November 6, 2009

FLASHPOINT: FORT HOOD
Terrorism on the Home Front
by Ilana Freedman

While we were in the process of preparing a series for INTELANALYSIS called "Terrorism on the Home Front", we received the news of the shooting at Fort Hood. As the story began to unfold, we learned that an Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist, had gone on a shooting rampage in a crowded medical building inside the base, killing 13 and wounding 30 more. Eye witnesses said that he jumped on a table in the soldier readiness facility and began firing with two pistols, shouting "Allahu Akhbar".

The news about Hasan hit home, underscoring the message we were working on: that there is significant threat from within the heart of our country and the more time we spend ignoring it in the name of political correctness puts us all at increased risk.

What We Need to Know

We read about terrorism abroad and it seems very far away. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are most frequently in the news these days, but the locale shifts every time another heinous attack against civilians takes place - in India, in Europe, in the Middle East. It's high time we took a look at what is going on in our own back yard.

There are several types of terrorists here in the United States: the lone wolf terrorist (which Hasan appears to be), who acts without coordination with anyone else; the small independent terrorist cells (such as those in Pennsylvania and New York, who planned isolated attacks on specific targets like Fort Dix and two Riverdale, NY synagogues); and the well-organized terrorist cells, supported by organizations like al Qaeda, who plan and carry out carefully crafted attacks on symbolic targets, many designed for mass casualties and severe economic loss.

There are also several types of pre-terrorist activities being carried out throughout the country, through a number of radical Islamist organizations, many of whom have been placed on the US list of banned terrorist organizations. They are supported by such organizations as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has been identified as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, and CAIR, which bills itself as the premier Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group. Until January 2009, CAIR even provided sensitivity training to FBI agents, to help them "better understand" the Muslim community. But CAIR has also been associated with support for terrorist organizations and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator, along with the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust, in the largest terror-financing case in U.S. history. Several of its key personnel have been indicted for their links to terrorist organizations, including Hamas and al Qaeda.

Hamas has long been associated with fund-raising here for the Palestinian cause. Their method of operation has been to set up legitimate companies and not-for-profit organizations as fronts for money laundering revenues to support their terrorist activities. Before it was shut down, the SAFA Group, operating out of northern Virginia, provided an umbrella organization to over 100 such operations, including investment and trading companies, software and technology companies, food, real estate, and, of course, 'charitable' organizations. The SAFA Group has since been shut down, but the operations continue under different names and venues.

Hizballah also raises millions of dollars here, much of it through criminal enterprises, among which have been bootlegging cigarettes, smuggling, fraud, drug trade, document forgery, money laundering, and the creation of not-for-profit organizations for both willing and unknowing contributions to the terrorist organization. With its center in Michigan, Hizballah reaches down to the Mexican border, from where it smuggles its agents into the country, and throughout the country.

Another lesser known organization has a more dangerous agenda. Jama'at al Fuqra (Muslims of America) has established as many as 35 paramilitary training compounds at rural sites across the country, including Virginia, New York, Georgia, Michigan, and South Carolina. Founded by Pakistani Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, in New York in 1980, the first time he visited the States, Gilani's stated purpose was to 'purify' Islam through violence'. Members of the organization regard all those who do not follow the tenets of Islam strictly, as stated in the Koran, as enemies of Islam. Their adherents are largely African Americans recruited from American prisons. When they come to the compounds, they are trained in terrorist tactics including weapons training, carjacking, kidnapping, and murder. Frequent sounds of gunfire has raised some concerns.

The system of our nation that guarantees freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly, is giving opportunity to those who would use those freedoms to ultimately destroy them and our nation as we know it.

The series of articles that will follow over the next few weeks, Terrorism on the Home Front, will explore some of these issues.

Also next issue: The creation of a home-grown terrorist: The story of Nidal Malik Hasan.

Ilana Freedman is CEO and Senior Analyst at Gerard Group International, Inc.

IntelAnalysis represents a summary of the deep research and analysis carried out by Gerard Group in support of national security initiatives in the public and private sectors. For more information about how Gerard Group's services can help your organization apply actionable intelligence to your strategic requirements, please visit our website at www.gerardgroup.com. You may also contact us directly at 800-950-4213 or by e-mail to support@gerardgroup.com

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