Donna Perry: The Chilling Reality of the American Citizen Terrorist
Thursday, May 02, 2013
It’s not news at this point to observe that America’s war on terror entered a new phase shortly before 3pm on Monday, April 15th along Boylston Street in Boston. The Marathon bombings not only led to the dramatic and deadly pursuit of the alleged perpetrators behind them, the Tsarnaev brothers, but also altered, in mere moments, the awareness by all Americans of the scope of the Islamic extremist terror threat and where it may lie. It brought it outside of the perimeter of the boroughs of New York City, where most Americans believed it dwelled, and thrust it down on a well-traveled street in the city that serves as the friendly and historic heart of New England.
The avalanche of information unleashed since the killing of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a deadline gunfire exchange with police, to the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has forced us to confront a changing profile of the potential terrorist. The chilling reality is that the new threat is less likely to come from the single-minded fanatic, fresh out of an overseas Al Queda training camp who just stepped off an airplane with some type of faked passport, but rather could well be in the form of the foreign born, but very assimilated friendly guy who lives in the apartment next door, and the reincarnated college student a few towns over who has valid American citizenship.
Although the evidence projecting an increased threat from American homegrown terrorism has been out there for a while, it seems it was not well understood by the public at large until April 15.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTVarious terrorist tracking sites and reports, including a comprehensive analysis put out by a London think tank just this past February, drew a profile of the new type of potential Islamic extremist terrorist willing to commit violent acts here on American soil, who likely has lived in various American cities for a fair amount of time. The report detailed the approximately 170 individuals who have been convicted on federal charges in American courts or in some cases, military tribunals, for being connected to Al-Queda terrorism plots against American targets since 1997. The report found that more than half those convicted, though foreign born, were partially raised here, had American educations, and were either actively enrolled or had been enrolled in some college level courses at the time of their apprehensions. It’s less clear if many of them had full American citizenship or possessed green cards, as was the case with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, even though the brother in custody, Dzhokhar, had full citizenship status. President Obama himself has noted that as American authorities have succeeded in putting pressure on Al Queda and some of the other better financed and more sophisticated terror networks, the hunt for new converts has been pushed to the margins, creating a recruitment atmosphere for more of these lone wolf attacks which though involving smaller plots, makes them tougher to track down. The alarming new reality has been cited by FBI and CIA officials as well. Former Bush administration CIA Director Mike Hayden has observed: “It’s not about us targeting or profiling certain nationalities…it’s about Americans recognizing Al Queda and other terrorism networks are targeting them, (transplanted individuals of Islamic background) now that they live here, to engage in violent attacks in the US...”
Obviously the Boston bombing investigation now involves multiple federal law enforcement and security agencies, will be the subject of multiple congressional inquiries, spans continents and has none other than the widow of the killed bomber dwelling right here in North Kingstown. On the local front, all we really know for sure is that the questioning by the FBI of Katherine Russell appears to be continuing, and there was an apparent short-lived inquiry into the role of a West Warwick man, Mikhail “Misha” Allakverdov. It’s been well chronicled that on-line terrorist sites and training videos likely played a role in the radicalizing of Tamerlan, questions remain about the role the Cambridge area mosque he frequented may have played, and of course the central inquiry into the infamous six month trip he took to the Russian Dagestan area continues.
The multi-pronged investigation will go on. But perhaps among the most difficult dilemmas the Boston attack presents to authorities is the need to craft a new playbook when it comes to tracking the current day Jihadist. In this new phase in the war on terror, the balance between our safety and our freedoms becomes an enormous challenge. They are the fundamental pillars of American strength, but when the potential threat could dwell in the next town, or even next door, they will be tested like never before.
Donna Perry is Executive Director of the RI Taxpayers organization, www.ritaxpayers.com.
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