Bi-Partisan Policy Center – by Abby Brandon
Washington, D.C. – A new report released by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Homeland Security Project today found that the most imminent threat to the United States is from individuals who are radicalized over the Internet, often inspired by al-Qaeda’s jihadist message. While these lone wolves might not be able to kill in mass numbers, the Boston Marathon bombings and the Fort Hood slayings show that alienated persons influenced partially by online messaging can cause great damage.
The report, Jihadist Terrorism: A Threat Assessment, provides a comprehensive review of al-Qaeda and its affiliates and provides legislative and executive recommendations on how best to counter the threat and protect the homeland. The report was authored by several members of BPC’s Homeland Security Project, which is led by former 9/11 Commission Co-chairs former Governor Tom Kean and former Representative Lee Hamilton.
As the U.S. weighs possible action in Syria, the report urges the executive branch to track the flow of arms to jihadist fighters in the region, as well as to incorporate lessons learned from the Boston bombings into its current emergency-response plan to ensure a more measured reaction to tragic but small-scale terrorist attacks.
“This assessment finds that the United States faces a different terrorist threat than it did on 9/11/2001. The borders between domestic and international terrorism have blurred, and the U.S. adversaries are not only organizations, but also individuals. To best protect the homeland, we need to develop defenses against a more diffused threat posed by radicalized individuals, in addition to organized groups,” said Gov. Kean. “The Bipartisan Policy Center’s report is intended to evaluate the current domestic and international threats and provide recommendations to help lawmakers and the administration counter those threats.”
The report also makes several recommendations to Congress, including reforms to the CIA drone program. Congress should use the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014 as an opportunity to review the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), and should create an independent investigative body—similar to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)—to investigate terrorist attacks in the U.S., explain how the attackers evaded law enforcement, and identify the lessons to be learned.
“It has been twelve years since the attacks on 9/11. Political leaders from both parties should renew their focus on counterterrorism strategies to ensure that our current approach matches the threats of today,” said Rep. Hamilton. “Congress should hold a series of public hearings to discuss where the U.S. stands in its counterterrorism strategy. Those hearings would be an opportunity to evaluate if our nation is absorbing the institutional lessons learned over the past decade, to analyze if the government is allocating resources to the right places, and most importantly, to determine what is missing from our strategy.”
The report was authored by: Peter Bergen, Director of the National Security Program at the New America Foundation; Bruce Hoffman, Director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University; Erroll Southers, Associate Director of Research Transition at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California and former FBI special agent; and former CIA Operative Michael Hurley.
“Al-Qaeda has embraced a strategy that transformed it into a decentralized, networked, transnational movement, rather than the single monolithic entity it was on the eve of 9/11. This strategy was undoubtedly the result of necessity; U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the wake of the 9/11 attacks largely obliterated al-Qaeda as an organization,” said Bergen.
The new assessment builds on three previous reports released by BPC’s Homeland Security Project: a 2010 analysis that highlighted the increasingly homegrown nature of the terrorist threat, a 2011 report that offered practical recommendations for preventing violent radicalization in America and a 2012 report that offered recommendations to counter online radicalization. The Jihadist Terrorism: A Threat Assessment is the first in an annual series of threat assessments.
The reason that this news scares them more than anything else?
Another name for a “radicalized individual” a voter.
With only a 20-30% voter turnout for the average election, even increasing the turnout to 40% means a huge difference in the voter base. This small change can cause a complete turnover in whichever election it affects, with longstanding “safe” seats in both houses being thrown out.
Now imagine an election with a 50-60% turnout.
“The borders between domestic and international terrorism have blurred…”
because the borders between international and domestic tyranny have been crossed….(or the “Rubicon” has been crossed).
Of course they’ll push this concept on the public using “Al-Qaeda”, and “jihadists” as the focus, but since we all know their existence is another government-funded myth, we also understand that the “radicalized individuals” they speak of amounts to any American who dares to cherish his unalienable rights and the U.S. Constitution, and judging by their attacks on this website today, it’s obvious that they’re not even willing to allow the right to free speech.
We’re looking down the barrel of harsh, and brutal tyranny, that will only allow life where it can profit from its slavery, so you better be prepared to join other Americans in a fight for your rights and freedom, or you will fall victim to the most brutal dictator the planet has ever known.
JR
What kind of attacks are there on this site?
Oh, I see…. I just tried to post that and the server times out
Well said JR.
I had trouble getting on this site….just now
5-6 hours ago I did not have that trouble
I’ve been having trouble accessing ‘FTTWR’ since around 0400 hours, CST.
It’s getting worse, so look out and make sure your AVS is up to date, since it appears that NSA types are messing with ‘FTTWR’ to smash this freedom speaking outlet.
‘Radicalized?’
For wanting to take back our country from the war mongers, the bankster thieves and Israel?
Sounds like patriotism to me.
Oh yea guys, FTTWR has been a real headache trying to get on today. This is the 4th time trying to post this comment as there was no security question and now all of a suddden therevis a security question. My internet was also completely shut down up to about a hour ago. FTTWR format was even completely changed….. Yea guys it is FRIDAY THE 13th and it is two days after the 9-11 anniversary. NSA is obviously watching us truthers.
Yeah,
I’ve been experiencing challenges logging on all day too.
Somethings afoot.
Same here with the access issues.
Also, overwhelming agreement with Jolly Roger’s comment @ 7:17am. This is no more about al-Qaeda than the man on the moon. It’s obviously leveled at natural-born American citizens who are pro firearms and/or anti-Zionist.
The reason we are experiencing difficulties with the site today is because the PETA/Biker story from a year ago is going big on Facebook right now. When our enemies saw our hits going up they attacked our server with robotic requests, which overwhelmed the server.
We are still working the problem and hope to have it resolved soon.
Yea, I’m having “error connecting to database server” problems as well. But don’t worry. That won’t stop me from posting.
The elite are just jealous because JD got all of the attention on TV the other day and they didn’t. lol
All the “assessments” in the world will not stop determined individuals, open or especially clandestine, from asserting freedom and liberty.
Just another reason the elites will lose: besides their ridiculous tendency to do the same things over and over expecting different results (such as “this time we really will grab their guns” thanks to plan triple Z instead of plan double Z they came up with last week!), is their ridiculous tendency to always believe their own hubris. They should have stuck to their gradualism; when they started showing their hand is when they started making huge mistakes to the point where they can never put the genie back into the bottle.