Understanding Domestic and International Terrorism in the United States

The assignment content highlights the threat of domestic terrorism in the US, specifically right-wing extremism. It emphasizes that this type of terrorism is a significant concern as it targets social distinction and inequality within society. The report also touches on international terrorism, citing the 9/11 attacks as an example. The main conclusion drawn is that domestic terrorism is a major threat to national security and that effective strategies need to be implemented to prevent such incidents.

Running Head: English Paper
Research paper on Terrorism in USA

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Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
Terrorism in the US is defined as “A systematic and threatened indulgence in violence for
creating a general climate of intimidation and fear for the government or the population and
hence bringing ideological, political or religious changes” (Encyclopædia Britannica , 2018).
Acts of terrorism can be classified into internal or domestic terrorism and international
terrorism. Domestic terrorism refers to the acts of violence or terror that are caused by agents
that are internal to the US. These are the incidents that can be traced to terrorist masterminds
belonging to several parties within the state or acts of terrorism incited by the state actors
within the territory of the US. International terrorism refers to the acts of terrorism within the
US that are masterminded by agents that are of international origins such as outside terrorist
groups like the ISIS and Al Qaeda that originate outside the boundaries of the US. Data
extracted from the Global Terrorism Database in 2017, revealed that out of the total 65 terror
attacks in the US in the year 2017, 37 were caused by the right-wing extremist groups. 11
attacks were launched by the left-wing extremists and 7 terror attacks were related to Islamic
extremism (Romero, 2018). Thus, it is evident from the available statistics that the US is most
vulnerable from the internal acts of terrorism carried out primarily by the rightists, and the
leftists and the least from Islam-sponsored terrorism within the country. The US also holds
substantial threat from the instances of terrorism that breed in nations outside the boundaries
of the US, the most potent being Islamic terrorist groups such as the ISIS.
Discussion:
In the United States, there have been many cases of terrorism where many innocent people
have lost their families and their lives. Since 1980, there have been many remarkable terror
attacks which have taken place. There have been three people and 23 people who have died
and severely injured in terrorist attacks between the years 1978 and 1995. In 1993m there has
been another deadly attack which has taken the lives of almost 6 people and injured1000
people in a bombing taken place below the building of the World Trade Centre. In 1995,
there has been another memorable incident of Oklahoma terrorism where 168 people have
been killed and almost 700 people have been injured. In the year 1996, a bomb exploded in
the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta during the time of the Summer Olympic. In the year
2001, the members of the al Qaeda have hijacked four passengers of the U. There were two
aircraft of which one hit the Twin Towers located in New York and the second one hit
Pentagon located in Pennsylvania. In the incident, more than 2900 people have lost their

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lives. In 2013, near Boston Marathon, there has been a double bomb blast taking lives of
three people and injuring more than 265 people. In 2015, a Navy Sailor and four US Marines
have lost their lives in an open firing in Chattanooga. In the same year, 14 people have lost
their lives in the hands of a married couple who have are believed to be the self-radicalized.
In 2016, almost 49 people have lost their lives in the hand of an America born man, Omar
Mateen. In 2017, one person dies and several people were injured in the speeding car slams
taken place in Charlottesville. In the same year, there has been another incident which has
also taken the lives of eight people. These are some of the remarkable unfortunate incidents
of the United States which have taken place in the last couple of decades (CNN , 2018).
It has been seen there has been a decline in the number of the deaths due to terrorism in the
last year. This 27% decrease in the terrorism deaths is quite significant as compared to the
years which have witnessed many deadly cases. In different parts of the United States, there
have been many cases where the deaths due to terrorism have taken place. The military
actions have been made more powerful and the national governing bodies have also taken
active participation in reducing the impacts of the terrorist attacks. It has been seen that in the
year 2017, Pakistan has not taken any proactive steps in curbing the terrorism and the groups
which are operating their militant activities from different parts of Pakistan. These attacks are
quite threatening for the United States. There have been two prominent terrorist organizations
like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar e-Tayyiba. Pakistan has not taken any measure to
control their militant activities and hence, they have the courage to raise money openly along
with their open recruitment and training which also take place in Pakistan (Browne &
Hansler, 2018).
Domestic terrorism includes terrorist or militant acts which have been carried out by the
citizens of the United States or by the permanent US residents. It has been argued that before
the United States could come up with any legal definition of domestic terrorism the act of
terrorism has been conducted by the residents. The USA PATRIOT Act which falls under the
current law of the United States, considers the dangerous acts to human life which are the
acts of violating the US national or state-level criminal laws are the terrorist acts. The
intended intimidation or coercion of the civilian population and the act of influencing the
government policy by assassination, mass destruction or even kidnapping is also considered
to be domestic terrorist act as these have been taken place within the US territorial
jurisdiction. The Anti-abortion violence is also an act of terrorism as per the US law when it
takes place in association with the bombing, murders, assaults and vandalism against the

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people and the organizations providing abortion counseling or abortions. There are many
domestic terrorism groups and organizations like Alpha 66 and Omega 7, Animal Liberation
Front, Army of God, Aryan Nations, Black Liberation Army, The Covenant, the Sword, and
the Arm of the Lord, Earth Liberation Front, Jewish Defense League, Ku Klux Klan, and
May 19 Communist Organization etc. There are certain notable domestic terrorist attacks in
the United States such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Milwaukee Police Department
bombing took place in the year of 1917, Wall Street bombing which has taken place in 1920,
Burning of Black Wall Street which occurred in 1921, and Unabomber attacks between 1978
and 1995. There have been many other domestic terrorist acts such as the Jewish Defense
League attacks taken place between 1980 and 1985, Centennial Olympic Park bombing
which has taken place in 1996, and the incident of Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting which has
taken place in 2012. The bombing incident of Boston Marathon is also another incident of
domestic terrorism. The most notable domestic terrorism is the bombing in Oklahoma City
which has taken place in 1995 (Jacobs, 2017).
The international terrorism in the United States is the act of terrorism conducted by the
people who are not the residents of the United States. There have been many such militant
attacks which have taken the lives of innocent people. The incident of 9/11 is considered to
be the "war of terror" in the United States and probably all over the world. There has been an
international terrorism which includes the Manhattan truck attack. There have been many
incidents where the United States has suffered from international terrorism conducted by al-
Qaida or Isis. The whole world is the witness of the international terrorism attacks taken
place in 2001. These are some of the international terrorist attacks taken place in the United
States (Ainsley & Windrem, 2018). The international terrorism is not only affecting the
civilian population of the United States but also affecting the entire economy and political
system of the country. The mass killing, hijacking, kidnapping, and other militant acts have
taken place in the US. These types of attacks have threatened the Americans badly as they
conduct the terrorist attacks either from outside the United States. There are many terrorist
groups which are operating from different parts of the United States but they are actually
parts of any other international terrorist groups. The main aim of international terrorists is to
kill as many people as they could. These are highly alarming situations when the international
terrorists are openly killing the population of the country is on their own soil. There should be
mass protests from every nation against terrorism. The governing bodies and the military
actions need to be more strong and powerful to keep the terrorism controlled and curbed. In

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the current time, it has been seen that the trend of international terrorism in the United States
has been changing and becoming more threatening than before. It is not because one or two
notable groups or terrorist organizations, it is because of the many other groups and
organizations which might be latent now but anytime can pose a serious threat to the United
States (Bergen, 2017).
From the above chart it is evident that in the US, the majority of terrorism threats emerge
from within the nation. Since 2008-2017, most of the domestic terror attacks have been
caused by the right-wing extremists. As compared to them, the acts of terrorism and violence
created by the left-wing extremists and the Islamic extremists are very rare. Hence, more than
the international terrorism, America should be more concerned with the spreading instances
of right-wing sponsored extremism (An ADL Center on Extremism Report, 2017). The right-
wing extremists are the ones that are a believer in the ideology that there should social
distinction in terms of hierarchy and class. Power and authority should rest with the ones that
are in the higher ranks in society and there should be inequality within society such that all
the people do not have the same power and authority. This is in opposition to the left-wing

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extremist beliefs that voice for social equality and equitability. The Islamic extremists within
the country carry out attacks often as they are against the law of democracy and they want the
Sharia Law to be observed within the US. Hence, it is explicit that the US faces a substantial
threat from internal or domestic terrorism as compared to international terrorism. The damage
in financial terms amounted to around $652 million (An ADL Center on Extremism Report,
2017).
Source: ADL Center on Extremism Report 2017
From the above statistics, it is evident that domestic extremist killings have been the major
threat for the US as compared to internationally-sponsored terrorism. Since the year 1970 till
2017 there have been several domestic extremist killings in the US out of which the most
gruesome 5 have been depicted in the above facts and figures. Out of them, the most
detrimental incident was the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 which killed around 168
people as per the official records. Unofficially, the figure stood at a whopping 184 which is
the deadliest acts of violence in the US history post-1995 (An ADL Center on Extremism
Report, 2017). The incident encompassed a domestic terrorist truck bombing act on the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, located in the Oklahoma City, on the morning of 19th
April 1995. The act was perpetrated by two individuals named Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols, both of whom were American domestic terrorists. The incident occurred at 9:02 AM
and the blast killed around 168 people as per the official records and caused injury to more
than 680 individuals. The damage was so severe that almost one-third of the building was
damaged. The explosion was of gargantuan proportions and the magnitude was such that it

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destroyed 324 other buildings within a radius of 16-blocks and the glasses of around 258
buildings in the vicinity were shattered. Around 86 cars were damaged or incinerated. The
Oklahoma bombing can be accounted for as an act of terrorism which is sponsored from
within the nation and it targeted the US Federal Government as a measure of retaliation on
the Ruby Ridge and the Waco Sieges issues (Shariat, Mallonee, & Stephens, 1998).
The other major concern for the US is the internationally-sponsored acts of terrorism. At a
time, the US had to worry about international terrorism only at the time when the US citizens
had to visit another country. There was no significant threat from international terrorism
within the nation. But, incidents such as 9/11 changed this outlook forever and exposed the
vulnerability of the US against international extremism. One of the infamous incidents of
international terrorism on the US soil was thwarted by the US Customs Service officials in
the late 90s when a terrorist known as Ahmad Ressam attempted to infiltrate into the US from
Canada with the motive of carrying out a terrorist attack. The immigration of people from
diverse nations into the US has made the country increasingly vulnerable to international
terrorism. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 on the twin towers of the World Trade Center
by international terrorist group Al Qaeda mastered by Osama Bin Laden had exposed the
loopholes in the border controls and techniques implemented for keeping the international
terrorists at bay.
The incident killed around 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000. The damage caused to
property amounted to $10 billion (Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, 2004). The
incident commenced when 4 US passenger airliners were hijacked by the terrorists and they
were used for striking the twin towers and Pentagon that led to the total destruction of the
twin towers. Since the millennium has ushered in, the terrorist attacks have become more
lethal. In the 1970s and the 1980s, the terrorist attacks were primarily conducted with
political motivations but not to the extent that alienates the support of the public. The
extremist groups such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican
Army executed attacks for political significance and not for the sake of killing people in the
name of religion such as the Islamic fanatic groups like the Al Qaeda or the ISIS (U.S.
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE, n.d.).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is evident that the terrorist attacks in the US are causes of concern for the
nation and its people. The terrorist activities are primarily of two categories. One is the

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internal or domestic acts of terrorism that are mainly executed by domestic terrorists such as
the right-wing extremists, that are the creators of the bulk of violence and murder in the
nation. Then there are the left-wing extremists that cause few occasional acts of terrorism in
the nation. The third category of domestic terrorism in the US is characterized by the Islamic
form of terrorism where radical Islamist groups are responsible for conducting acts of
violence in different parts of the US, being motivated by their religious stigmas and
fanaticism. The international terrorism occurrences are few and far between in the US and the
major threats of terrorism are bred within the nation by the domestic terrorists such as the
right-wing extremists that are responsible for the major instances of social unrest and
violence in the country. For, ensuring, reduced instances of terrorism, the federal government
should implement more effective strategies of preventing unsolicited immigration and the
border control and patrolling should be beefed up. The police department and the FBI should
assume a more responsible approach and try to enhance the information network so that such
incidents can be prevented to the extent possible.

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References:
Ainsley, J., & Windrem, R. (2018, January 17). New report says most U.S. terrorists foreign
born, but check the fine print. Retrieved from nbcnews: https://wwwccom/news/us-
news/new-report-says-most-u-s-terrorists-foreign-born-check-n838041
An ADL Center on Extremism Report. (2017). MURDER AND EXTREMISM IN THE
UNITED STATES IN 2017. New York: Anti-Defamation League.
Bergen, P. (2017, October 5). Today's terrorism didn't start with 9/11 -- it started with the
'90s. Retrieved from cnn: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/02/opinions/nineties-
terrorism-bergen/index.html
Browne, R., & Hansler, J. (2018, September 19). US says worldwide terrorism deaths
decreased 27% last year. Retrieved from cnn:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/19/politics/us-report-terrorism-deaths-decreased/
index.html
CNN . (2018, September 12). US Terrorist Attacks Fast Facts. Retrieved from cnn:
https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/u-s-terrorist-attacks-fast-facts/index.html
Encyclopædia Britannica . (2018). Terrorism. Retrieved from
https://web.archive.org/web/20071217170455/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-
9071797
Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. (2004). How much did the September 11
terrorist attack cost America? . Retrieved from http://www.iags.org/costof911.html
Jacobs, B. (2017, December 11). America since 9/11: timeline of attacks linked to the 'war on
terror'. Retrieved from theguardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/01/america-since-911-terrorist-
attacks-linked-to-the-war-on-terror
Romero, L. (2018). Terrorism is surging in the US, fueled by right-wing ideologies. Retrieved
from https://qz.com/1355874/terrorism-is-surging-in-the-us-fueled-by-right-wing-
extremists/
Shariat, S., Mallonee, S., & Stephens, S. (1998). Oklahoma City Bombing Injuries . Injury
Prevention Service: Oklahoma State Department of Health.

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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE. (n.d.). THE INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
THREAT IS CHANGING.