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Backgrounder: Militant Extremists in the United States

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Holly Fletcher

April 21, 2008

The September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington were the most destructive ever on U.S. soil. But law-enforcement officials have also long struggled with a range of U.S.-based terrorist groups. Domestic extremists include hate groups motivated by ultra-conservative ideals that are often anti-Semitic and racially motivated; ecoterrorists who use violence to campaign for greater environmental responsibility; and socialist groups who oppose the World Trade Organization. While homegrown Muslim extremists have proven more lethal in Europe than in the United States, U.S. authorities continue to worry about the prospect of attacks by militant Muslims who are American citizens. Domestic extremists have a “longstanding [sic] trend” of committing terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2002–2005 Terrorism Report (PDF), the bureau’s latest comprehensive report on such incidents.

Do homegrown terrorists pose a threat to the United States?

Yes, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. The September 11 attacks—the biggest and deadliest terrorist plot ever executed in the United States—were carried out by foreigners, but the twenty-four terrorist incidents that occurred between 2002 and 2005 were carried out by domestic extremists, according to the FBI. The most notorious recent case of domestic terrorism was the April 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people and injured more than 500.

Is domestic terrorism a new phenomenon?

No. It has existed for more than a century, dating back at least to the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. Extremists across the political spectrum—including white supremacists, Puerto Rican separatists, abortion opponents, and environmentalists—have used a variety of terrorist tactics to pursue their goals.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.