CHICAGO — The Hutaree. The Fort Hood shootings. Jihad Jane. As more plots conceived by Americans are uncovered and more incidents of mass violence by Americans are committed, it may appear that we’re becoming our own worst enemy.
But 15 years after the Oklahoma City bombing, the most lethal act of terrorism in U.S. history until 9/11, experts say homegrown terrorism is not on the rise.
“I think it makes a nice headline or sound bite for a politician, but there’s just no clear evidence of any trend line here,” said Aziz Huq, a law professor at the University of Chicago.
Huq said the Fort Hood shootings could be better attributed to an individual psychological breakdown than to the perpetrator’s connections to a Yemeni cleric, for instance, distinguishing the shootings from an act of terror.
Charles E. Tucker, Jr., who is executive director of the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University, said rates of domestic terrorism have either remained constant or even lowered.
“We’ve had organized crime in this country for years,” he said.
Like Huq, Tucker questioned the definition of domestic terrorism, citing mob violence and gang warfare as other crimes that could be included in this category.
“I’m unimpressed with the fact that we have a new group and we’ve put a different label on them,” he said.
The USA PATRIOT Act defines domestic terrorism as “activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state; appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”
According to the FBI, 345 of the 481 terrorist acts in the United States from 1980 to 2001 were domestic. There were 24 incidents of domestic terrorism from 2002 to 2005, after the foreign terrorist attack on 9/11.
The FBI recognizes different categories of domestic terrorists, including eco-terrorists, lone offenders and sovereign citizens.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a report last year warning that the election of the first African-American president, the potential for increased regulation of firearms and the poor economy could fuel rightwing extremist groups. The report, titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” drew comparisons to the rise in extremism in the 1990s under similar political and economic circumstances.
“To the extent that these factors persist, rightwing extremism is likely to grow in strength,” the department wrote in the report.
Tucker said one of the best strategies to combat this kind of terrorism is to show the perpetrators to the world.
“It’s hard to look at them and not see them for how ridiculous they are,” he said.
Timothy McVeigh, who was found guilty in the Oklahoma City bombing and executed in 2001, became “a tragic, comedic figure” for his perceptions of the government that led him to violence, Tucker said. He said he wondered if McVeigh would have blown up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building if he had known that would be his legacy.
“Would he have actually lit the fuse?” Tucker said.
