US Domestic Terrorism

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US Domestic Terrorism
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USA PATRIOT Act

• Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
  Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
  Obstruct Terrorism Act
• Created in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001
• Controversial because it is said to infringe on
  civil liberties
• increases the ability of government agencies to
  monitor telephone, email, financial records, etc.
• Expanded the definition of terrorism to include
  domestic terrorism

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According to the Patriot Act, acts of domestic
terrorism are those which

• involve acts dangerous to human life that are a
  violation of the criminal laws of the United
  States or of any State
• appear to be intended
• (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian
  population
• (ii) to influence the policy of a government by
  intimidation or coercion or
• (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by
  mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping
  and
• occur primarily within the territorial
  jurisdiction of the United States

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Ku Klux Klan

• Heyday 1870 1960
• White supremacists/racists
• Anti-Semitic Anti-catholic
• Main target African Americans
• Used arson and murder
• (lynching) as primary
• methods to carry out
• their terror

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Aryan Nation

• Founded in the 1970s
• Based originally in Idaho (now in SC PA)
• White Nationalists Want racial purity
• Neo-Nazi Anti-Semitic
• Want to establish an Aryan homeland by forcibly
  taking 5 states - ID, MT, OR, WA and WY
• Want to punish those who violate Gods law
• Most famous attack July 1998 in Coeur d'Alene,
  Idaho
• AN security guards shot at Victoria Keenans car
  causing her to crash (son in the car) and was
  then held at gunpoint
• Judge ruled that the AN had to turn over their
  compound in nearby Hayden Lake to the Keenans
  they then sold it

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ELF ALF

• Earth Liberation Front
• Environmental extremists/Eco-terrorists
• Target facilities companies involved in
• logging
• genetic engineering
• deforestation
• SUV sales
• urban sprawl
• McMansion developments
• energy production and distribution

• Animal Liberation Front
• Target laboratories, factory farms, fur farms
• Vegetarians Vegans
• Goals
• to inflict economic damage on those who profit
  from the misery and exploitation of animals
• To liberate animals from places of abuse

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The Unabomber Ted Kaczynski

• 1978-1995
• former mathematics professor
• Believed that the consequences of the Industrial
  Revolution have destroyed the human race
• Called on a revolution against technology
• Sent letter bombs to academics institutions,
  airlines, and people associated with modern
  technology
• Killed 3 injured 23
• Had his manifesto published in The NY Times and
  the Washington Post
• Brother recognized the work and turned him in
• He was arrested by the FBI in 1996 he is still
  imprisoned serving a life term

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Timothy McVeigh

• April 1995
• Oklahoma City Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
  Federal Building
• Drove a truck bomb into the building killing 168
  and injuring 800
• McVeigh served in the US Army (Gulf War)
• Became increasingly anti US government
• Claimed that the attack was revenge for "what the
  U.S. government did at Waco and Ruby Ridge"
• McVeigh was arrested the same day of the bombing
  and was finally executed in 1999

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Eric Robert Rudolph Army of God

• Radical Christian terrorist believed to be
  associated with the Army of God
• Radical anti-abortion group
• Best known for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park
  bombing in Atlanta killed 1 injured 111
• Also bombed abortion clinics and a gay nightclub
• Arrested in 2003 and is serving 2 consecutive
  life terms

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Anthrax attacks

• September October 2001 (right after 9/11)
• Envelopes containing anthrax spores were sent to
  media organizations and 2 US senators
• Letters included the following statements
• DEATH TO AMERICA
• DEATH TO ISRAEL
• ALLAH IS GREAT
• Several postal workers (NJ DC) as well as
  people working for American Media Inc (NYC)
  developed anthrax infections
• killed five people and infected 22 others
• No one has been arrested the case remains
  unsolved

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Anthrax letters origin destination