Muslim “Homegrown” Terrorism in the United States: How Serious Is the Threat?

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Risa A. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Muslim American ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
The Third ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Homegrown Terrorism

Since the September 11 attacks, analysts and public officials have expressed growing concern about the potential of Muslim citizens and residents of the United States to plot attacks within the country's borders—a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “homegrown” terrorism. To assess this apparent threat, it is necessary to examine what is known about the willingness and capacity of Muslim Americans to execute deadly attacks in the United States. Three conditions, either alone or together, could contribute to an increasing threat of homegrown terrorism. The first concerns what is known about the radicalization of Muslim Americans and whether a surge in arrests in 2009 indicates a growing trend in Muslim American terrorism. The second relates to the capacity of aspiring militants to avoid detection as they prepare attacks. The third depends on the skills of aspiring terrorists and therefore their capacities to execute increasingly sophisticated attacks. The analysis should be generally reassuring to those concerned about Muslim homegrown terrorism. On both analytical and empirical grounds, there is not a significant basis for anticipating that Muslim Americans are increasingly motivated or capable of successfully engaging in lethal terrorist attacks in the United States.

Crisis Agenda-Setting and Aviation Security Policy After the September 11 Attacks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary R. Lewis ◽  
Kathryn L. Schwaeble ◽  
Thomas A. Birkland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Aviation Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Aviation Industry ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
September 11 Terrorist Attacks

The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were a focusing event that greatly increased attention to particularly large acts of terrorism as a threat to the United States and to particular interests. One of these interests is the aviation industry. The September 11 attacks exploited features of the aviation industry that made it prone to attack and that made an attack on this industry particularly vivid and attention-grabbing. The September 11 attacks led to policy changes in the United States and around the world with respect to aviation security, but those changes were not made in a vacuum. The changes that followed the September 11 attacks were made possible by efforts to learn from the range of aviation security incidents and challenges that have faced commercial aviation throughout its history. While the September 11 attacks were shocking and seemed novel, prior experience with aviation security crises provided those working in the aviation security policy realm with potential responses. The responses were drawn from a set of politically feasible responses that addressed the lapses in security demonstrated by terrorist attacks. The history of policy changes related to terrorism in aviation parallel the changes to policies that were made across the board in response to the elevation of terrorism on the agenda.

Terrified

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Bail
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
American Media ◽  
The Face ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
The Public Sphere

In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.

scholarly journals Bioterrorism: Lessons Learned Since the Anthrax Mailings

mBio ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Imperiale ◽  
Arturo Casadevall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Bacillus Anthracis ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
September 11 Attacks

ABSTRACT In the fall of 2001, Bacillus anthracis spores were spread through letters mailed in the United States. Twenty-two people are known to have been infected, and five of these individuals died. Together with the  September 11 attacks, this resulted in a reevaluation of the risks and benefits of life science research with the potential for misuse. In this editorial, we review some of the results of these discussions and their implications for the future.

Death from Above

The Drone Age ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 55-95
Author(s):  
Michael J. Boyle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Targeted Killing ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Physical Risk ◽  
September 11 Attacks

Chapter 3 argues that drones undermine the legal and ethical prohibitions on assassination and extrajudicial violence outside of wartime. It traces the emergence of the practice of targeted killing from its origin to its embrace by the United States after the September 11 attacks. It shows how the United States adopted the use of drones alongside the practice of targeted killing to control risks as it fought a new war against al Qaeda, but found itself gradually drifting into more conflict zones and fighting new enemies. While the United States used drones to protect its pilots from physical risk, it altered the nature of the risks they faced and created new ones for the population who live under the drones. Drones also subtly changed how the United States wages its wars, making it more willing to countenance killing people outside of active battlefields. It concludes by discussing how more countries are now experimenting with targeting killings.

scholarly journals U.S. Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Habeas Case Brought by Guantánamo Bay Detainee Challenging His Continuing Detention

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-855
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Habeas Corpus ◽  
Past Time ◽  
Guantanamo Bay ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
The U.S

On June 10, 2019, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in a case in which the D.C. Circuit held that the United States could continue to detain an individual at Guantánamo Bay until the cessation of the hostilities that justified his initial detention, notwithstanding the extraordinary length of the hostilities to date. The case, Al-Alwi v. Trump, arises from petitioner Moath Hamza Ahmed Al-Alwi's petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the legality of his continued detention at the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay. The Supreme Court's denial of certiorari was accompanied by a statement by Justice Breyer observing that “it is past time to confront the difficult question” of how long a detention grounded in the U.S. response to the September 11 attacks can be justified.

US Dealings with Iran, 1979–1980

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-166
Author(s):  
Payam Ghalehdar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
British Military ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter serves as an introduction to the second part of the book’s empirical analysis by sketching the evolution of US attitudes toward the Middle East. It shows how the United States relied on the British military to safeguard US interests in the region until the end of the 1960s and then on regional proxies after the British military withdrawal from the region. Even after the end of the Cold War, successive US administrations eschewed hegemonic expectations toward the region until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The chapter concludes by briefly illustrating how the lack of both hegemonic pretensions and perceptions of anti-American hatred in Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait foreclosed US regime change in the 1991 Gulf War.

Enduring Freedom: Globalizing Children's Rights

Hypatia ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Constance L. Mui ◽  
Julien S. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Global Community ◽  
The World ◽  
September 11 Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Effects Of War ◽  
Moral Questions

Events surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States raise compelling moral questions about the effects of war and globalization on children in many parts of the world. This paper adopts Sartre's notion of freedom, particularly its connection with materiality and intersubjectivity, to assess the moral responsibility that we have as a global community toward our most vulnerable members. We conclude by examining important first steps that should be taken to address the plight of children.

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