter's goal was to take revenge for the U.S. government's bombing of Muslim populations in the Middle East. As a follower of the Islamic State, he killed those gathered at the club as an act of retaliation. In both cases, the underlying dynamic was blowback from government actions.

The methods of killing, however, were far simpler in the second case: the terrorist needed only firearms and the impulse to act. The Orlando attack was far more impulsive and required virtually no planning. This reflects a meaningful shift in the nature of terrorism — from operations requiring months of off-grid preparation to ready-made acts of violence enabled by the always-on infrastructure of the Islamic State's online network. In 1995, McVeigh and Nichols had to fly below the radar with little external support, which paradoxically made them harder to detect. Today's HUMINT analysts and intelligence agencies should focus more attention on social media, where terror networks openly encourage one another, promote their ideologies, and prepare their followers to act whenever the impulse strikes.

References

Best, R. A. (2002). Intelligence to counter terrorism: Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service: CRS Report for Congress.

Collins, J. (1997). Oklahoma City: The weight of evidence. Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986240,00.html

Doornbos, C. (2016). Transcripts of 911 calls reveal Pulse shooter's terrorist motives. Retrieved from https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/os-911-calls-released-orlando-shooting-20170922-story.html

Greenwald, G., & Hussein, M. (2018). As the trial of Omar Mateen's wife begins, new evidence undermines beliefs about the Pulse massacre, including motive. Retrieved from https://theintercept.com/2018/03/05/as-the-trial-of-omar-mateens-wife-begins-new-evidence-undermines-beliefs-about-the-pulse-massacre-including-motive/

Michel, L., & Herbeck, D. (2015). American terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. BookBaby.