Causes of Domestic Terrorism

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Causes of Domestic Terrorism John A Aiple Ashford University Survey of Homeland Security & Emergency Mgmt HSM 305 Blake Cheary March 30, 2013 Causes of Domestic Terrorism Throughout the history of the United States domestic terrorism has been a means for individuals or organizations to threaten or intimidate our government in order to achieve a political or social purpose. Understanding their structure and their operating procedures will give our counterterrorism system a better chance of thwarting the next tragedy. I think that it is important to first differentiate between a simple criminal act and an act of terrorism. All actions perpetrated by terrorist are criminal but not all criminal acts are considered terrorism. The criminal act stops when the person has achieved their goal whether it is money or goods. Terrorism is violence, or the threat of violence to achieve a feeling of fear and alarm in the targeted audience. (Riley & Hoffman, 1995) While there is no universal agreed upon definition of terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation 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 Puerto Rico 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”("Report from DOJ, FBI," n.d., p. 5) . Domestic terrorist come from all walks of life and are classified by the Department of Justice according to their extreme beliefs. Most domestic terrorist fall into four classifications and they are Right-Wing groups, Left-Wing groups and Special Interest groups, and Lone offenders. Left wing extremist groups believe in a revolutionary socialist doctrine and view themselves as the people’s
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