Dr. James Zogby

In the News

U.S. Ponders How To Stop Homegrown Terrorism

By Kevin Whitelaw
NPR
Posted on Wednesday December 16, 2009

A spate of incidents where homegrown militants allegedly plotted or committed acts of terrorism has a growing number of officials, lawmakers and experts worried about how to prevent more incidents of radicalization in America’s Muslim communities.

The most recent case involves five young American Muslims from Northern Virginia who were detained in Pakistan earlier this month, accused of seeking to join up with militants operating in that country’s tribal regions.

But there’s also David Headley, a Pakistani-American arrested in Chicago and accused of attending militants training camps in Pakistan, plotting attacks in Denmark and scouting possible targets for the group that staged the 2008 Mumbai siege. And there’s Najibullah Zazi, a Queens resident whom the FBI has charged with plotting attacks in the U.S. and who is also believed to have attended training camps in Pakistan.

“In these cases, terrorist organizations not only successfully recruited Americans, but they provided the requisite training for those Americans to carry out attacks,” Rep. Jane Harman, a Democrat from California, said Tuesday during a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing that she chaired. “We don’t have too many more chances to get this right.”

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