The Informant

Here’s another gem from Public Intelligence: An 2006 internal Federal Bureau of Investigation report on domestic terrorism plots the Bureau was able to halt. The report, included below, focuses on alleged terrorist plots in Lackawanna, a suburb of  Buffalo, New York, Portland, Oregon and Northern Virginia.

The report breaks down the ethnic, socioeconomic and ideological composition of each group. Here is the FBI’s analysis of the three plots discussed in the document, all of which involved Muslim men:

• Assessment of groups involved in the Lackawanna, Northern Virginia, and Portland cases suggests there is no single profile of groups that become involved in terrorist training. However, analysis of FBI case files suggests two broad types: ethnically homogeneous groups composed of individuals connected through familial or community ties, and ethnically heterogeneous groups composed of individuals of various backgrounds, including converts, who are often connected through shared ideology and mosque attendance.
• Charismatic leaders, particularly those with prior violent extremist activity abroad, play a key role in the recruitment process.
• Recruiters in each case used a variety of rhetorical arguments and ideological justifications to encourage the men to undergo training. Tactics ranged from religious justifications, to criticisms of their non-Islamic lifestyles, to appeals that Muslims worldwide are under siege.
• While imams were directly or tangentially involved in all of the investigations, recruitment often took place in private off-site meetings rather than at mosques.
• Several of the groups conducted domestic paramilitary training under the tutelage of members with prior military or violent extremist experience.

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