Many Americans believe that domestic terrorism is a new crime. However, domestic terrorism has existed since humans first organized themselves into groups or tribes. Individuals and small groups within existing groups engaged in acts of violence against other members of the group with the limited purpose of overthrowing existing leaders, to scare away competing interests, or to frighten opposing groups from lands they wished to occupy.
Modern terrorism as we know it began around the 1960s. It is characterized by the use of technology to achieve its mission. Some controversy surrounds the definition of domestic terrorism. The United State Code of Federal Regulations defines it as ”. . . the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 CFR 85). The Federal Bureau of Investigation expands this definition by further classifying terrorism as either domestic or international. The FBI defines domestic terrorism 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 its territories 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.
The FBI further divides domestic terrorism into three separate categories: terrorist incident, suspected terrorist incident, or terrorism prevention. A terrorist incident is a violent act that is dangerous to human life, in violation of the criminal codes in the United States that is used to intimate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. A suspected terrorist incident is a potential act of terrorism that cannot be traced to a known or suspected group. Terrorist prevention is a known instance where a violent act by a terrorist group or individual was successfully prevented by means of investigative activities.
Terrorist Groups or Organizations
Domestic terrorist groups generally fall within one of three orientations: right wing, left wing, or special interest. These groups focus on issues affecting American political or social activities. Their acts are directed at the U.S. government or its agents or the U.S. population or groups of that population.
Right-wing terrorist groups often believe in the principles of racial supremacy and denounce government and government regulations. Many right-wing groups engage in activity such as marches and assemblies that are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is when they cross the line between peaceful protests to violent acts that they become terrorist organizations. Formal right-wing hate groups such as the World Church of the Creator and the Aryan Nation represent examples of continuing domestic terrorist organizations.
During the late 1990s, patriotic and militia groups came to the nation’s attention with their antigovernment, racial supremacy stance and conspiracy-oriented thinking. These groups reacted to gun control legislation and fears of a United Nations involvement in domestic affairs. These groups represent a serious threat to law enforcement since their members engage in paramilitary training, stockpile weapons, and espouse hatred of the federal government and law enforcement.
Right-wing terrorist groups also engage in what is known as paper terrorism. They file bogus legal actions against law enforcement officers, local governments, members of the judiciary, and other citizens. Local governments incur expense in defending these lawsuits, costing the taxpayers funds that could have been spent on other projects.
Left-wing terrorist groups embrace a revolutionary socialist philosophy and view themselves as protectors of the people. Their goal is to bring about drastic change in the United States, and they believe this change must occur by revolution rather than through the established political process. These groups were very popular and active in the 1960s through the 1980s, but their activities have declined since that time.
Special interest terrorist groups are different from either left- or right-wing terrorist groups. They seek to influence specific issues rather than bring about widespread political change. These groups engage in acts of violence to force segments of society to change their attitudes about specific issues such as the environment, abortion issues, animal rights, and other movements. Reporting of these incidents is sometimes lacking since some of their activities, such as incidents against doctors who perform abortions, may be reported as hate crimes rather than terrorism.
One of the most serious special interest domestic terrorist groups involves ecoter-rorism. According to the FBI, these groups commit acts of violence, motivated by a concern for animals or the environment. It is estimated that these groups have committed more than a thousand criminal acts that have caused in excess of $110 million in damage since 1976.
Acts of Domestic Terrorism
Acts of domestic terrorism in America have caused death, destruction, and untold suffering. Some of the best known and most controversial incidents include Theodore Kaczynski, the ”Unabomber”; Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber; and Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombers.
There is some controversy as to whether Kaczynski, the infamous Una-bomber, was a domestic terrorist or simply a common criminal. Because many of his acts fit into the profile of domestic terrorism, it is appropriate to discuss the case.
Kaczynski graduated from Harvard University in 1962 and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Michigan. His last involvement as an instructor was as an assistant professor in mathematics at the prestigious University of California at Berkley. In 1969, he resigned without giving any reason and moved to a remote shack outside Lincoln, Montana.
On May 25, 1978, the Unabomber began his reign of terror. Over the next eighteen years, he mailed or placed sixteen bombs that killed three people and injured twenty-nine others. He sent his first bomb to the University of Illinois Chicago Circle campus. He followed up with bombs at other universities and to business executives. He sent bombs to Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, the University of California at Berkley, University of Michigan, and Yale University. He also sent bombs to airline executives, computer store owners, the president of the Forestry Association, and others.
In 1995, Kaczynski sent a demand that his 35,000-word paper entitled ”Industrial Society and Its Future” be published by a major newspaper. He threatened to kill more victims unless his demands were met. On September 19, 1995, the New York Times and the Washington Post published his pamphlet. The article, commonly referred to as the ”Unabomber Manifesto,” argued that technological progress was undesirable and must be stopped. His brother recognized Kaczynski’s writing style and alerted the authorities. Kaczynski was arrested on April 3, 1996.
On May 4, 1998, Kaczynski was sentenced to four life terms without the possibility of parole. He claimed that the government was trying to portray him as a common criminal when in fact, he stated, he was a principled technowarrior who was attempting to save society from technology. However, his personal diaries revealed that many of his acts were simply based on revenge.
Unlike Kaczynski, Eric Robert Rudolph’s acts were those of a domestic terrorist. Rudolph was charged with the 1998 health center bombing, a 1997 bombing at an Atlanta health clinic, a bombing at a gay lifestyle nightclub, and the 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park, where thousands of visitors had gathered during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
On July 27, 1996, a bomb was placed near a stage in the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park, injuring more than a hundred people and killing one person. The second bombing occurred in January 1997, when two bombs went off at a family planning service. The bomb injured more than fifty persons. The third bomb occurred one month later at the Otherside Lounge, which Rudolph believed encouraged gay lifestyles. A fourth bombing occurred in January 1998 at another women’s health clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.
On October 14, 1998, the federal government filed charges against Eric Rudolph for all four bombings. At the time of the filing of the criminal complaint and issuance of an arrest warrant, Rudolph’s location was unknown. He was thought to be hiding in the hills of western North Carolina, where he eluded capture for more than five years despite a reward of $1 million being offered and despite his being on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was finally arrested in May 2003, when he was seen looking for food near a grocery store trash bid in Murphy, North Carolina.
Rudolph was thought to believe in a white supremacist religion that was anti-abortion, antigay, and anti-Semitic. He pleaded guilty to all four bombings in order to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to four concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Perhaps the most famous case of domestic terrorism involved Timothy McVeigh and his accomplish, Terry Nichols, who committed the Oklahoma City bombing. On April 19, 1995, a truck loaded with high explosives was detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
The explosion occurred at 9:02 a.m., during the start of a regular business day, and killed 168 men, women, and children. Hundreds more were injured during this attack. Authorities believe that approximately five thousand pounds of improvised explosive arrived in the back of a rented Ryder truck. McVeigh walked away from the truck after igniting a time fuse in the front of the truck.
McVeigh was arrested approximately one hour after the explosion when an Oklahoma highway patrolman pulled him over for driving a car without a license plate. Prosecutors argued at McVeigh’s trial that the attack was to avenge the deaths of the Branch Davidians who died during a siege near Waco, Texas. McVeigh believed that the Branch Davidians had been murdered by agents of the federal government. The attack occurred on the second anniversary of the Waco incident.
McVeigh was a Gulf War veteran and called the casualties in the bombing collateral damage. He served in the war and was awarded the Bronze Star. A copy of a white supremacist novel, The Turner Diaries, was found with McVeigh when he was arrested. The Turner Diaries was written by Dr. William Pierce, the founder of the white supremacist organization known as the National Alliance. Pierce used the pen name of Andrew Macdonald when he published the novel. McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death for his acts. Nichols, his accomplice, was sentenced to life in prison.
While the above offenders are well-known terrorists, there are other not so well known but very serious domestic terrorists who have committed terrorist acts within the United States. These terrorists include William J. Krar and his possession of components that would have made a weapon of mass destruction and ecoter-rorists in Utah and other states.
Starting in spring 2003, Krar began gathering large amounts of chemicals that could be used to produce cyanide gas, an extremely dangerous deadly gas. Krar was alleged to have ties with white supremacist groups in the United States. Krar was discovered when he sent a package to a fellow militia member in New Jersey. Fortunately, the package was delivered to the wrong address and when opened contained several phony documents, including U.N. and Pentagon ID cards. The recipient of the package turned it over to the authorities, and they traced it back to Krar. Upon searching Krar’s house and storage facility, law enforcement officers discovered compounds necessary to make cyanide gas, illegal machine guns, boxes filled with approximately five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition, homemade bombs, bomb making instructions, and antidotes for nerve agents. The amount of chemicals that Krar possessed was sufficient to produce enough cyanide gas to kill everyone in a small town civic center or in a large retail store.
There were also mysterious papers that indicated plans for a cover operation. These papers included code words for meeting places in nine cities and instructions on how to throw law enforcement off the trail. There were also information on white supremacy and other antigovernment literature.
This was not the first run-in that Krar had with law enforcement. In 1985, Krar was arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer. In 1989, he quit paying federal income taxes, and in the 1990s he was investigated by federal law enforcement officers for his ties to white supremacist and antigovernment militia groups. In June 2001, firefighters responding to a fire at a New Hampshire storage building found thousands of rounds of ammunition and four guns. Several of these weapons belonged to Krar.
As a result of Krar’s arrest in November 2003, he pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a dangerous chemical weapon and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Krar continues to refuse to cooperate with the authorities regarding any targets he was considering.
Ecoterrorism has caused a tremendous amount of property damage. During 2004, in Utah, two men, Justus Ireland and Joshua Demmitt, pleaded guilty to acts of domestic terrorism. Ireland admitted to starting a fire at a lumber company that caused $1.5 million in damage and spraying ”ELF” (Earth Liberation Front) at the site. The Earth Liberation Front has been connected to dozens of acts of property damage and vandalism in the United States since 1996. Demmitt pleaded guilty to starting a fire at a farm that was part of Brigham Young University. This farm was the site where animal experiments were conducted.
Responses to Domestic Terrorism
Responses to domestic terrorism include federal laws and plans to respond to acts of terrorism. In 1995, President Clinton issued an executive order that contained the U.S. Policy on Counterterrorism. This directive required interagency cooperation to combat both domestic and international terrorism. Congress enacted and President Clinton signed the 1996 Anti-Terrorist Act, which gave federal authorities $1 billion to combat terrorism. The act creates a federal death penalty for terrorist murders. Congress also has passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. This act was enacted forty-five days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon. While the act was a reaction to international terrorism, many of its provisions also apply to domestic terrorism.
Conclusion
Domestic terrorism is not a new phenomenon. It has existed for centuries. What is new is its impact on American society. While there are differences regarding its definition, all authorities agree that it is a danger to the stability of our society. While most news stories focus on international terrorism, there have been several incidents of very serious domestic terrorism within the past several years. We must continue to monitor, intervene, and prevent further acts of domestic terrorism.
