The
Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States
Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS)
Download the complete summary HERE
On June 3, 2020, federal authorities arrested three individuals allegedly
associated with the “boogaloo” movement, a loosely-organized group of
extremists preparing for a civil war, for conspiring to cause violence in Las
Vegas and possessing an improvised incendiary device.
Less than a week later, law enforcement officials near Richmond,
VA, arrested Harry H. Rogers, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, for driving a
vehicle into peaceful protesters.
Around the same time, members of a Brooklyn anarchist group
urged its supporters to conduct “rebellion” against the government.
Extremists from all sides flooded social media with
disinformation, conspiracy theories, and incitements to violence in response to
the protests following the death of George Floyd, swamping Twitter, YouTube,
Facebook, and other platforms.
This CSIS brief examines the state of terrorism in the United
States.
It asks two sets of questions. First, what are the most
significant types of terrorism in the United States, and how has the terrorism
threat in the U.S. homeland evolved over time?
Second, what are the implications for terrorism over the next
year? To answer these questions, this analysis compiles and analyzes an
original data set of 893 terrorist plots and attacks in the United States
between January 1994 and May 2020.
This analysis makes several arguments. First, far-right
terrorism has significantly outpaced terrorism from other types of
perpetrators, including from far-left networks and individuals inspired by the
Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Right-wing attacks and plots account for the majority of all
terrorist incidents in the United States since 1994, and the total number of
right-wing attacks and plots has grown significantly during the past six years.
Right-wing extremists perpetrated two thirds of the attacks and
plots in the United States in 2019 and over 90 percent between January 1 and
May 8, 2020.
Second, terrorism in the United States will likely increase over the next year in response to several factors.
One of the most concerning is the 2020 U.S. presidential
election, before and after which extremists may resort to violence, depending
on the outcome of the election. Far-right and far-left networks have used
violence against each other at protests, raising the possibility of escalating violence
during the election period.
The rest of this brief is divided into the following sections.
The first defines terrorism and its main types.
The second section analyzes terrorism trends in the United States since 1994.
The third examines far-right, far-left, and religious networks.
The fourth section highlights the terrorism threat over the next year.
The second section analyzes terrorism trends in the United States since 1994.
The third examines far-right, far-left, and religious networks.
The fourth section highlights the terrorism threat over the next year.
Download the complete report HERE