Abstract

Since the 911 attacks, an immediate menace to our society has come from attacks by individuals or small teams practicing “leaderless resistance”. Certainly the perpetuators of these crimes follow a common theology/ideology, that of jihadist-Salafist from within Sunni Islam. But, while they followed the call to arms from religious leaders, their violent actions were generated through their own initiative. This paper presents four major points: 1) it describes the jihadist-Salafist movement that has declared war on the United States, Israel, and the western democracies; 2) it provides insight into the recruitment and propaganda efforts of the movement; 3) it discusses portions of U.S. counterterrorism policy, specifically law enforcement surveillance and monitoring policy and techniques; 4) and finally, it draws conclusions on the effects fighting the jihadist-Salafist threat is having on the security-safety debate in the United States.

Authors