Terrorist Groups in the US That the FBI Labels as Dangerous

There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus involving the definition of the term “terrorism.”

Governments and legal systems adopt different definitions of the term and which groups are “terrorists” and which are not.

For example, in the UK, the Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism as:

“The use or threat of action designed to influence the government or an international governmental organization or to intimidate the public, or a section of the public, made for the purposes of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause.” (1)

In its requirement that annual country reports on terrorism are submitted by the Secretary of State to Congress each year, the United States Code defines terrorism as:

“Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.” (2)

Since 9/11 struck, fundamentalist Islamic believers such as al Qaeda have become one of the biggest threats to mankind. Post 9/11 extreme Islamic groups are widely associated with the term “terrorism”.

However, the United States insists that such threats are not constrained to fundamentalist Islamic groups. As the 2007 National Strategy for Homeland Security states:

“The terrorist threat Read more…