The top priority of the FBI is to protect the citizens of the United States from terrorist attacks. The FBI uses various ways and means to do so including partnering with others to help combat terrorism. One prime example is the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) which brings law enforcement agencies throughout the nation together as a team.
I stumbled upon the United States FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) site where they offered two definitions of terrorism on a page called What We Investigate – Terrorism. Examples of each type of terrorism were also offered.
International terrorism are those acts “Perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored).”
Domestic terrorism are those acts “Perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”
This page talks about the three factors leading to the current evolution of the threat level of terrorism. They are:
1. The broad availability of the Internet where terrorists groups and individuals can establish their presence, send their message and recruit members.
2. Social media enables the terrorists to reach out and gain access to individuals living in the United States who may be sympathetic to their causes.
3. Extremists who are home grown and violent. They have become radicalized but do not collaborate with foreign terrorist organizations.
We must all be aware of the threat and observant. Any suspicious activity should be reported to local law enforcement agencies.
We gave instruction on how to do so in a previous article entitled: “A Short Video For Children and Anti-Terrorism Guidelines”.
Read more on the FBI site What We Investigate: Terrorism
