Law enforcement’s over-reliance on profiling and informants will not counter the small but dynamic homegrown terrorist threat, says an October 2010 report from the bi-partisan American Security Project (ASP). The study examined 132 cases of domestic radicalization in the U.S. since 9/11 and found that there is no clear demographic profile for homegrown terrorists or set of known triggers likely to lead an individual to violent extremism. The report recommends the U.S. develop a more nuanced strategy for countering the evolving threat that relies on addressing the drivers of domestic terrorism.
“Enemies Among Us: Domestic Radicalization Cases After September 11” describes the circumstances surrounding an individual deciding to commit acts of domestic terrorism as “numerous and varied as the cases themselves,” and that no accurate profile exists to predict who will most likely become violent. “Individuals arrested for and convicted,” the report finds, “do not fall into any pattern of age, national origin, economic class, or favored style of clothing. There is no identifiable profile.”
According to the report, the pathways to violent extremism in America remain largely misunderstood by law enforcement and the intelligence community. Rather than identifying and addressing the underlying issues that motivate people to want to commit terrorist attacks, U.S. counterterrorism officials focus on the factors (e.g. participation on a “jihadist” websites) that help transform a law abiding citizen into someone willing to commit acts of violence. “[I]t is very difficult to map with any degree of clarity or consistency who is most likely to take the step from radicalization to violence, and when and why an individual may do so,” the report says.
To counter this threat the report recommends a comprehensive strategy that does “not hinge on successfully stopping every individual instance of radicalization, but on trying to minimize and manage risk at the macro level.” Instead of relying on operational approaches by law enforcement, such as conducting covert surveillance operations, the use of informants and racial profiling, the report says a successful counterterrorism strategy would address the real or perceived feelings of exclusion and alienation on which violent extremism survives. This does not mean we should sacrifice “our vital strategic goals to avoid feeding into violent extremist narratives,” but rather a “clear-eyed realization that our actions and choices are not undertaken in a vacuum: they can be critical factors helping contribute to the root-level drivers of domestic radicalization or helping to provide a bulwark against them.”
According to their website, ASP is “is a non-profit, bipartisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues, promoting debate about the appropriate use of American power, and cultivating strategic responses to 21st century challenges.”