Fecteau: Orlando Was Just the Beginning

Fecteau: Orlando Was Just the Beginning

Homegrown, lone-wolf terrorists have supplanted outside violent extremist organizations as a leading terror threat to the United States. With the massive loss of territory, the so-called Islamic State is becoming more desperate with each passing day.  For propaganda purposes, the supposed Islamic State must demonstrate it is a resilient terror organization or face certain extinction.  

The alleged Islamic State’s options are limited for terror attacks. In response to 9/11, the United States invested billions in its own security.  Also, it used special operators to kill or capture terrorists, and utilized drone technology to kill radicals in un-governable spaces making planning complex terror attacks more difficult from foreign hotspots. 

Some have argued that terrorists could pose as Syrian refugees. The Syrian refugees, so is argued, come from unstable regions making vetting impossible. Thus far, the United States, with a population of 320 million, has admitted some 3,000 refugees; Canada, with a population of 36 million, has resettled about 25,000 Syrian refugees.

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Yet, not one Syrian refugee in either country has committed any terror attacks. Both the United States and Canada can be especially selective because it is a significant distance from the conflict.  The suspected refugees must prove they have no ties to violent extremist organizations.   

Thus, lone-wolf terrorists are especially appealing to the so-called Islamic State.  Lone-wolf terrorists require little training, and cost almost nothing – the exception being the price of the internet access. These homegrown terrorists can cause carnage equal to that of any trained militant as can be seen by San Bernardino.     

Lone-Wolve Terrorists

To these terrorists, the United States’ Achilles’s heel is its liberty.  While a fanatic in Iraq or Syrian is likely not protected by our Constitution, a deranged, yet vulnerable American sociopath living within the United States is afforded those protections. 

Lone-wolves are difficult for law enforcement to detect, and stop. Typically, these terrorists have minimal interaction with foreign terrorist organizations, and have few, if any co-conspirators. This makes homegrown terrorists especially difficult for intelligence organizations to monitor, track, locate, and detain. 

While I am not arguing to reduce our liberties, the United States must maintain a healthy balance between our freedom, and security.  The most recent terror attacks involved military-style weapons, and were easy to plan and execute while undetected. Our enemies will likely seek the use of military-style weapons in the future because of their accessibility.

This brings us to Orlando. The terrorist who committed this horrible act wasn’t some foreign intruder, or someone trained in some distant land, he was an American madman looking for a purpose; he found his purpose with internet propaganda, and a Sig Sauer MCX. 

With the so-called Islamic States continued losses, these terror attacks are just the beginning.  

 

Matt Fecteau ([email protected]), of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, lost to U.S. Rep. David Cicilline in 2014’s Democratic primary. He is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran.