Ignoring the Obvious: The Influence of Islamism in America

• Main Author: Bryant, Reginald E
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: DOMESTIC; DOMESTIC THREAT; EUROPE; HOMEGROWN TERRORISM; Humanities and History; IDEOLOGY; INSTRUMENTS OF NATIONAL POWER; ISLAM; ISLAMISM; MIDLIFE(MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIPLOMACY LEGAL INFORMATION FINANCIAL AND ECONOMICS); MUSLIMS; NATIONAL SECURITY; PRISONERS; RADICALISM; RADICALIZATION; Sociology and Law; STRATEGY; TERRORISM; THESES; THREATS; Unconventional Warfare; UNITED STATES; YOUTH

This thesis proposes that the United States Government (USG) acknowledges and acts to mitigate the potential domestic threat of Islamism to national security. Radical influences are permeating throughout the United States via interaction with Muslim youth and through a misconstrued and misguided interpretation of Islam inside United States Prisons. These two mechanisms for spreading radicalism in the US are similar to those that are active in Europe. There are fundamental differences in the origins and effects of the radicalization in US and Europe. Europe's largest failure may have been its westernized misconception of Islam as a religion and failure to aggressively address initial problematic indicators: such as segmentation, ideology and criminal related activities used in spreading Islamism. The USG cannot repeat these failures. The combination of radical organizations, public apathy, appeasement and radicalization of prisoners threaten to facilitate the formation of a fifth column similar to the one that Europe deals with now. This thesis reviews the European challenges and examines certain indicators of radicalism within two affected demographics. The thesis proposes a domestic strategy combating the threat similar to that of the USG's commitment to the Global War of Terror. The original document contains color images.