Assaying the Terrorism Threat: The Next Five Years

(Compiler's note: A must read item. I encourage you to read the entire original article.)

by Harvey Kushner

Testimony given before the Future of Terrorism Task Force of the DHS, September 28, 2006 Washington, DC.

.... the radical Islamic threat in the twenty-first century will come from individuals and small groups residing inside this country. I document this infiltration in my latest book, Holy War on the Home Front: The Secret Islamic Terror Network in the United States .

These domestic terrorists will deviate from past terrorist practices. They will not duplicate the behavioral patterns our intelligence agencies and law enforcement authorities have come to expect.

Past al Qaeda behavior indicates a desire to commit large scale attacks against the United States.....

.... Traditional al Qaeda fighters stick to tactics and targets that have served them well. They appear unwilling to try something new or copy techniques of other Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It is by design that they leave it to others to experiment with new methods of attack, especially disenfranchised minorities inside American prisons. It is a matter of record that al Qaeda sympathizers in our prisons seek out men like "Dirty Bomber" Jose Padilla to convert to radical Islam. .... Inmate recruitment isn't just a problem in America. It is an international network of subversion, conversion, and recruitment,

.... The other significant recruiter for radical Islam is the media, especially the Internet. ....The truth is that the ability of the media to utilize radio, television, and the Internet to reach every nook and cranny throughout the world with its terrorist images makes any trauma, everyone's trauma. Instantaneous, albeit repeated, media images can traumatize as effective as a natural disaster. .... Terrorism being communicated through our media, our media being used by terrorism in an ever-shrinking world, and the new protocols we will require to deal with the trauma witnessed by the new technology will be increasingly as important as having to deal with the terrorist event itself.

....Large scale attacks on high-profile targets such as the US Capital will be avoided in favor of softer targets such as schools, hospitals, and shopping malls. Why? These softer targets are more accessible and familiar to home-grown terrorists desirous of "stepping up to the plate" in the name of radical Islam. It is as simple as that. A change to softer targets by radical converts, who are part of the American fabric, should give us reason to pause.

.... Radical Islamic converts will also find support at institutions of higher education. My many decades as a professor and administrator have shown me that the climate at colleges and universities is nearly always hospitable to the harshest critics of the United States. Institutions of higher education have always occupied a hallowed place in this country. They promote the free exchange of ideas and are rarely subject to government scrutiny. It makes colleges and universities the perfect place for radical Islam to hide, indoctrinate, and welcome new members to the fold.

Thinking outside the box is especially necessary given that the next attack(s) on US soil might come from home-grown terrorists. The latter will shape the direction of the terrorist threat over the next five years.