“Homegrown” Threat

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee warned of an attack like the one on Fort Hood last week. The incident left 13 dead and 29 wounded. Memorial services for the fallen were held today.
When soldiers go off to war it is understood the risk they are taking, but an attack on our own soil is more then startling. But that’s exactly what this committee was worried about though. With an influx of Afghanistan training camps in the United States and radical extremist, there is a serious threat. In the committees’ 2008 report they described situations that were so similar to the incident at Fort Hood it is scary.
Internet plays an ever increasing role of threats to the United States from the inside. The report says that we are no longer just facing a threat from abroad, there is an increased threat from homegrown terrorists who are inspired by violent Islamist ideology to plan and execute attacks where they live. More information then you could ever need to know can be accessed through the internet. It also acts as a means of communication between extremist from one country to another.



Terrorism analyst Neil Livingstone says that we need to stop trying to be politically correct and face up to the fact that people are killing innocent people because of their Muslim faith. He says nothing is being done about people like Major Nidal Malik Hasan. “He was a loner, he was in contact with radical elements overseas and he was obsessed with the Muslim faith."

Former CIA covert operation officer Mike Baker says Hasan was an “attractive candidate” for radicals overseas because he was a member of the military. Top senators on the Homeland Security Panel are also suggesting that signs were missed or ignored with Hasan. The Washington Post reported that Hasan had even suggested that Muslim soldiers should be allowed to leave the military as “conscientious objectors” in part to avoid “adverse events.” Chairman of this panel, Senator Joe Liberman has said he sees signs that Hasan was an “Islamic extremist.”

So what does the United States do? The military has already started looking inside to make sure this does not happen again. A Senate panel will begin hearings on the Fort Hood shooting next Thursday and lawmakers are calling it a “no holds barred” investigation.