Homegrown terrorismU.S. citizens responsible for vast majority of Islamist terror plots in the U.S.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) the other day released new data and analysis of 98 Islamist extremist plots and attacks in the United States over the past sixteen years. Among the key findings: the vast majority — a full 90 percent — of the plots and attacks were carried out by U.S. citizens or individuals living in the country with lawful permanent or temporary status. ADL’s report includes policy recommendations to reduce the extremist threat.

ADL’s Center on Extremism analyzed plots and attacks in the U.S. from 2002 through 2017 that were motivated by extremist interpretations of Islam. The resulting annual report, A Homegrown Threat: Islamist Extremist Plots in the United States, shows that the largest threat of Islamist extremism is homegrown, and that various online platforms continue to be a catalyst for radicalization and recruitment to violence.

“We found that the most significant threat of Islamist extremism is homegrown, and that encrypted online platforms continue to catalyze radicalization and recruitment to violence,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “That first finding undermines assertions made by the Trump administration, that immigrants and foreign born individuals post the greatest threat to our national security.  We call on policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels to prioritize community first-strategies that effectively prevent all forms of violent extremism.”

ADL’s findings call into question the conclusion of a January 2018 U.S. Department of Homeland Security report released, which said there was a need for authorities to track certain Muslim immigrants to the United States “continuously” on a “long-term basis.”

The ADL notes these other findings from the Center on Extremism report:

· Since 2002, 127 individuals have been involved in 98 domestic plots or attacks motivated by Islamist extremism – and 72 percent of these people were U.S. citizens. Another eighteen percent were lawful permanent or temporary residents, six percent were in the U.S. without documentation, and four percent were foreign citizens. For context, over the same time period, 161 individuals motivated by right-wing extremism were involved in 94 plots or attacks.

· In 2017, authorities arrested 29 individuals living in the U.S. for crimes motivated by Islamist extremist ideology.