Muslim “Homegrown” Terrorism in the United States: How Serious Is the Threat? Risa A. Brooks, International Security, Fall 2011, pp. 7-47 "Since the September 11 attacks, analysts and public officials have expressed growing concern about the potential of Muslim citizens and residents of the United States to plot attacks within the country's borders—a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “homegrown” terrorism. To assess this apparent threat, it is necessary to examine what is known about the willingness and capacity of Muslim Americans to execute deadly attacks in the United States. Three conditions, either alone or together, could contribute to an increasing threat of homegrown terrorism. The first concerns what is known about the radicalization of Muslim Americans and whether a surge in arrests in 2009 indicates a growing trend in Muslim American terrorism. The second relates to the capacity of aspiring militants to avoid detection as they prepare attacks. The third depends on the skills of aspiring terrorists and therefore their capacities to execute increasingly sophisticated attacks. The analysis should be generally reassuring to those concerned about Muslim homegrown terrorism. On both analytical and empirical grounds, there is not a significant basis for anticipating that Muslim Americans are increasingly motivated or capable of successfully engaging in lethal terrorist attacks in the United States." READ MORE

The European Union's counter-terrorism policy towards the Maghreb: trapped between democratisation, economic interests and the fear of destabilisation. Franz Edera, European Security, Volume 20, Issue 3, 2011, pp.  431-451. This article sheds light on the European Union's counter-terrorism policy in the Maghreb taking into account the diverse influences and interests shaping its strategic thinking. To explain the complex web of opportunities and constraints, the article refers to Terry Deibel's framework for the analysis of foreign and security affairs. The author concludes that the Union's counter-terrorism policy in the Maghreb has been shaped more by the desire for regional stability and greater trade relations and energy security than by the goal of promoting democratic values and human rights. Moreover, the promotion of democracy is perceived by EU policy-makers as a destabilising factor that could endanger counter-terrorism efforts.  READ MORE

9/11 in Retrospect. Melvyn P. Leffler, Foreign Affairs, Sep/Oct 2011, var. pages. "It’s tempting to see the 9/11 attacks as having fundamentally changed U.S. foreign policy. It’s also wrong. The Bush administration may have gone over the top in responding, but its course was less novel than generally believed. A quest for primacy and military supremacy, a readiness to act proactively and unilaterally, and a focus on democracy and free markets -- all are long-standing features of U.S. policy." READ MORE

The Decade Since Sept. 11. Governing, September 2011, var. pages. "Governing, Government Technology and Emergency Management have joined together to provide complementary articles on 9/11's impact on states and localities. Policing in the Post-9/11 Era. In America’s largest Arab community, police are pioneering a new way to fight terrorism by strengthening neighborhood ties. National Need for a New Network: Ten years after 9/11, plans to build a national communications network for public safety agencies -- a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission -- remain on the drawing board. Homeland Spending Uncertainty: The United States spent an estimated $635.9 billion spent on homeland security in the decade since 9/11, but what is the return on that investment? 

9/11: The Tapping Point. David Rose, Vanity Fair, September 2011, var. pages. "What if, two years before the 9/11 attacks—with the installation of a cell-phone-and-Internet system in Afghanistan—the U.S. had been handed complete access to al-Qaeda and Taliban calls and e-mails? A secret deal was in place in 1999, the author reveals, but Washington dropped the ball." READ MORE 

The Black Hole of 9/11. David J. Rothkopf, Foreign Policy, August 29, 2011, var. pages. "As we assess the legacy of the 10th anniversary of America's seminal terrorist attack, it's worth looking at 10 events from the past decade that have actually been more important." READ MORE

10 years later: 9/11 and its aftermath. The Atlantic, September 2011, var. pages. To say the world changed on September 11, 2001, is both a tired cliché and an absolute truth. On this momentous anniversary, we revisit stories from the pages of our magazine and talk with five of our most distinguished writers: Mark Bowden, James Fallows, Robert D. Kaplan, William Langewiesche, and Amy Waldman. National correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg frames the discussion with his essay “What Is 9/11?” and a range of writers offer perspectives on events since then. READ MORE

The 9/11 President. Steve Erickson, The American Prospect, August 30, 2011, var. pages. "If the attacks hadn’t occurred, it’s impossible to imagine Barack Obama would have been elected—but the legacy of those attacks continues to burden his presidency." READ MORE

Introduction “9/11: Ten Years Later”. Roxane Cohen Silver, American Psychologist, September 2011, pp. 427–428. "Short-term and long-term psychological effects of the 9/11 attacks spread far beyond New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., according to research published by the American Psychological Association. A team of psychologists examine the social, political and psychological impacts of the nation’s worst terrorist attack in “9/11: Ten Years Later,” a special issue of APA’s flagship journal, American Psychologist®. With a dozen peer-reviewed articles, the issue illustrates how psychology is helping people understand and cope with 9/11’s enduring impacts. It also explores how psychological science has helped us understand the roots of terrorism and how to prevent further attacks." READ MORE

Wahhabi Self-Examination Post-9/11: Rethinking the 'Other', 'Otherness' and Tolerance, Muhammad Al-Atawneh, Middle Eastern Studies, March 2011, pp. 255-271. "Saudi Arabia found itself under an unflattering spotlight in the wake of the events of 9/11, perhaps more than any other country in the Middle East. The fact that 15 of the 19 suicide skyjackers were Saudi citizens provoked an avalanche of criticism in the West as well as in some parts of the Islamic and Arab world against Saudi religious beliefs, rulers, social customs, and school curricula. This article traces the Wahhabi Post-9/11 ideological self-examination of relationships with non-Wahhabis. Emphasis will be placed on the current Wahhabi perceptions of the fundamental terms of other and otherness that are most likely to affect relationships between the Wahhabis and other cultures and religious groups. I argue that post-9/11 Wahhabi Islam acknowledges the problematic nature of its traditional perception of the 'other' and, therefore, is making significant and unprecedented efforts to reformulate and redefine religious doctrines, such as jihad, tolerance, interfaith dialogue and so forth." READ MORE

The Racialization of Islam in American Law. Neil Gotanda, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September 2011, pp. 184-195. "After 9/11, the 'Muslim terrorist' trope altered the American understanding of Islam. This article argues that the Muslim terrorist in our popular culture should not be seen as new but within an established tradition of racializing Asian Americans. The article employs three dimensions of racialization: raced body, racial category, and ascribed subordination. The raced body is the 'brown' body of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Southern Asia. 'Muslim' as a racial category has acquired meaning beyond religion and now also describes a racial category: those whose ancestry traces to countries where Islam is significant. Linked to that category are the stereotypes of 'terrorist,' 'spy,' or 'saboteur'—understandings within the tradition of characterizing Asian Americans as permanent, unassimilable foreigners. Inscribing the linked racial category and ascribed subordination of permanent foreignness upon the 'brown' raced body is the racialization of Muslims into Muslim terrorists." READ MORE

Arab Americans' Opinion on Counterterrorism Measures: The Impact of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. Ivan Sun, Yuning Wu, Margarita Poteyeva, Margarita, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, July 2011, pp. 540-555. "While domestic and international terrorism have become the focal concern of the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, little is known about Arab Americans' attitudes toward counterterrorism policies that center on aggressive law enforcement practices. Using survey data collected from 810 Arab Americans, this study reported the general pattern of support for antiterrorism measures, including surveillance, stop and search, and detention, and examined the effects of race, ethnicity, and religion on measures targeting the U.S. citizens generally and Arab Americans specifically. The results revealed that the majority of Arab Americans showed weak to modest support for aggressive law enforcement practice, especially those targeting Arab Americans. Arab Americans' attitudes toward antiterrorism measures were significantly related to their ethnic identities and religion with those who identified themselves as Arab Americans and Muslim showing less favorable attitudes toward counterterrorism measures. Arab Americans' confidence in the federal government was also found to be positively associated with support for antiterrorism practices. Implications for research and policy are discussed." READ MORE

Authoritarianism, Threat, and Americans’ Support for the War on Terror. Marc Hetherington, Elizabeth Suhay, American Journal of Political Science, July 2011, pp. 5465-560. "In the years following 9/11, surveys have revealed high levels of public support for policies related to the war on terror that, many argue, contravene long standing American ideals. Extant research would suggest that such preferences result from the activation of authoritarianism. That is, the terrorist attacks caused those predisposed toward intolerance and aggression to become even more intolerant and aggressive. However, using data from two national surveys, we find that those who score high in authoritarianism do not become more hawkish or less supportive of civil liberties in response to perceived threat from terrorism; they tend to have such preferences even in the absence of threat. Instead, those who are less authoritarian adopt more restrictive and aggressive policy stands when they perceive threat from terrorism. In other words, many average Americans become susceptible to 'authoritarian thinking' when they perceive a grave threat to their safety." READ MORE

Homegrown terrorism in the West. Manni Crone and Martin Harrow, Terrorism and and Political Violence, Issue 4, 2011, pp. 521-536. The London bombings in 2005 led to the perception that the terrorist threat had changed from external to internal. This became conceptualized shortly after as “homegrown terrorism.” This article deals with the meaning and scope of this phenomenon. We begin by tracing an ambiguity in the term “homegrown,” which is both about belonging in the West and autonomy from terrorist groups abroad. A quantitative study of Islamist terrorism in the West since 1989 reveals an increase in both internal and autonomous terrorism since 2003 and that most plots are now internal—but not autonomous. Finally we suggest that an increase in autonomous terrorism is a transitory phenomenon.  READ MORE

Echoes of Gunfire: bin Laden, the US and the Greater Middle East.  Jonathan Stevenson, Survival, June-July 2011, pp. 11-18.  "The death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of US Navy SEALs on 1 May 2011 was so long in coming – almost ten years after the 11 September attacks – that it was felt more as a relief than as a triumph. Despite the cheers and celebrations that erupted across the United States, the essential reaction was 'it’s about time'. Because bin Laden had for years been viewed as a besieged and operationally hobbled figurehead, his demise seemed little more that welcome retribution for the blood he had shed, and a pleasant surprise to those who had just about stopped begrudging him his proverbial (and fictitious) cave. His death appeared to merely confirm, rather than precipitate, al-Qaeda’s political and strategic marginalisation. Consequently, its larger transformative potential may have seemed dubious. In fact, that potential is substantial, not because bin Laden had remained a vital operational cog in the jihadist machinery, but because most Americans and many others regard his death as President Barack Obama’s finest strategic moment. As Dominique Moisi wrote in Le Figaro, 'it is as though there were a little more Obama in the United States, and a little more United States in the world'." READ MORE

Al-Qaeda's Franchising Strategy. Barak Mendelsohn, Survival, June-July 2011, pp. 29-50. "The killing of Osama bin Laden by US special-forces troops on the night of 1 May 2011 has raised questions about the future of al-Qaeda. While US officials declare that Washington will seek to exploit the situation to destroy al-Qaeda’s network in Afghanistan and Pakistan, bin Laden’s death does not mark the end of terrorism or of the jihadi movement. The future of al-Qaeda depends not only on how its central leadership in South Asia responds to bin Laden’s death, but also to the reaction of al-Qaeda’s franchises: jihadi groups in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria and Yemen that have adopted al-Qaeda’s name and sworn allegiance to its leader. The failed Christmas 2009 bombing of a Delta Air Lines passenger jet over Detroit brought al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), to the attention of the American public. Beyond the revelation that groups previously thought to focus on the local level had expanded their theatre of operations globally, with both the motivation and the capability to target the US homeland, the attempt highlights an ongoing shift in al-Qaeda’s organisational strategy." READ MORE

Cyberwar: The United States and China Prepare For the Next Generation of Conflict. George Patterson Manson, Comparative Strategy, Apr/June 2011, pp. 121-133. "In recent years the People's Republic of China has garnered international attention for its aggressive and often sophisticated employment of cyber capabilities against domestic and international targets alike. With increasing frequency, the targets of Chinese cyber operations are American companies or government networks. If the United States and China find themselves in conflict in the coming decades, this newest arena of operations, cyberwarfare, will play a decisive role in determining the outcome. This article examines the relative cyber strengths and weaknesses each country commands today, and offers policy recommendations for the improvement of the United States' own cyberwar capabilities." READ MORE

Echoes of Gunfire: bin Laden, the US and the Greater Middle East.  Jonathan Stevenson, Survival, June-July 2011, pp. 11-18.  "The death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of US Navy SEALs on 1 May 2011 was so long in coming – almost ten years after the 11 September attacks – that it was felt more as a relief than as a triumph. Despite the cheers and celebrations that erupted across the United States, the essential reaction was 'it’s about time'. Because bin Laden had for years been viewed as a besieged and operationally hobbled figurehead, his demise seemed little more that welcome retribution for the blood he had shed, and a pleasant surprise to those who had just about stopped begrudging him his proverbial (and fictitious) cave. His death appeared to merely confirm, rather than precipitate, al-Qaeda’s political and strategic marginalisation. Consequently, its larger transformative potential may have seemed dubious. In fact, that potential is substantial, not because bin Laden had remained a vital operational cog in the jihadist machinery, but because most Americans and many others regard his death as President Barack Obama’s finest strategic moment. As Dominique Moisi wrote in Le Figaro, 'it is as though there were a little more Obama in the United States, and a little more United States in the world'." READ MORE

Al-Qaeda's Franchising Strategy. Barak Mendelsohn, Survival, June-July 2011, pp. 29-50. "The killing of Osama bin Laden by US special-forces troops on the night of 1 May 2011 has raised questions about the future of al-Qaeda. While US officials declare that Washington will seek to exploit the situation to destroy al-Qaeda’s network in Afghanistan and Pakistan, bin Laden’s death does not mark the end of terrorism or of the jihadi movement. The future of al-Qaeda depends not only on how its central leadership in South Asia responds to bin Laden’s death, but also to the reaction of al-Qaeda’s franchises: jihadi groups in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria and Yemen that have adopted al-Qaeda’s name and sworn allegiance to its leader. The failed Christmas 2009 bombing of a Delta Air Lines passenger jet over Detroit brought al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), to the attention of the American public. Beyond the revelation that groups previously thought to focus on the local level had expanded their theatre of operations globally, with both the motivation and the capability to target the US homeland, the attempt highlights an ongoing shift in al-Qaeda’s organisational strategy." READ MORE

Foreign Fighters—Recent Trends. Barak Mendelsohn, Orbis, Spring, 2011, pp. 189-202. "Beginning with a historical perspective on foreign fighters, this article then seeks to clarify ambiguities and biases that shape how we often analyze the foreign fighter phenomenon. The central focus is then on the evolving trends and activities of the movement. A new generation of fighters has emerged who are comfortable as terrorists, recruiters, trainers and media propagandist, among other specialties. The author concludes by assessing the significance of the problem today." READ MORE

Managing Fear: The Politics of Homeland Security. Benjamin H. Friedman, Political Science Quarterly, Spring 2011, pp. 77-106. The author "argues that the United States has spent excessively on homeland security since September 11. He outlines psychological and political explanations for this overreaction and concludes that these factors make some overreaction to terrorism unavoidable but offers four strategies to mitigate it." READ MORE

Terrorism After the Revolutions. Daniel Bymam, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2011, var. pages. "Although last winter's peaceful popular uprisings damaged the jihadist brand, they also gave terrorist groups greater operational freedom. To prevent those groups from seizing the opportunities now open to them, Washington should keep the pressure on al Qaeda and work closely with any newly installed regimes." READ MORE

Recalibrating Homeland Security. Stephen Flynn, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2011, var. pages.  "As the recent fiasco with body scanners at airports demonstrated, the United States' homeland security strategy is off track. It has failed to harness two vital assets: civil society and the private sector. Washington should promote a sensible preparadness among individuals, communities, and corporations." READ MORE