Question

this a criminal justice topic

Which do you believe is more dangerous to the American public, domestic terrorism or international terrorism? Why?

Answer 1

The acts of international terrorism are perpetrated by groups and/or individuals that are associated with or inspired by the foreign terrorist nations (or state-sponsors) and/or terrorist organizations. Domestic terrorism, on the other hand, is terror acts, that are perpetrated by groups or individuals that are associated with or are inspired by movements based in the USA primarily. These domestic terror groups often have the extremist ideologies relating to the racial, social, religious or political nature.

Any form of terrorism including domestic or international terrorism results in loss of life and property for all countries including the USA and has many other grave and dangerous implications. A recent statement by FBI or Federal Bureau of Investigation USA, reports that number of Americans have been killed due to domestic terrorist acts when compared to international terrorist attacks since the September 2011 attack on the World Trade Centre. The FBI also points out that domestic terrorists are an evolving threat that causes economic harm and violence, and the danger is persistent in nature.

As we can see domestic terrorism is causing more harm in the USA when compared to international terrorism and hence maybe even worse for the American public as of now. The Patriot Act provides the Federal Government of USA a number of resources that it can use to combat international terrorism. The Federal Government can conduct surveillance on any suspected terrorist, obtain the financial records and can also conduct undercover sting operations. But, the domestic terrorists get more legal latitude and can express their views freely. For instance, the FBI may be restrained towards opening an investigation for a person who expresses and opinionates in favor of a white nationalist party or group but can do it freely when someone favors Al Qaeda through his or her opinions. The First Amendment offers protection for free speech and a person is free to espouse any ideology even if it is a hate one in the USA. International terrorists do not get this material support. Domestic terrorist may also get material support in the form of logistics and financial assistance and the law and regulatory bodies may fail to address the issue before it is too late. Until a domestic terror group is found to be linked to an organization abroad, FBI and other regulatory bodies do not have enough substance or proof to start an investigation. The FBI can address the terrorism cases and open investigations not on the basis of ideologies, but on the basis of suspicion of criminal violations.

The judicial charges and sentences framed and indicted for the domestic terrorist also do not use the word “terrorism”. For instance, Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber) and Ted Kaczynski faced execution and life sentence respectively for their terror acts, but the word “terrorism” or “terror” did not appear in the court indictment.

Because of the underlying circumstances and constraints, there are many more cases of domestic terrorism when compared to international terrorism being addressed and investigated by the FBI. FBI was investigating around 850 cases of domestic terrorism in May 2019.

The Government of the country is using more resources, alliances, and other ways of facing and defeating Islamic terrorism. But problems of domestic terrorism including that of white nationalism and terrorism are not countered with the same unity of effort or vigilance.

There may also be certain economic dimensions to the problem of domestic terrorism. For instance, immigrants have been replacing Americans in jobs and many of the jobs of the country were also outsourced, fuelling nationalistic ideas, domestic terrorism, and white anger. The rise of nationalistic leaders like Donald Trump to the American presidency may also be attributed to the same fact.

Domestic violence and terrorism have multiple facets in the USA. These include the anti-abortion terrorism and violence, eco-terrorism and other kinds of terrorism and foundation of terrorist organizations like the Animal Liberation Front. The white supremacist and neo-nazi organizations like Aryan Nations and Atomwaffen Division are also existent in the country. There are also certain black terrorist groups like the Black Panther Party, which have been blamed to murder 13 police officers. These groups and individuals are a cause of domestic violence. As the groups and their members are part of the society and intermingled, it is quite difficult to identify them.

The totality of facts brings to fore the greatest threat posed by domestic terrorists in the USA, which is of much larger magnitude when compared to international terrorism. While the country and its governments use all available resources to combat international terrorism the inherent restrictions imposed by the constitution and other circumstantial factors limit the efforts and outcome to contain domestic terrorism, which is the leading cause of loss of life due to terror in the USA. Hence I believe that domestic terrorism is more dangerous to the American public when compared to international terrorism.