[Infowarrior] - Homeland Security team to focus on U.S. Terrorists

[Richard Forno]

Homeland Security team to focus on U.S. terrorists
By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON ‹ 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.
Impressionable students are particularly susceptible to charismatic leaders
aiming to "instill a brand of extreme ideology."

€There are groups in the USA that serve as "gateways" for radicalization.

€Extremists "manipulate social situations to create perceptions of
victimization" and then provoke police or political responses that can be
used as propaganda.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said
Europe has a bigger problem with homegrown terrorists. The London and Madrid
train bombings were carried out by citizens or longtime residents.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the top Republican on the committee, said the
government's efforts to secure the nation's borders and screen airline
passengers help keep out foreign terrorists but don't protect against the
rise of terrorist cells.

Chertoff said some Muslim groups are working with his office to combat
radicalization. Jenn Kauffman of the Arab American Institute said her group
looks forward to working with Homeland Security.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council,
said the USA does not have the extremism seen in Muslim communities
elsewhere.

"It's the Muslim community's role to eliminate violent extremism, which is
what it is doing," he said.
 
 
 
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-14-homegrown_N.htm?POE=NEWIS
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