U.S. federal authorities fear surge of homegrown extremism

in February that the threat of homegrown terrorism increased during the past year, and warned that the United States doesn’t have a coordinated plan to stop its spread. “We really don’t have a very good handle on how you prevent someone from becoming a violent extremist,” Napolitano said.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade stressed that the arrests of the Hutaree members were not “an attack on militia groups in general. These groups have a right to organize,” she said. “(The Hutaree) is really an extreme group that is focused on killing police officers. That, to me, is a very big distinction.”

Imad Hamad, director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, said conditions are ripe for extremism to take hold in the United States but warned against focusing only on Muslims.

The moribund economy causes some people to take a second look at fringe groups — whether they’re radical Muslims or other extremist groups — Hamad said. “This is an even bigger potential problem than most people realize,” Hamad said. “If young people are left alone without any guidance, no direction, and no economic alternatives … the concept of radicalization and extremism may grow.”

Hunter writes that while Muslim extremists of Middle Eastern origin have garnered a significant amount of attention from the media since the 9/11 attacks and the recent Flight 253 incident, they are not alone. In October, Luqman Ameen Abdullah was killed by FBI agents in a shootout in a Dearborn warehouse during a sting operation. An indictment identified Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, as “a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group” that sought to establish a separate state within the United States governed by Sharia law.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said he is aware of the potential for problems in his city, home to 30,000 Arab-Americans, most of whom are Muslim, and one of the “risk communities” being watched closely by authorities, according to Miller.

The concerns about homegrown terrorism are overblown, said attorney Richard Helfrick of the Federal Defender’s Office. Helfrick has represented accused terrorists, including Karim Koubriti, who was arrested in Detroit soon after the 9/11 attacks. Koubriti was accused of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Those charges never were proven, and Koubriti was given six months’ probation in an unrelated case.

“The last case we’ve had in the local office was James Nichols (who was accused of helping his brother Terry plan the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City). It’s not like we’re getting overrun with cases involving terrorists at home,” he said.