Violence and Security

California Attack Raises Questions About US Immigration and Islamist Radicalization

December 14, 2015

Evidence emerging from the investigation of the recent California terrorist attack suggests that the perpetrators were radicalized Islamists who had been contemplating a jihadi attack for years, raising serious questions about vulnerabilities in US efforts to counter domestic Islamist extremism and in Homeland Security screening of visa applications.
Focus on Hate Crimes in US Complicates Focus on Preventing New IS Attacks

December 14, 2015

The US Attorney General's comments on fears about anti-Muslim hate crimes as blowback from the San Bernardino terrorist attacks by Islamic State ("IS") sympathizers has provoked a rhetorical firestorm devoid of reliance on hard data, complicating efforts to prevent domestic Islamist radicalization and possible attacks by homegrown IS supporters.
Radicalization of California Terrorist Raises Concerns about Global Islamist Education

December 14, 2015

Key to the radicalization of Tashfeen Malik, one of the Islamic State ("IS") sympathizers who perpetrated the recent terrorist attack in California, was her educational experience in Pakistan at an Islamic parochial school with branches in North America, raising serious concerns about regulations for the curricular and teaching guidelines for global Islamist education.
McCarthy: Sharia Undermines US Constitutional Principles

December 09, 2015

Andrew McCarthy of the National Review Institute writes that the debate over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's policy proposal to "shut down" Muslim entry into the US serves to emphasize the tension between Sharia, which demands total subservience to its tenets, and the Western constitutional tradition, which entails a separation between spiritual and civic life.
US Congressman Points to IS Refugee Program Plot

December 08, 2015

Representative Michael McCaul, Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, has warned that US intelligence officials recently briefed him and other members of his committee of attempts by Islamic State ("IS") fighters from Syria to infiltrate the US refugee resettlement program.
San Bernardino Attacks Prompt Review of Fiancé Visa Program

December 08, 2015

AP reports that, following the discovery that accused San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik had used the US's "fiancé visa" program to enter the country when, according to FBI reports, she had been radicalized "for quite some time," the Obama Administration is reviewing changes to the program, which permits entry into the US to marry an American citizen.
IS Funds Jihad from Oil Sales and Trade with Turkey and Assad

December 07, 2015

The Islamic State's ("IS") Mideast caliphate and ever-globalizing jihad is being funded by lucrative oil sales and other commerce with Turkish government and black-market networks and, in some cases, with middlemen associated with Syria's Assad regime.
Islamic State Claims Followers Perpetrated California Attack

December 07, 2015

English and Arabic broadcasts on the official radio station of the jihadi entity Islamic State ("IS") have identified the perpetrators of the fatal terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, as supporters, "soldiers of the caliphate," using language similar to that assigned to gunmen who carried out a shooting in Garland, Texas, in May.
Refugee Crisis Complicates Risks of Returning Jihadis to Macedonia

December 07, 2015

Security officials in the Republic of Macedonia are monitoring the activities of Macedonian nationals returning from the war in Syria as a potential jihadi threat and warn that massive refugee flows into the Balkans are complicating the region's security risks.
Indonesian Muslim Organization Pushes Back Against Islamist Extremism

December 07, 2015

The Government of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, is cooperating with the country's leading Islamic public organization to spearhead systematic public education and religious training efforts aimed at countering the spread of the totalitarian extremist Islamism promoted by Islamic State ("IS").