Aug 15, 2007 6:50 am US/Pacific
NYPD Warns Of Growing Homegrown Terrorist Threat
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The New York City Police Department is warning of a homegrown terror threat, releasing a report that says potential terrorists could be living among us and could be both very difficult to track and very dangerous.
The study, "Radicalization In The West: The Homegrown Threat," was released by the NYPD on Wednesday. The 90-page report states at least two dozen homegrown terrorist groups have been identified in the northeast alone, and that now the big threat is not just overseas, but right here on U.S. soil.
"Unremarkable" is the word being used to describe individuals who participate in homegrown terrorism.
"The people who take this path come from all walks of life," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said during a morning news conference. "We can't know who for certain will take the radicalization process to its ultimate end, but we can trace their movement through distinct phases along this path."
The police analysis states homegrown terrorists start out as average citizens who quietly come together and adopt radical ways to eventually participate in jihad.
"When we look at 9/11 we believe that 9/11 was the hallmark terrorist attack, but also the singular exception," says Mitchell Silber, NYPD Senior Intelligence Analyst.
The report studies among others the Fort Dix plot uncovered earlier this year, and the Herald Square terrorism cases, describing the process of radicalization by first identifying the people involved. The candidates are often male Muslims, middle class American citizens who are well educated and not necessaruily affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Those individuals may find inspiration from terror cells such as Al Qaeda, however.
The men meet and share ideas in places such as mosques, bookstores and especially the Internet, which acts as a driver, the final phase "jihadization."
The report goes on to say the homegrown terrorist groups are not easy to detect because they simply blend in, so more intelligence is needed to prevent further attacks.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
