Sei sulla pagina 1di 11

Running Head: GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS

Executive Memo:

Classifying Gangs as Domestic Terrorist Organizations as a Measure of Homeland Security

Candice Penovich

Arizona State University

PAF 461: Homeland Security (2018 Fall B)


GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 2

Abstract

The subject of this executive memo is based on gangs their relation to National Security.

Through this memo, it reference US Code Sections that define Domestic Terrorism and Gangs.

The memo explores how terrorists may turn to the use of street gangs for financial means, for and

for transfer of illicit goods. The memo also outlines certain similarities in gangs, cults and

extremist groups and that all have an impact on national security. The final conclusion of this

memo and opinion of the Author is that there are many threats the security of our nation and

viewing violent street gangs as domestic terrorists could help to enhance our nation’s security.
GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 3

Classifying Gangs as Domestic Terrorist Organizations as a Measure of Homeland Security

The concept of Homeland Security is not necessarily new to the American way of life.

Since the early settlers and the formation of our great country the commitment to protecting life,

property and liberty has been an ongoing exercise. Events such as Native American warfare, civil

wars, the cold war, the civil rights movements have shaped the history of our land. Other

defining moments such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City

Bombing were glimpses into the New Era of Homeland Security. The terrorist attack on

September 11, 2001 was a defining moment for the United States (Martin, 2017). Another threat

to the safety and security of our nation that has been present abroad and in American Culture is

that of gangs. The history of street gangs in the United States begins with their emergence on the

East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended (Howell & Moore, 2010).

Within this memo I would like to explore the relationship between Gangs and Homeland

Security. By identifying key points, a main question I ask; should gangs be classified as domestic

terrorists in an effort to promote and protect national security?

In a recent CNN Article, the author posits a similar question. Not specifically identifying

gangs, but exploring domestic terrorism as a real threat. In her article, Rafia points out under

current law the majority of terror prosecutions is brought under the US Code 2339A and 2339B

for Terrorist Material Support. “The failure of this section to include domestic terrorist

organizations is indicative of the lopsided emphasis on international terrorism as the greater

threat.” (Zakaria, 2018). Her opinion article implores lawmakers and citizens alike to view both

international and domestic threats under the same scope.


GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 4

Upon additional research of the United States Code, there is already mention of domestic

terrorism under Definitions of Crimes and Procedures 18 U.S. Code § 2331.

“(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that--

(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the

United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended--

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion;  or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or

kidnapping;  and

(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States”.

The FBI also has identified their first priority as “Protecting the United States from

terrorist attacks”. On their website they also define Domestic terrorism as “Perpetrated by

individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based movements that

espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental

nature.” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.). The FBI seems close to broadening their scope

of protection to include gangs, as their violent actions are that of socially driven nature.

Gang activity and violence is one of the problems that persists in American culture.

Currently, federal law defines the term “criminal street gang” as “an ongoing group, club,

organization, or association of 5 or more persons— (A) that has as 1 of its primary purposes the

commission of 1 or more of the criminal offenses described in subsection (c); (B) the members

of which engage, or have engaged within the past 5 years, in a continuing series of offenses

described in subsection (c); and (C) the activities of which affect interstate or foreign
GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 5

commerce.” 18 U.S.C. § 521(a) (National Gang Center, 2016). Also according to the National

Gang Center all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) have enacted some form of

legislation relating to gangs or gang-related activity.

There are some similarities in the terms and U.S. Codes, but to better equip law

enforcement and prosecutors, the current laws for domestic terrorism and gang activity would

need to be modified to identify that all actions are not solely for the purpose to influence the

policy of government, and to expand the effects to also include small scale destruction of

property. Mirrored wording and terminology would expand the legal arsenal to stop gang

activity.

As threats from abroad have evolved, our current laws and the fight against terrorism has

also evolved. In development of our current anti-terrorism and counterterrorism measures, we are

smarter, stronger and more organized. A few actions such as anti-money laundering acts, the

Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the US Patriot Act, and the Freedom Act, have

helped shape our current security to thwart terrorist movements. Because of such measures that

have proven successful over the years, gang activity is now a double edge sword and a threat to

National Security. One on end, the traditional and current threat that gangs present to our nation

are that of drugs, turf-wars, shootings, human trafficking and sex-trade, vandalism, graffiti and

other crimes towards people and property. On the other end is the new threat, terrorists and

extremists groups may now turn to gangs and gang related activity to achieve their goals, or at

least use them as stepping stones to achieve their goals. “For example, some experts warn of

extremist operatives entering the United States via one of the illicit networks specializing in

transporting illicit goods (mostly drugs) and undocumented immigrants across the border.”

(Martin, 2017, p. 230)


GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 6

Gangs are similar to terrorist organizations in the respect that they have a way of life and

a code that they live by; just as most terrorist groups live by Islamic rule. Gangs and terrorist

organizations also share the same tendency to get in on the inside. Similar to how terrorists in the

9/11 hijackings learned to fly an airplane and the navigation systems of air traffic, gang members

have become members of law enforcement and military to learn policing tactics, military combat

skills and to have an inside man. Terrorists may also start to learn from gangs, since gangs have

been a constant for violent and disruption to America (Tromblay, 2016). Terrorist Organizations

and Gangs have so many overlapping characteristics that it starts to become apparent the need to

view both as real threats to our security. Both the study of gangs and that of radicalized groups

share similar group structure, demographics, marginalization, strength of bond, how and what it

means to the leave a group and the role of prison are all issues that the two have in common

(Decker & Pyrooz, 2015).

Individuals that have been drawn to join terrorist movements, each have their own

reasons just as when a person is drawn into a cult or a gang. Whether it be by religious

motivations, social motivations or basic human needs. As one researcher explores the

correlation of basic human needs being unmet and gangs being an option to satisfy those needs

using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a theoretical framework (Sonterblum, 2016). By

identifying the correlation of the basic human needs of physiological, safety, love and belonging,

esteem and self-actualization and the induction into a gang, this highlights another public policy

avenue to explore. By establishing community based productive policies; communities could

provide the resources that would serve as better options than joining a gang to satisfy the need

for security and sense of belonging.


GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 7

Gangs, cults and extremist groups may also be viewed in the same lens, in that they

attract people, the indoctrination of their beliefs are instilled in the believers and sometimes are

led to violet attacks. One such example of extreme ideologies by a cult group attacking a nation

is that of the Aum Shinrikyo Cult and the Nerve Gas Attack in Japan (Martin, 2017, p. 279).

While not all cults and groups are violent in nature, there may be no advanced warning signs

when a group will turn violent or extreme. Trying to answer the question of when does the

assembly of two or more people who have a shared belief become a gang or a cult or an

extremist group is a hard one, especially when the primary reason for trying answer that question

is for National Security.

The assembly of a group known as the gang Mara Salvatrucha, commonly referred to as

MS-13 is one of the larger and more violent gangs both at home at internationally. This gang has

been identified throughout the nation as being prevalent in many communities and has absorbed

local cliques, MS-13 is so expansive and many of its members are illegal immigrants (Smith,

2005). The seriousness of national gangs should raise alarm because smaller local gangs will

emulate the culture of national gangs, paralleled to terrorism, where self-racialized individuals

adopt the ideology of larger groups (Tromblay, 2016). The violence committed by groups such

as MS-13 may be just that; violent acts of a street gang. In South America however MS-13 is

now considered a terrorist group (Wilson & Sullivan, 2007). Through their identification of the

different generations of the warfare, Wilson and Sullivan admit that there may be a lack of

evidence to truly link gangs with terrorist groups, but this may be the entry into a new generation

of warfare.

The current era of homeland security was a reaction to the “new terrorism”. If we

continue to follow the same mode of operation of reactive policy making rather than proactive, it
GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 8

might be the arrival of an unfortunate large scale attack on our home turf to finally classify gangs

as domestic terrorists and expand our current law.

As part of a proactive policy implementation, it would be advantageous to develop a

report similar to the Country Reports on Terrorism. A proposed policy could be to authorize

each state to identify a list of Domestic Terrorist Organizations within their state and the current

known actors within those identified organizations. Fortunately this would not require a start

from scratch method. There are current programs and databases that are already in play to assist

law enforcement to combat gang activity. One such system is RISS - Regional Information

Sharing System, created in 1973 “RISS offers secure information sharing and communications

capabilities, critical analytical and investigative support services, and event deconfliction to

enhance officer safety. RISS supports efforts against organized and violent crime, gang activity,

drug activity, terrorism and violent extremism, human trafficking, identity theft, cybercrime, and

other regional priorities”. (https://www.riss.net/, n.d.). Through such systems like RISS and

National Gang Center, the frameworks and blueprints are there, it is now simply time to craft and

bring to conception the hardline rule of law to this idea. The advantage to working proactively is

that this can be done with view points from all sides, unbiased, unrushed and not through a

tunnel vision scope as is evident with reactive policy making.

A primary argument against this idea of classifying known violent gangs and suspected

gang members as domestic terrorists would be of the restriction of civil liberties and denying a

person their constitutional rights. Also as pointed out in a POLITICO article “a list of banned

domestic terrorist strongly tends to become a tool of state control.” (Jenkins & Daddario, 2017).

Although this could be likened to “McCarthyism” and a list of potential subversives, this new

policy would need to be carefully crafted and continually audited.


GANGS AS DOMESTIC TERRORISTS 9

After a lot of reading, researching and contemplation, my belief is that a classification of

known violent gangs as domestic terrorist organizations would have a beneficial effect on

National Security and offer law enforcement and prosecutors more tools to fight criminal

activity. It is recognized that terrorists engage in asymmetrical warfare (Martin, 2017) and

utilizing gang and gang activity could be a part of that tactic. Establishing the framework of this

possible new policy while honoring constitutional rights and current laws such as the Human

Rights Act will ultimately be the most successful way to proactively secure our homeland and

fight terrorism both foreign and domestic.


References

Decker, S. H., & Pyrooz, D. C. (2015, February). “I’m down for a Jihad”: How 100 Years of

Gang Research can inform the Study of Terrorism, Radicalization and Extremism.

Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(1).

Doughten, A. M. (n.d.). Differences and Similarities Between Gangs, Cults and Terrorist

Groups.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Terrorism. Retrieved from

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism

Howell, J. C., & Moore, J. P. (2010, May). History of Street Gangs in the United States. National

Gang Center Bulletin, p. 1.

https://www.riss.net/. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.riss.net/.

Jenkins, B. M., & Daddario, R. C. (2017, November 07). Law and Order: Think Mass Shootings

Are Terrorism? Careful What You Wish For. POLITOCO, pp. 1-9.

Marshall, L. (2017, May 18). Domestic Terrorists, Gang Members have little in common, study

shows. University of Colorado Boulder: CU Boulder Today, pp. 1-3.

Martin, G. (2017). Understanding Homeland Security, Second Edition. California: Sage

Publications.

National Gang Center. (2016). BRIEF REVIEW OF FEDERAL AND STATE DEFINITIONS OF

THE TERMS.

National Institute of Justice. (2011, October 28). crimes and prevention. Retrieved from

www.nij.gov: https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/gangs/pages/definitions.aspx
Smith, K. L. (2005, April 20). Testimony on "Gangs and Crime in Latin America". U.S. House

of Representatives Committe on International Relations Subcommittee on the Western

Hemisphere.

Sonterblum, L. (2016). Gang Involvement as a Means to Satisfy Basic Needs. NYU Steinhardt's

Department of Applied Psychology.

Tromblay, D. E. (2016). America's Unacknowledged Insurgency: Addressing Street Gangs as

Threats to National Seecurity. Small Wars Journal.

Wilson, G. I., & Sullivan, J. P. (2007). On Gangs, Crime, and Terrorism.

Zakaria, R. (2018, October 29). The law needs to catch up with the reality of domestic terrorism.

CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/29/opinions/domestic-terrorism-

legal-limitations-rafia-zakaria/index.html

Potrebbero piacerti anche