EDMG340 Assignment 3 – Investigate Terrorist Threats on a Global Perspective

The following post was originally submitted as a homework assignment:

Week 3 Assignment

Jeremiah Palmer (4145412)

AmericanPublicUniversity

EDMG340

Christian Kazmierczak

11/08/2012

For the purposes of this assignment, students were asked to compare and contrast domestic and international terrorist groups or individuals; attempting to satisfy the domestic terrorism element of this assignment became a challenge. Researching domestic terror groups can prove to be a difficult task, assumedly due to the desire to keep current investigations quiet; groups and individuals that have been prosecuted or publicly named, however, are easier to research by the public. A brief search for domestic terrorists did not yield any list of published groups or individuals, other than those published on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list; as of the time of this writing, only seven “domestic terrorists” were listed.

Though it may seem that domestic terrorism isn’t much of an issue—where so few results were discovered—other sources reveal that the existence and threats of domestic terrorism are quite real and an area of concern. In a document obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive (Richelson, 2012), it is seen that the FBI still actively trains their agents and law enforcement for domestic terrorism—domestic terrorism defined as U.S. nationalists committing terroristic acts “at home”, as opposed to foreign or alien nationalists committing acts on U.S. soil. In this document—A Threat Assessment for Domestic Terrorism 2005-2006—the bureau references the “classic” examples of domestic terrorism: anarchists, extremists, activists, supremacists and militia groups (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). Of these examples, two organizations are specifically named under the activist/extremist category; these named organizations are also associated with three of the seven individuals listed as “most wanted” by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation: Domestic Terrorism, 2012).

Animal rights activist/extremists are noted to hold the belief that animals are not of the rights of man; many—particularly those on the extremist side—are not against taking action against those seen as exploiting animals. Eco-terrorists have similar views as the animal rights extremists, with regard to—as the name suggests—the exploitation of earth’s natural resources, flora and fauna. Both groups of activists/extremists may work in unified sects or individually, and can potentially use elevated force or violence in order to gain attention or prove a point. Named examples of such activist/extremists are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF). The FBI notes that these organizations typically attempt to cloak communications via unknown Internet sites and protocols unaffiliated with known/published sites claiming to be “official” or otherwise; as such, many of those involved are young and somewhat “tech-savvy”. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007)

Though there might be some decline in animal and eco- terrorism—due in part to the enacting of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act—the Bureau warns that the fanaticism of the respective groups’ members will not allow for the dampening of spirits (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007); instead groups may find alternate avenues to relay points to those committing acts against animals and nature, until a time when a corporation or scientist “goes too far.”

Researching international terrorism seems to be quite an easy task, as it seems the government hasn’t much fear in allowing the world to know of our enemies. The FBI has listed a number of individuals wanted for terrorism—the majority having ties to various Muslim/Islamic organizations, save a few communist and Columbian terrorists. The Department of State has also published a listing of terrorist organizations, the vast majority being Islamic as well, with the exception of a few Columbian, communist organizations and two factions of the Irish Republican Army (U.S. Department of State, 2012).

There is no real difference between the actions of domestic and international terrorists with regards to methods of action; both of these broad classes act in violent or forceful manners, wreaking havoc upon a community and deeply affecting others lives. Differences, however, do exist in the targets of terroristic acts; for example:

Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, Rebecca J. Rubin and Josephine Sunshine Overaker—three of the FBI’s wanted domestic terrorists—were indicted for terroristic acts, including arson; the three are/were members of an ALF/ELF group known as “The Family”. Rubin and Overaker were named in connection of the burning of structures at a ski resort in Vail, Colorado (Cable News Network, 2008; Federal Bureau of Investigation: Eco-Terrorist Sentenced, 2012; PR Newswire, 2006). This sort of action is fairly common of an animal extremist/eco-terrorist; the property involved was that of a profit organization and not a government entity. Had there not been notification and claims of responsibility made to local media (Cable News Network,1998), the case would have most likely been investigated as an act of domestic terrorism anyway.

Husayn Muhammad al-Umari, a.k.a. Abu Ibrahim, has been wanted by the FBI since 2009 for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 830 on August 11, 1982 (Federal Bureau of Investigation: Most Wanted Terrorists, 2012). Al-Umari, though not the direct perpetrator of the event, is wanted for his role in connection to the bombing. The bombing of Flight 830 was conducted by Mohammed Rashed, a.k.a. Rashid Mohammed, for the 15 May Organization—a faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (U.S. Department of Justice, 2006). The 15 May Organization, like many Palestinian radical/extremist groups, target Israeli and American civilians and governmental leaders over Israel’s “right to exist”. Al-Umari is the founder of the 15 May Organization.

Personally, when it comes to acts of terrorism, I see domestic terrorism as a greater risk than those of international terrorism; while there may be a greater number of potential acts and actors on the international spectrum, there tends to be a greater unknown on the domestic side. International terrorists will most likely select targets which are representative of, or facilitate governmental function or policy. Due to the patterns and targets of international terrorists, our nation has been able to implement a number of policies and protocols for investigating and gathering intelligence related to international terrorism. Domestic terrorists, on the other hand, have the greater potential of evading preventative measures and going unnoticed. Additionally, domestic terrorists are more likely to be the “guy next-door”—a notion which I find quite unsettling.

Others may disagree, and say that someone overseas, acting in a capacity akin to Osama bin Laden is the greatest danger; personally, I’d prefer a bin Laden-like character over Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, or the latest breed of domestic terrorist—James Eagan Holmes.

References

Cable News Network. (1998). Group claiming credit for Vail fires says the aim was to help lynx. Web. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from:

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2007). A Threat Assessment for Domestic Terrorism 2005-2006. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/402525-doc-30-threat-assessment-domestic-terrorism.html

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2012). Eco-Terrorist Sentenced: Help Us Find Remaining Operation Backfire Fugitives. Web. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20160604205007/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/march/eco-terrorist_032012/eco-terrorist_032012

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2012). Wanted by the FBI: Domestic Terrorism. Web. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/dt

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2012). Wanted by the FBI: Most Wanted Terrorists. Web. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists

PR Newswire. (2006) Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front Members Sentenced in Oregon for Acts of Eco-Terrorism in Five Western States. Web. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20160111103240/http://www.prnewswire.com:80/news-releases/animal-liberation-front-and-earth-liberation-front-members-sentenced-in-oregon-for-acts-of-eco-terrorism-in-five-western-states-57884802.html

Richelson, J. (2012) Documenting the FBI: Declassified Documents Provide New Detail on Confronting the Terrorist Threat – from al-Qaeda to Skinheads. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 386. National Security Archive, George Washington University. Web. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB386/

U. S. Department of Justice. (2006). Jordanian Man Sentenced In 1982 Bombing Of Pan Am Flight From Tokyo To Honolulu. Web. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2006/March/06_crm_172.html

U. S. Department of State. (2012). Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Web. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20190514225518/https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm