[7] According to Temple-Raston, U.S. citizens or longtime residents are "masterminds, propagandists, enablers, and media strategists" in foreign terror groups and working to spread extremist ideology in the West.
[9] According to Napolitano, the evolving extremist threat makes it "more difficult for law enforcement or the intelligence community to detect and disrupt plots.
"[9] Zeyno Baran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at the American conservative think-tank Hudson Institute, argues that a more appropriate term is Islamist extremism to distinguish the Islamic religion from the political ideology that leads to extremism: Islam, the religion, deals with piety, ethics, and beliefs, and can be compatible with secular liberal democracy and basic civil liberties.
Islamists, however, believe Islam is the only basis for the legal and political system that governs the world's economic, social, and judicial mechanisms.
[12][dead link] Carlos Leon Bledsoe, a U.S.-born citizen who converted to Islam as a young adult in 2004 and changed his name to Abdulhakim Muhammad, shot a U.S. military recruiter in Little Rock, Arkansas in June 2009, after spending time in Yemen.
[13] Since 2007, over 50 U.S. citizens and permanent residents have been arrested or charged in connection with attempts to join Islamic terrorist organizations abroad, including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al-Shabaab.
[17] He was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Trinidad, and moved to Florida as a teenager; he was a naturalized American citizen and left the United States in the spring of 2001.
[23] Some suggest that the gravity of so-called prison radicalization should be questioned due to the fact that data presents only one terrorism-related case among millions of individuals.
[24] For instance, only one black American prison convert was convicted for involvement among the millions of adult males under supervision in the United States.
[21] In July 2005, members of JIS "were involved in almost a dozen armed gas station robberies in Los Angeles with the goal of financing terrorist operations.
[27] The organization's website states that "NAIT does not administer these institutions or interfere in their daily management, but is available to support and advise them regarding their operation in conformity with the Shari'ah.
"[8] Radicalization of young people by foreign and homegrown terrorist groups frequently occurs on the Internet and social media platforms.
[2] According to a report on counter-terrorism from the Security, Conflict, and Cooperation in the Contemporary World (SCCCW) series published by Palgrave Macmillan (2022), "jihadist groups have exploited—and continue to exploit—the Internet to plan, recruit, train and execute terrorist attacks and spread their ideology online.
"[32] Inspire "included tips for aspiring extremists on bomb-making, traveling overseas, email encryption, and a list of individuals to assassinate.
"[30] The editor is believed to be Samir Khan, a Saudi Arabian naturalized U.S. citizen, based on work he did before leaving the United States.
[16] Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed, both American converts to Islam, started a group called Revolution Muslim.
"[34] A list of its members "reads like a who's who of American homegrown terrorism suspects"; Samir Khan and Fatimah LaRose were regulars in the Revolution Muslim chat rooms.
"[30][dead link] "This narrative—a blend of al-Qa‘ida inspiration, perceived victimization, and glorification of past plotting—has become increasingly accessible through the Internet, and English-language websites are tailored to address the unique concerns of U.S.-based extremists.
"[30][dead link] Juan C. Zarate, attorney and security advisor for the American think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, argues that "[t]o disaffected, aggrieved, or troubled individuals, this narrative explains in a simple framework the ills around them and the geopolitical discord they see on their television sets and on the Internet.
[36] The President, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) are the most relevant elements of the U.S. government to the threat of Islamic extremism in the United States, and each has taken steps to address and counter the issue.
[37] The goal is to "prevent violent extremists and their supporters from inspiring, radicalizing, financing, or recruiting individuals or groups in the United States to commit acts of violence.
[11][29] Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy,[38] testified before a House hearing on Muslim radicalization in the U.S. in early 2010: For me it is a very personal mission to leave my American Muslim children a legacy that their faith is based in the unalienable right to liberty and to teach them that the principles that founded America do not contradict their faith but strengthen it.