WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, grappling with a spate of recent Islamic terror cases on U.S. soil, has concluded that the country confronts a rising threat from home-grown extremism.
The concern comes at a time when anti-terrorism officials and experts have pointed to signs of accelerated radicalization among American Muslims. The trend is driven by a wave of English-language online propaganda that appeals to U.S. extremists and is reflected in increased travel by aspiring fighters to training and combat hot spots such as Pakistan and Somalia.
Until recently, Europe has been the front line for Islamic terrorist activity, suffering successive attacks and major plots, while the U.S. remained relatively calm. But the number, variety and seriousness of recent U.S. cases make 2009 seem the most dangerous year in this country since 2001, anti-terrorism officials and experts say.
There were major arrests of Americans accused of plotting with al-Qaeda and its allies, including Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American from Aurora who was charged in a New York bomb plot described as the most serious threat in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Authorities tracked other accused militants joining foreign networks, from Somali Americans returning to the battlegrounds of their ancestral homeland to an Albanian American from New York who was arrested in Kosovo.
The FBI rounded up suspected home-grown extremists in cities including Dallas, Detroit and Raleigh, N.C., breaking up alleged plots targeting a synagogue, government buildings and military facilities.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned of the home-grown threat last week in her strongest public comments yet on the issue.
“We’ve seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as al-Qaeda,” Napolitano said in a speech in New York. “Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront.”
Although officials said Napolitano has focused on terrorism since becoming homeland-security chief, they acknowledged a marked change in tone.
Searching for causes of the apparent upsurge in terrorist activity in the United States, officials said intensified radicalization among American Muslims was a key factor.
“Radicalization is clearly happening in the U.S.,” said Mitchell Silber, director of analysis for the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department. “In years past, you couldn’t say that about the U.S. You could say it about Europe.”
Crime, alienation and extremism roil Muslim immigrant communities in places such as Denmark and the vast slums of France.
In contrast, American Muslims are wealthier and better educated and integrated, because the U.S. does a good job of absorbing immigrants and fostering tolerance, experts said. Nonetheless, recent investigations have run across suspected American operatives of al-Qaeda and its allies who were trained overseas and, in several cases, allegedly conspired with top terrorists.
“A larger trend has emerged that is not surprising but is disturbing,” former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. “You are beginning to see the fruits of the pipeline that al-Qaeda built to train Westerners and send them back to their homelands. . . . This underscores the central significance of disrupting the pipeline at its source.”
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