Running head: THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 1

Current Status of Domestic Terrorism/Extremism:

A Survey of its Transformation in the U.S

THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 2

Current Status of Domestic Extremism/Terrorism: A Survey of its Transformation in the U.S

Since 9/11 intelligence agencies and law enforcement communities have been more able

to quench down traces of terrorism in local communities, but with all the counterterrorism

decisions, terrorism still prevails. There were 91 domestic terrorist attacks on U.S; the most

extensive attacks against businesses contributing a 42.9 percent, while the second-most frequent

attacks were against private citizens and property: a 24.2 percent (David Muhlhausen, D.,

McNeill, J.B. The Heritage Foundation. (2011). Retrieved from

https://www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data-international-and-

domestic-terrorism). To establish the current status of domestic terrorism one has to have an idea

of the history of terrorism in the U.S, the trends that are indicative of how this threat is

transforming, and our level of preparedness (or its lack thereof) in being able to identify, disrupt,

and respond to it.

History of Domestic Terrorism in the U.S

We can say that the history of terrorism dates back to 1856 when John Brown, American

abolitionist, launched attacks on the armory at Harpers Ferry (Chauhan, Y., Jaine, P., Lotha, G.,

Mahajan, D., Sampaolo, M., Tikkanen, A., Wallenfeldt, J. (1998) John Brown, American

Abolitionist. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Brown-American-abolitionist), or that it began in

the 1990’s prior to the 9/11 when a bomb-laden truck drove into the basement of the World

Trade Centre killing six people in the process and injuring more than 1000 (CNN Library.

(March, 2018). Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/05/us/1993-world-trade-center-

bombing-fast-facts/index.html). Whatever sparked terrorism in the U.S, there is no doubt that it

has spread like wildfire and now they aren’t only the right-winged, left-winged, or Islamic
THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 3

extremists who are reigning terror in the hearts of the civilians and the government alike, but

teenage students too who take upon themselves to reignite terror by their mass shootings in high

schools.

RAND (Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incident) showed in their research that from

2001 to 2009 46.2 percent of domestic attacks were carried out by arson (the highest number),

while 18.7 percent by bombing. However, terrorist activities were in full swing prior to 9/11.

Right-wing ideologies provided a base for the violence in that decade; Oklahoma City Truck

bombing killed 168 people in 1995, while Eric Rudolph bombed Atlanta’s Centennial Park in

1996 Olympics a year later (Bergen, P. (October 2017). CNN, The Nineties. Retrieved from

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/02/opinions/nineties-terrorism-bergen/).

Trends Indicative of Transformation of This Threat

Domestic terrorism has decreased since 2001 (where it was at its peak), dropped to zero

in 2007, and increased onwards gradually. See chart below. In 2017 two major terrorist attacks

took place in the U.S; one of them was a mass shooting in Texas High School in Santa Fe where

two teachers, and eight children were killed including Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange

student, who was attending YES Program and her academic year was about to end (Martin, B.,

Berman, M., Achenbach, J., Wang, A.B. (May 20, 2018). The Washington Post. Retrieved from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/05/19/ten-killed-in-texas-high-

school-shooting-were-mostly-students-police-say-suspect-confessed). The second incident

occurred when a speeding car hit into a crowd of protestors killing one and injuring 19 in

Charlottesville, Virginia. The suspect, James Alex Fields, Jr., was found guilty and charged for
THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 4

the crime (CNN Library. (2018). Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/u-s-

terrorist-attacks-fast-facts/index). The Heritage Foundation (2011) states: ‘Most acts of terrorism

against the United States occur outside the nation’s borders.’ As the chart below indicates,

domestic terrorism has decreased from 33 in 2001 to 4 in 2009, but even in this short period, 91

domestic terrorist attacks took place in the U.S. (The Heritage Foundation. (2011) Retrieved

from https://www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data-international-and-

domestic-terrorism). According to RAND, in 2001-2009, domestic terrorism resulted in 53

suffering from injuries, while the Fort Hood Massacre resulted in 30 more injuries that enlarged

the total number of injured people from domestic terrorism to 83.

Mass shootings have increased in the U.S being above 300 in 2018. The recent shooting

in Arizona in a bar is the 309th mass shooting of 2018 in the U.S that left two people dead and

two injured (abc15 news. (November 2018). Retrieved from

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-southern-az/other/globe-bar-shooting-one-in-

custody-after- shooting-overnight).

abc15 news (October 2018) also stated that

according to an NGO known as

‘Everytown for Gun Safety’, 65 total

shootings took place in high schools in the

U.S on 4th of October.

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Source: RAND and The Heritage Foundation

Level of Preparation: Identifying, Disrupting, and Responding to Terrorism

Now that an idea of ongoing domestic terrorism has been portrayed, one asks how to

overcome this global issue? Do we individually know how to tackle an incident if we are in it? If

so, can we destroy terrorism from its very roots? Since the mass shootings in the U.S many

articles and what-to-do manuals have been published to provide basic help to anyone who might

be on the grounds of an incident. What to Do When There’s an Active Shooter by Christine

Hauser provides a detailed guide to what to do when a shooter opens fire. Her advices are

simple; ‘Do not pull a fire alarm…Instead, yell “gun” or “gunman,”’ ‘Don’t stop to grab your

belongings, not even your cellphone,’ and ‘Turn off lights. Do not talk with others in the room if
THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 6

the gunman is nearby.’ (Hauser C. (February 2018). The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/survive-active-shooter).

‘Ghost Guns’, Homemade and Untraceable, Face Growing Scrutiny by Christina Caron

is an article depicting that homemade guns cannot be tracked and websites selling guns without

serial numbers should be closed down (Caron, C. (2017). The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/us/ghost-guns-gabby-giffords). Other articles such as How

to Reduce Mass Shooting Deaths? Experts Rank Gun Laws by Margit Sanger-Katz and

Quoctrung Bui, Are Mass Murderers Insane? Usually not, Researchers Say by Benedict Carey,

and Preventing Mass Shootings: Examining Solutions by Marwa Azab shows people trying to get

to the roots of these incidents providing reasons such as mental illness and revenge, and solutions

such as gun control and arming teachers (Sanger-Katz, M., Bui, Q. The New York Times. (2017)

Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/books/review/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/upshot/), (Azab, M. (2018). Psychology Today.

Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neuroscience-in-everyday-life).

It can be concluded that people can identify terrorist activities and are emerging to

educate and prepare themselves for any incidents in the future to come out of them safely. Even

more so is the want to eliminate domestic terrorism through various solutions depicted in the

articles.

Conclusion: Future of Terrorism/Extremism

THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 7

There are mixed views regarding the future of terrorism. While some complain that the

government hasn’t been doing enough, or if it has the people do not know about it, others think

in years to come domestic terrorism will end. According to Laicie Heeley (2018), ‘The U.S.

spent $4.8 million per day on counterterrorism activities last year, but we're not certain—and

that's the point’ (Heeley, L. (2018). Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/09/11). She

points out that, ‘At the same time that government spending has increased, transparency

with regard to that spending has decreased.’ On the other hand, Nathan A. Sales,

Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism, made a statement in 2017 saying

that as terrorism evolved, America at large must evolve too to tackle it and bring it down.

He not only stated that U.S should educate itself in handling terrorism, but also to arm

itself with all the necessary skills needed to confront it, after giving his solutions to the

terrorism problem mainly: ‘the protection of soft targets’, causing a ‘free-flow of information’,

and the teaching of handling terrorist investigations. (Sales, N.A. (2017). U.S Department of

State. https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/rm/273894.htm).

References
THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 8

David Muhlhausen, D., McNeill, J.B. The Heritage Foundation. (2011). Retrieved from

https://www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data-international-and-

domestic-terrorism

Chauhan, Y., Jaine, P., Lotha, G., Mahajan, D., Sampaolo, M., Tikkanen, A., Wallenfeldt, J.

(1998) John Brown, American Abolitionist. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Brown-American-abolitionist

CNN Library. (March, 2018). Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/05/us/1993-world-

trade-center-bombing-fast-facts/index.html

RAND Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents through The Heritage Foundation.

Bergen, P. (October 2017). CNN, The Nineties. Retrieved from

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/02/opinions/nineties-terrorism-bergen/

Martin, B., Berman, M., Achenbach, J., Wang, A.B. (May 20, 2018). The Washington Post.

Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/05/19/ten-killed-in-

texas-high-school-shooting-were-mostly-students-police-say-suspect-confessed

CNN Library. (2018). Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/u-s-terrorist-attacks-

fast-facts/index

The Heritage Foundation. (2011) Retrieved from

https://www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data-international-and-

domestic-terrorism

abc15 news. (November 2018). Retrieved from https://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-

southern-az/other/globe-bar-shooting-one-in-custody-after-shooting-overnight
THE FUTURE OF EXTREMISM/TERRORISM 9

Chart 5. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved from

https://www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data-international-and-

domestic-terrorism

Hauser C. (February 2018). The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/survive-active-shooter

Caron, C. (2017). The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/us/ghost-guns-gabby-giffords

Sanger-Katz, M., Bui, Q. The New York Times. (2017) Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/books/review/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/upshot/

Azab, M. (2018). Psychology Today. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neuroscience-in-everyday-life

Heeley, L. (2018). Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/09/11

Sales, N.A. (2017). U.S Department of State. https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/rm/273894.htm

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