DHS Focuses On Homegrown Terrorists
March 14, 2007
The Homeland Security Department said Wednesday it has created a unit to combat the threat posed by “homegrown terrorists” — citizens or legal residents who plot attacks from inside the nation’s borders.
“This phenomenon presents a real and serious challenge to our nation,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate panel.
Chertoff emphasized that violent extremists “represent a small, fringe element within the American Muslim community” and that members of that community have been “outspoken in their opposition to terrorist violence.” He noted that the last major attack by homegrown terrorists was the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
Homeland’s Chief Intelligence Officer Charles Allen’s new unit will address all forms of extremist activity but will focus mainly on the threat from radicalized Muslims. The group has met with officials in 18 cities from Albany, N.Y., to Sacramento to get a handle on the problem. Allen said members have found that radicalization is a growing problem in prisons and at universities and impressionable students are particularly susceptible to charismatic leaders aiming to “instill a brand of extreme ideology.”
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