"Just Security" Article Asks the Question In Need of Asking--What Is So Domestic About Our Domestic Terrorists? July 28, 2021
"Just Security" Article Asks the Question In Need of Asking--What Is So Domestic About Our Domestic Terrorists?
July 28, 2021
I think this is an important "signal piece" article coming from the Intelligence Community connected "Just Security".
They are putting a spotlight on the apparent dysfunctionality of applying the arbitrary labels "domestic vs. foreign terrorism" in conducting a counterterrorism policy.
The article correctly highlights the transnational aspect of most serious terror threats, regardless of its country of origin due to the current status of global electronic communication. The article even hints at the Russian involvement with American White Supremacists which I've been covering for the last 16 months, and states that our government agencies might consider pursuing surveillance warrants of so-called domestic terror groups using FISA Court proceedings.
An excerpt:
["In June, the Biden administration released its long-awaited strategy on domestic terrorism, billed as the first national strategy that squarely addresses that threat. While the strategy recognizes the increasingly transnational dimensions of white supremacist violence, it retains the basic division between domestic and international terrorism that characterizes U.S. law. Here, I explain what “work” the domestic/international terrorism divide does in U.S. law and policy, and focus on how the “international terrorism” side of that divide preserves an exceptional set of rules for Muslims, even U.S. citizens who have never set foot abroad. My focus here is not to consider what should be the proper response to white supremacists, anti-government militias, or those who invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6, which I have partly addressed here and here....
In describing the domestic terrorism threat, the Biden National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism begins by citing the definition of domestic terrorism first legislated in the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which refers to dangerous acts that appear intended to intimidate a civilian population or influence government policy or conduct and that “occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.” It’s that last part of the definition that distinguishes domestic from international terrorism, which is defined as similar activities that
occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.
These definitions appear to establish a geographic test: If terrorist activities are “primarily within” the United States, they are domestic, and if they “transcend national boundaries,” they are international...
Despite the classification of white supremacist violence as domestic terrorism, the Biden strategy recognizes that almost all activities transcend national boundaries in “today’s interconnected world.” It observes that even “domestic” terrorists connect with others online, recruit across borders, find inspiration in the acts of ideologically aligned foreign individuals, and aim to forge other transnational linkages. In light of these transnational connections, the Biden administration states that it’s considering designating foreign terrorist organizations linked to domestic terrorism, increasing intelligence sharing with foreign countries, countering foreign disinformation campaigns in the United States, and [potentially applying foreign intelligence surveillance tools. emphasis added, LFR]
The Biden strategy is right to point out the transnational linkages of U.S. white supremacists. Others have reported that more than 30 Americans have gone abroad to fight with neo-Nazi groups in the Ukraine and that there are operational and financial linkages between far-right militants here and abroad. But the recognition of the transnational character of what has been labeled “domestic terrorism” raises the question: If “domestic” terrorism so often transcends national boundaries, why call it domestic terrorism at all? What purpose is served by the label and the corresponding distinction with international terrorism?"]
This last sentence goes right to the issue I've been focused on for the last year, and the central working hypothesis underlying my 12 part report on "Russia's Fifth Column" from last year. The inescapable reality that the leaders of the "Alt-Right" heavily armed Militias and insurrectionists have been supported and steered in a variety of ways by the Putin regime puts the entirety of investigation, surveillance, indictment, prosecution and sentencing of the perpetrators on a different jurisdictional plane. Meaning that this reality, if recognized, gives our law enforcement and Intelligence agencies greater freedom and more tools with which to disrupt the insurrectionists logistics, funding, command structure and strategy. It means that the nazified leaders of the January 6 terrorist apparatus are "enemy combatants", and their operations a matter of National Security. Therefore the legal calculus for confronting it is changed.
Admitting this to be true is the biggest obstacle. Implied is that Russia has committed acts of war against the United States, and those who participated or enabled it are suspects for the crime of Treason. The Biden administration is parsing their language and circling around this because they simply aren't prepared for the consequences of stating this outright.
And this to me is the great unresolved question which will determine our strategic response to the next phase of the Insurrection. The Biden administration continues to try to prevent a civil war which has already begun. They are trying to conduct diplomacy with a foreign government which is committing acts of war against us in several different theaters. They are pursuing bipartisanship with a party under control of a madman who is under Kompromat by our strategic adversary. And they are trying to stop voter suppression in a Nation of rebellious States who are legislating the "Nullification" of votes and overturning elections.
Joe Biden, well intentioned and capable as he is, continues to bring a knife to a gunfight. I pray that this is not the epitaph written upon the gravestone of America's Democracy.
