Underwear bombers, radicalized military officers, gang members, and even family members of asylees have threatened the United States domestically. Some would like to call these ideologically deranged persons extremists; simultaneously, our government no longer desires to label such persons as terrorists. Jose Padilla, Timothy McVeigh, Nidal Malik Hasan, and the Duka brothers were not extremist’s rather ideologically deranged terrorists. With a new strategy to protect against domestic terrorism, the federal government is doing its best to empower local level authorities–and their best is rather poor.
According to the FBI, domestic terrorism is defined as “the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or Puerto Rico without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
With this definition, how could a “Constitutionalist” be construed as a possible domestic terrorist?
Recently, the Phoenix FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force released an “information sheet” to assist uniformed patrol officers (local law enforcement) in identifying potential domestic terrorism. With a continuous need to put a label on everything, the FBI included six categories of such possible terrorist ideologies: Right Wing, Common Law Movement, Single Issue, Hate Groups, Left Wing, and “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” As one who previously created lessons for the U.S. government in anti-terrorism initiatives, I am utterly dumbfounded.
Not only are these labels misleading, the descriptions below them are mind boggling–specifically that used to describe “right wing” domestic terrorism.(DHS: Rightwing Extremism[pdf]) Today, if you are a “defender” of the U.S. Constitution against the federal government and the United Nations, local law enforcement have been provided directives to report such individuals to their local JTTF. Since when did the U.S. Constitution have anything to do with the United Nations? Wasn’t the Constitution established for the people to ensure the Federal Government remains within our founding principles?
Every U.S. military member and every person sworn into government office takes an oath. That oath constitutes protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution. Today, according to a horrifically articulated “information sheet,” such persons are now labeled as right wing terrorists. It’s no wonder why today, our U.S. government must depend on local authorities to defend our homeland against domestic threats–it appears that our local level reps have much more common sense than our own federal government.
Kerry Patton is the Co-Founder of the National Security Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organization pending 501c (3) status. He has worked in South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, focusing on intelligence and security interviewing current and former terrorists, including members of the Taliban. He is the author of “Sociocultural Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies” and the children’s book “American Patriotism.” You can follow him on Facebook.
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