Homegrown Terrorists Don’t Fit Single Mold
By: Mark Rockwell
GSN, 10/28
The hows of the most recent alleged plot to blow up commuter trains in Washington D.C. are laid out in stark in detail in the Federal affidavit, but the understanding the details of why the alleged plan was made could be more important to defend against future events.
Farooq Ahmed of Ashburn, VA was charged Oct. 27 with planning to plant bombs at four Virginia commuter rail stations. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he believed he was communicating with Al Qaeda operatives in the plot. Those operatives were really FBI officers.
While the details of how he allegedly gathered and disseminated information on planting and detonating the bombs are clear, the reasons he allegedly did what he did are less so. “He apparently has a wife, has lived in the same neighborhood for years and works for a telecommunications company,” said Germain Difo, author of a study titled “Enemies Among Us: Domestic Radicalization Cases After September 11.” Those mundane facts wouldn’t seem to make him a disaffected radicalized terrorist, he said.
Difo’s study examined 132 cases of domestic radicalization in the U.S. since September 11, 2001 and was done for the American Security Project, a non-profit, bipartisan public policy and research organization that follows national issues.
In an interview with Government Security News, Difo cautioned law enforcement and others against trying to button-hole domestic terrorist using personality profiles. A broader investigative effort is needed, he said. While Ahmed’s alleged plot does tie into the increase in U.S. citizens or residents attempting such actions, the reasons he may have wanted to do it probably won’t line up exactly with any past attacks, Difo said.
That’s the problem with domestic terrorists, said Difo. The reasons behind their actions are almost unknowable and almost impossible to predict with any certainty. “We’re only starting to learn how it works,” he said.
“Alienation is a big factor and is probably at the root” of why radicalized homegrown terrorists make such plans, said Difo. It’s what turns the alienation into action or plans to act that is troubling. The reasons are as different as individual people, he said.
Increased communications and a frank, open discussion with the Islamic community and the community at large would do more good than law enforcement intervention once a plan is formed, he said.
