Definition of "Domestic Terrorism"

["Ellie Marx" <marxellie@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is a statement by the FBI issued on May 2001 of the different 
types of terrorists and some of the current targets on the list.

May 10, 2001

Statement for the Record

Louis J. Freeh, Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation
on the Threat of Terrorism to the United States
before the United States Senate
Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services,
and Select Committee on Intelligence

{Excerpt}
Left-wing and Puerto Rican extremist groups. The second category of domestic 
terrorists, left-wing groups,
generally profess a revolutionary socialist doctrine and view themselves as 
protectors of the people against the "dehumanizing effects" of capitalism 
and imperialism. They aim to bring about change in the United States through 
revolution rather than through the established political process. From the 
1960s to the 1980s, leftist-oriented extremist groups posed the most serious 
domestic terrorist threat to the United States. In the 1980s, however, the 
fortunes of the leftist movement changed dramatically as law enforcement 
dismantled the infrastructure of many of these groups and the fall of 
communism in Eastern Europe deprived the movement of its ideological 
foundation and patronage.

Terrorist groups seeking to secure full Puerto Rican independence from the 
United States through violent means represent one of the remaining active 
vestiges of left-wing
terrorism. While these groups believe that bombings alone will not result in 
change, they view these acts of
terrorism as a means by which to draw attention to their desire for 
independence. During the 1970s and 1980s numerous leftist groups, including 
extremist Puerto Rican separatist groups such as the Armed Forces for Puerto 
Rican National Liberation (FALN ? Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional 
Puertorriquena), carried out bombings on the U.S. mainland, primarily in and 
around New York City. However, just as the leftist threat in general 
declined dramatically throughout the 1990s, the threat posed by Puerto Rican 
extremist
groups to mainland U.S. communities decreased during the past decade.

Acts of terrorism continue to be perpetrated, however, by violent 
separatists in Puerto Rico. Three acts of
terrorism and one suspected act of terrorism have taken place in various 
Puerto Rican locales during the past three years. These acts, including the 
March 1998 bombing of a super-aqueduct project in Arecibo, the bombings of 
bank offices in Rio Piedras and Santa Isabel in June 1998, and the bombing 
of a highway in Hato Rey, remain under investigation. The extremist Puerto 
Rican separatist group Los Macheteros is
suspected in each of these attacks.

Anarchists and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the 
Workers' World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism 
-- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential 
threat in the United States. For example, anarchists, operating individually 
and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade 
Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle. {Excerpt}



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