Washington, D.C. Yesterday, on April 19th – the 12th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing – Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment, introduced the “Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.” Subcommittee Ranking Member Dave Reichert (R-WA) joined Harman as co-author of the bill.
“The 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which claimed 168 lives and injured over 800, is eclipsed only by 9/11 as the deadliest act of terrorism on US soil,” said Harman. “We mark that dark day by introducing legislation aimed at ensuring such an attack never happens again.”
Added Harman, “This bill has been bipartisan from the outset. We hope to mark it up next week and expect strong support in the Committee for our efforts.”
Harman’s own district in California has not been spared from the threat of homegrown terrorism. In the spring of 2005, three men – two US citizens and one Pakistani national residing legally in this country – finalized plans for a series of gas station robberies intended to finance terrorist attacks around Los Angeles. Their kill targets were US military bases and recruiting stations, the Israeli Consulate, synagogues filled with worshipers on Jewish holy days, and the El Al ticket counter at LAX.
The indictment alleges the men were pawns of an inmate at Folsom Prison who had embraced radical Islam after his incarceration and founded the militant prison gang “Assembly of Authentic Islam.” One of them was radicalized by the inmate while doing time at Folsom; his accomplices were recruited from a local mosque and had no criminal records.
The three engaged in a spree of 11 armed gas station robberies until their arrest by local police in July 2005. A subsequent search of their apartment uncovered jihadist literature, bulletproof vests and a list of potential targets. Local police promptly contacted the FBI, which led to a major investigation involving more than 200 agents, Los Angeles police detectives, and counter terrorism officials. The suspects now await trail, and are charged with conspiring to wage war against the US government through terrorism; kill members of the Armed Forces; and murder foreign officials.
The “Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007” seeks to address the roots causes of radicalization, and would establish a grant program to provide funds to States to foster badly needed vertical information sharing from the Intelligence Community to the local level and from local sources to state and federal agencies. It also creates a Center of Excellence for the Prevention of Radicalization and Home Grown Terrorism to examine the social, criminal, political, psychological and economic roots of domestic terrorism and to propose solutions, and promotes international collaboration on strategies to combat radicalization. The bill underscores the need to protect the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans.
A copy of Harman’s entire floor statement can be found at www.house.gov/harman.