The Differences Between Domestic Terrorism And International Terrorism

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There a small but clear differences between domestic terrorism and international terrorism, that difference is where the terrorist act is planned, supported, and carried out. In the case of domestic terrorism, the act must be planned, supported, and carried out all within the boundaries of the United States. The domestic terrorists must also be domicile to the United States and not be current foreign nationals at the time of the act. If the terrorist act is committed with help from a foreign group, planned or supported in a foreign country or committed by foreign nationals inside the boundaries of the U.S., then the attack may be international terrorism. The 9/11 attack was a clear act of international terrorism as it was planned, supported, …show more content…

According to the Department of Homeland Security (2015) “A domestic terrorist differs from a homegrown violent extremist in that the former is not inspired by and does not take direction from, a foreign terrorist group or other foreign power”. The Department of Homeland Security also states that home grown extremists are not bound by borders unlike domestic and international terrorism. Homegrown violent extremists may commit acts that would normally be considered terrorist actions, but are not connected to any terrorist group. Home grown violent extremists are motivated by foreign terrorist ideals but have no direct connection or support from any foreign or domestic terrorist organization. Examples of home grown violent extremists would be the Fort Hood shooter who shared beliefs and ideas of violent radical Islamic terror groups but had no known direct connection to any terror group. It is believed the Fort Hood shooter planned and conducted his attack solely on his own, and thus he is a home grown violent …show more content…

The Boston Marathon bombers consisted of an older brother and younger brother with the younger being 20 at the time of the attack. The Beltway Sniper pair also had an older (father figure) and younger perpetrator with the younger being 17 years old at the time of the attack. Both of the younger perpetrators in both groups attempted to use a similar defense in court after their arrest for their terrorist acts. Malvo, the younger Beltway Sniper, attempted to say that he was largely influenced by Muhammad, who was the older perpetrator and was similar to a father figure. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the Boston Marathon Bombers also attempted to say that he was largely influenced by his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The defenses did not worked for the perpetrators as Malvo was sentenced to life without the chance of parole and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to

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