Domestic Terrorism

Domestic Terrorism

Introduction

Terrorism is a method by which an organized group or party seeks to achieve its stated objectives primarily through the systematic use of violence. One of the main goals of a terrorist act is to sow fear among the greatest possible number of people. Bearers of modern terrorism are the political organizations and extremist groups, individuals who deny the legitimate opposition activities, as well as criminal organizations and individuals who are fighting for the division and within the sphere of influence. There are two kinds of state terrorism: one that is performed outside the territory of the country and the other is conducted within the state. The former one is the use of armed persons or groups to achieve a political or economic nature. On the other hand, the later on takes place in other jurisdictions and includes terror itself with its attendant violence and specifically kidnapping and ransom demand and the arming and training of internal groups that threaten the established order. This kind of terrorism is called domestic terrorism which will be studied in this paper.

Discussion

Domestic terrorism

When violence is conducted against the civilians of the country or its infrastructure, most of the by citizens of that very nation in order to coerce, intimidate or influence the national policies, this kind of terrorism refers to the domestic violence (GAO, 1988). Domestic terrorism, at its simplest form, differs from international terrorism by the activities only restricted to one country rather than crossing the borders. Goals of both domestic terrorism and international terrorism also differ. Domestic terrorism is carried out at limited stage with narrow goals (Shinn, 2005). But there are cases when domestic terrorists either make alliance with international terrorists or seek help from them but their aims and targets remain limited to sub-nationals or nationals.

The major threats to a country from domestic terrorism changes from time to time, for example, one year left-wing group poses threats while the next year this role can be played by the right-wing group (Lutz 2010). Most of the domestic terrorists groups are well spread around the country (Smith 2000; Michael 2003). Their scattered nature does not mean that they can never organize themselves, but they are often characterized by lone-wolf style of operation and leaderless resistance. Lutz and Lutz (2007) proposes that with the time, unpredictable and new domestic terrorists groups are continuously emerging and due to their rapid emergence and scattered nature, it is extremely difficult to predict their direction, shape and size. It has been observed that terrorists are driven by specific ideologies and in respect to the domestic terrorism, greatly divergent and they drive their actions are based on a range of worldviews and philosophies.

Domestic Terrorism - Defined by FBI

The lead responsibility of investigating terrorism at federal level is given to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In order to define domestic terrorism, FBI depends upon two basic sources. Firstly, under 6 Second, 18 U.S.C, the Code of Federal Regulation defines terrorism as involving the illegal ...