Although the United States is the country most frequently targeted abroad by
terrorists, it is somewhere near the bottom of the list in the number of terrorist
attacks annually recorded within its own borders. For example, according to the
FBI, 12 terrorist attacks occurred in the United States in 1993; only four in 1992;
five in 1991; seven in 1990; four in 1989; nine in 1987; and 25 in 1986. Moreover,
until the 1993 bombing of New York?s World Trade Center, where six persons
died, no one had been killed in a terrorist incident in the United States since
1986.1 Nevertheless, the United States is not immune to terrorism from within its
own borders. A variety of ethnic/emigre groups, purely indigenous terrorist
organizations, and foreign terrorist groups are committed to the use of violence
in pursuit of their political objectives. Indeed, the continuing violence
perpetrated by Puerto Rican separatists, opponents of legalized abortion, and
foreign elements, as dramatically demonstrated by the February 1993 bombing of
New York City?s World Trade Center, underscores the fact that the threat of
terrorism in this country can by no means be discounted.
There are five potential types of terrorist organizations in the United States:
? Ethnic separatist and emigre groups;
? Left-wing radical organizations;
? Right-wing racist, anti-authority, survivalist-type groups;
? Foreign terrorist organizations;
? Issue-oriented groups (including anti-abortionists,2 animal rights, and
environmental extremist groups).
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1Federal Bureau of Investigation, Terrorist Research and Analytical Center, Counter-Terrorism
Section, Intelligence Division, Terrorism in the United States 1982?1992 (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1993). By comparison, for example, an
average of approximately 1.5 million crimes per year were recorded in the United States during the
same period along with an annual average of about 20,000 homicides. See U.S. Department of Justice,
Uniform Crime Reports, 1989?1993.
2To date, the FBI has not defined incidents of anti-abortion violence as terrorism. However,
many survey respondents counted the anti-abortion movement as a potential terrorist threat, and
thus it is included here.
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