Terror From Within
America’s Weak Brainwashed to Terrorize
What Makes a “Homegrown Violent Extremist”?
“Homegrown violent extremists,” or HVEs, are individuals who encourage, endorse, condone, justify, or support the commission of a violent criminal act to achieve political, ideological, religious, social, or economic goals by a citizen or long-term resident of a Western country who has rejected Western cultural values, beliefs, and norms.[1]
HVEs are a diverse group of individuals — they can be U.S.-born citizens, or naturalized citizens, or permanent resident (“green card”) holders, or foreign students, or even illegal immigrants. Regardless of their citizenship status, these individuals intend to commit terrorist acts inside Western countries or against Western interests abroad.[2]
Radical recruiters use a variety of social media to encourage “disengaged” individuals already in the West to rise up and use their ability to blend into the local environment to avoid detection while planning a terrorist attack.
As recent terrorist attacks in both the United States and Canada have shown, lone gunmen demonstrate the potential danger, lethality, and effectiveness of a small-arms attack by a single individual.
In addition, the Internet provides these disengaged individuals ready access to propaganda and agents of all varieties of violent extremism.
In February 2015, FBI director James Comey said the threat posed by sympathizers of the Islamic State was escalating.[3]
“I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state,” Comey said in a speech at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General.
The Islamic State, Comey said, “is putting out a siren song through their slick propaganda through social media that goes like this: ‘Troubled soul, come to the caliphate, you will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times, you will find a life of meaning here fighting for our so-called caliphate, and if you can’t come, kill somebody where you are.’ ”
Similarly, Congressman Michael McCaul (Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security) recently said: “Extremists issued a ‘call to arms’ to attack an event, a radicalized follower clearly heeded that call, and he took steps to make sure his act of violence would spread and motivate more. Social media networks have become an extension of the Islamist terror battlefields overseas, turning homegrown extremists into sleeper operatives and attackers.”[4]
Is “Counter-Messaging” the Solution?
According to John Mulligan, Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, one of the most important elements of countering violent extremism (CVE) is “counter-messaging,” the creation of alternative narratives to radical jihadist propaganda being spread on the Internet and social media.
Working with local communities to ensure community voices are heard is critical to these efforts. However, many local communities do not speak up against terrorism, either due to its fear of becoming associated with violent extremism or because of the lack of resources to develop and disseminate anti-jihadist counter content.
Understanding the vital role CVE plays in curbing foreign fighters, since September 2014, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has engaged with critical stakeholders in Chicago, Columbus, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Boston and New York to assess options for addressing the threat of jihadist propaganda at the local level.
To increase CVE awareness in local communities, Johnson recently tasked the DHS Coordinator for Countering Violent Extremism to develop a new strategy to engage with local community partners, encourage communities to develop their own CVE initiatives and increase information sharing between DHS and state and local law enforcement, fusion centers and first responders.
“ISIS tailors its message for specific audiences around the globe and, in doing so, projects power far beyond its growing safe havens by amplifying its battlefield successes and winning over new converts across the world,” Congressman McCaul said. “Its media sophistication helps legitimize its self-proclaimed Caliphate and its perverse interpretation of Islam. Their tactics are a sea change for spreading terror, and they require from us a paradigm shift in our counterterrorism intelligence and operations.”
Overall, it would seem a well-orchestrated effort to counter radical messaging might be the Nation’s strongest means of resolving the growing HVE threat.
HOMEGROWN VIOLENT EXTREMIST, HOMELAND SECURITY, THREAT, COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
[1] This definition of “homegrown violent extremist” is a combination of the definitions for “violent extremist” and “homegrown violent extremist” that can be found in “IACP Committee on Terrorism, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group, A Common Lexicon” (Alexandria, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2012), www.theiacp.org/portals/0/pdfs/IACP-COT_CommonLexicon_Eng_FINALAug12.pdf.
[2] http://www.iacp.org/Portals/0/documents/HomegrownViolentExtremismAwarenessBrief.pdf.
[3] http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20150226-three-new-yorkers-charged-for-attempting-to-join-isis-in-syria.
[4] http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/daily-news-analysis/single-article/terrorism-gone-viral-jihadist-propaganda-creating-new-frontline-in-battle-against-extremists/933a16ddc0029d2289640c5e57d48570.html.
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