Security Debrief

Security Weekly: Paying Attention to the Grassroots

Homegrown Jihadists

As STRATFOR has noted for several years now, the threat from al Qaeda and its jihadist militant spawn has been changing, and in fact has devolved to pre-9/11 operational models. With al Qaeda’s structure under continual attack and no regional al Qaeda franchise groups in the Western Hemisphere, perhaps the most pressing jihadist threat to the U.S. homeland at present stems from grassroots jihadists. This trend has been borne out by the large number of plots and arrests over the past several years, including:

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A June 2009 attack against a U.S. military recruiting office in Little Rock, Ark.
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A May 2009 plot to bomb Jewish targets in the Bronx and shoot down a military aircraft at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.
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The August 2007 arrests of two men found with an improvised explosive device in their car near Goose Creek, S.C.
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A May 2007 plot to attack U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J.
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A June 2006 plot to attack targets in the United States and Canada involving two men from Georgia.
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A June 2006 plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago involving seven men from Miami.
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The July 2005 arrests in Torrance, Calif., of a group of men planning to attack a list of targets that included the El Al airline ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, synagogues, California National Guard armories, and U.S. Army recruiting stations.

And now the organization led by Daniel Boyd.