Homegrown Jihadists Will Mount Attacks Against U.S. Each Year, Intel Director Says

By Edwin Mora
CNSNews.com
Feb. 05, 2010

(CNSNews.com) – Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of National Intelligence, in his annual threat assessment presented to the Intelligence committees of the the House and Senate, said that sporadic attacks against the United States from homegrown jihadists are expected to occur each year in some capacity.

Blair said “only a small portion” of these anticipated attacks will develop into full-scale violence of one form or another. But he stressed that the U.S. intelligence community is concerned about how even one individual can potentially cause tremendous harm, as happened with the shootings at Ft. Hood in Texas.

“Thus far, however, U.S. Intelligence Community and law enforcement agencies with a domestic mandate assess that violence from homegrown jihadists probably will persist, but will be sporadic,” explained Blair in his threat assessment report to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Committee on Intelliegence.

He continued, “A handful of individuals and small, discrete cells will seek to mount attacks each year, with only a small portion of that activity materializing into violence against the Homeland.”

“The tragic violence at Fort Hood last year underscores our concerns about the damage,” added Blair, “that even an individual or small number of homegrown extremists can do if they have the will and access.”

However, Blair minimized the threat level from U.S. homegrown extremists, saying it does not mirror the menace posed by “traditional homegrown” radicals in other regions in the world.

“It is clear, however, that a sophisticated, organized threat from radicalized individuals and groups in the United States comparable to traditional homegrown threats in other countries has not emerged,” stated Blair.

When asked to elaborate on the kind of attacks we can expect from homegrown extremists, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that everything that can be publicly said is provided in the report.

Among the Intel community’s concerns is the influence that “inspirational figures such as Anwar al-Aulaqi” have on motivating individuals towards acts of violent extremism, said Blair.

Anwar al-Aulaqi, who allegedly played a role in Army Maj. Nidal Hassan’s Fort Hood rampage, is a Yemeni Muslim cleric involved with motivating and recruiting individuals for Al Qaeda.

On Nov. 9, 2009, Army Maj. Hassan, allegedly under the influence of Anwar al-Aulaqi, started shooting people at the Ft. Hood military base just outside of Killeen, Tx., killing 13 people.

When talking about the threat from homegrown extremists, Blair added that the Intel community is particularly concerned with “individuals who travel abroad for training and return to attack the Homeland.”

The most recent resemblance to this kind of terrorist attack dates back to Christmas Day 2009 when Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab -- who allegedly trained in Yemen under Al Qaeda directives and has also been tied to Anwar al-Aulaqi -- tried to blow up a U.S. airliner in Detroit.

According to Blair, more than producing homegrown terrorists, “the radicalization” of Americans has aided the dissemination of jihadist ideology and enhanced support for plots of violence in other countries.

Nevertheless, he warned that if homegrown jihadists pair up with overseas terrorist cells, the risk-level they create could match that of homegrown extremists from other countries.

“A linkage to overseas terrorist groups is probably necessary to transform this threat [impact of radicalization of Americans] into a level associated with traditional terrorist groups,” he said in his report. “We are watching to see how terrorists overseas may try to stimulate such activity.”

Towards the end of his assessment, Blair mentioned that homegrown terrorists from the United States lack the essentials for “an entrenched terrorist presence,” adding that law enforcement agents have disrupted terrorist operations in places in America where the problem has emerged.

“Indeed, the elements most conducive to the development of an entrenched terrorist presence—leadership, a secure operating environment, trained operatives, and a well developed support base—have been lacking to date in the United States or, where they have been nascent, have been interrupted by law enforcement authorities,” reported Blair.

He described the driving force behind homegrown American extremists as “complex and driven by a combination of personal circumstances and external factors, such as grievance over foreign policy, negatively inspirational ideologues, feelings of alienation, ties to a global pan-Islamic identity, and the availability of poisonous extremist propaganda through the Internet and other mass media channels.”

Blair and other members of the Intel community, including CIA Director Leon Panetta, have been meeting with members of Congress this week on Capitol Hill to present their annual assessments of existing and future threats against the United States.

In his assessment, Blair further reported that the Intel community is making it tougher for terrorists to pull off an attack, while also warning that the attempted and accomplished attacks on the United States represent “an evolving threat” that is difficult to handle.

“We can take it as a sign of the progress that while complex, multiple cell-based attacks could still occur, we are making them very difficult to pull off,” said Blair. “At the same time, the recent successful and attempted attacks represent an evolving threat in which it is even more difficult to identify and track small numbers of terrorists recently recruited and trained and short-term plots than to find and follow terrorist cells engaged in plots that have been ongoing for years.”