By Chris Fox
When it comes to terrorism, we hear a lot of trendy buzzwords, rhetoric and speculation. The questions we don’t hear enough are, why does radicalization occur and how do we stop it? Answering these questions requires data and careful research.
Big issues, like international and domestic terrorism, are incredibly complex. So how can so many of the proposed solutions to America’s terrorism woes fit inside a 5-second soundbite? They can’t because they aren’t real solutions.
With news of ISIS running 24/7, there has been a lot of loose talk about what Islam does and does not teach. However, much of this banter comes from people who have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s sort this out.
By William Flynn
The tactics used in the attacks in Paris last week require a recommitment in the homeland to heightening our vigilance of potential attacks. To support this, what were the tactics, techniques and procedures used in the Paris attacks from which we can draw applicable lessons for the United States?
There are still many questions that remain to be answered about the Paris terrorist attacks, but so long as there is an internal struggle within Islam and countries where Islamists are fighting each other, we have to expect more events like what was seen in Paris.
At last week’s meeting of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism And Responses to Terrorism, DHS Science and Technology Directorate Undersecretary Reginald Brothers announced the completion of a department-wide Countering Violent Extremism strategy.
The United States is having a discussion about law enforcement and violence. No one rejects the sentiment that all lives matter, except for one group: homegrown violent extremists. To them, no lives matter, and in the United States, homegrown attacks against law enforcement are occurring at an increasing rate.
The United States has a problem with violent extremism. We are seeing an accelerating trend in the occurrence of violence driven by extremist ideology. Our current approaches to this problem are insufficient; new solutions are needed. Enter the University of Southern California Safe Communities Institute (SCI).
After the shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, there is a desire to neatly categorize an attack and define why someone would commit such a heinous act. The challenge, however, is that legal terms like “hate crime” and “terrorism” belie a deeper truth: these kinds of actions are instances of homegrown violent extremism.
The proposed Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Act of 2015 (H.R. 2899) could benefit from a bit more study and debate. The bill would create a CVE Office within DHS, filling a hole that should not exist in DHS. It was not always this way.
Sponsored by:
