The Nation - Small groups now a large threat in U.S. - Law enforcement says cells of alienated men can 'self-radicalize' so quickly that deterring attacks may be difficult.
CHICAGO — After more than a decade of warning that the greatest threat of homegrown terrorism for the United States came from individual lone-wolf radicals, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have begun focusing on what they say is a greater threat -- small, anonymous groups of disaffected men who radicalize one another and turn to violence.
Federal officials say that most of the domestic terrorist threats now under investigation involve such groups, though they continue to rank Al Qaeda as the greatest danger globally.
Known among counter-terrorism officials as BOGs, for "bunch of guys," or GOGs, for "group of guys," the cells may offer greater opportunities for detection and infiltration than the lone-wolf threat because they are more numerous and most members are amateurs.
But they present daunting challenges as well. They are difficult to detect because most lack formal structure or prominent leaders and have little or no contact with Al Qaeda or other known terrorist organizations. They can plan multiple attacks, use varied weapons and tactics, and draw on a wider range of resources than an individual could, officials say.
More vexing still, they say, is the dynamic at work inside these groups. Most members start out as merely alienated and angry. They tend to radicalize and egg one another on with the help of the Internet, increasing the likelihood of talk turning into action. Yet it's difficult to know which of the many such groups -- some as small as two or three individuals -- might go all the way to launching an attack.
Such groups form so spontaneously and "self-radicalize" so quickly that the first sign of their existence might be an attack, Samuel J. Rascoff of the New York Police Department said at a recent counter-terrorism summit in Florence, Italy.
Rascoff, director of intelligence analysis for the NYPD, said that BOGs could "serve as an echo chamber," amplifying the influence of the most radical members.
Some defense lawyers and other critics say the threat is overblown, and often arises from law enforcement informants who entrap or even push small-time troublemakers into plotting attacks.
"There are very many cases in which the informants are the ones creating the terrorist plots," said Rocco C. Cipparone Jr., a defense attorney in one small-group case.
