Domestic terrorists are finding it increasingly difficult to hide in today’s evolving technological-focused world. Camera technology in personal cell phones and surveillance platforms have increased dramatically, offering the capability to provide high-definition video footage and photographs of domestic terrorist attacks. High-definition photos and video often provide law enforcement officials with critical information about potential terrorist suspects, their tactics and tradecraft, as well as generate other investigative leads during the aftermath of an attack. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology employed in mobile phones can also be used to determine if a potential suspect or person of interest, now in custody, was in the area at the time of the crime.
Although U.S. law enforcement is unable to prevent every, or attempted, act of extremist violence, there has been an increase in using technology to share information, identify and track potential suspects, and better understand terrorist weapons’ capabilities to further enhance domestic terrorism-related investigations and bring terrorist perpetrators to justice.
One such technology—automated license plate readers (ALPRs)—is becoming increasingly popular. ALPR data can include photographs of a vehicle and sometimes its driver and passengers. The images are uploaded and stored for a predetermined amount of time to a government agency’s central server. Law enforcement can access the information collected whenever a crime is committed to learn where a potential suspect’s vehicle has traveled, ascertain whether it was near the crime scene, identify potential travel patterns, and even discover if more than one vehicle is associated with each other. Vehicle data gathered from ALPRs can be quickly cross-referenced with various law enforcement databases to easily identify wanted persons or potential domestic terrorists.
Another law enforcement tracking tool used to combat domestic terrorism is the U.S. Postal Service’s Mail Isolation Control and Tracking system that takes photographs of the exterior portion of every piece of mail that is processed in the U.S.
Increase in information sharing
As technology improves, criminal investigators, analysts and bomb disposal technicians are becoming increasingly adept at examining firearms and explosives for clues during terrorism investigations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) National Tracing Center (NTC) is the only organization authorized to trace U.S. and foreign manufactured firearms for international, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The ATF’s U.S. Bomb Data Center (BDC) and the FBI’s Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center (TEDAC) coordinate law enforcement and intelligence community efforts to gather and share forensic data and intelligence about improvised explosive devices (IED), tactics, techniques and procedures. Both the BDC and TEDAC help disarm and disrupt IEDs, link them to bomb makers, and, most importantly, train bomb technicians, officers, and investigators about IEDs to prevent future attacks.
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the president and U.S. Congress issued a mandate to federal executive departments and agencies involved in counterterrorism to share information with state, local and tribal governments in a joint effort to combat terrorism. In 2003, the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was created to fulfill this mandate. It is responsible for the management and operation of the Terrorist Screening Database, commonly referred to as “the terrorist watchlist,” a single database within the National Crime Information Center system that contains sensitive national security and law enforcement information regarding the known or reasonably suspected persons involved in terrorist activities. Police officers conducting routine traffic stops or using ALPRs can request a TSC name check to identify potential terrorist suspects.
Additionally, the FBI’s Law Enforcement Online system offers access to suspicious activity reporting (through e-Guardian), analytical products, intelligence reports, and assessments related to domestic terrorism. Further, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security web-based platform, Homeland Security Information Network , was created for gathering, fusing, analyzing and reporting information related to potential terrorist and other threats to the U.S. Clearly, today’s technology is improving law enforcement’s ability to fight against domestic terrorism. Tomorrow’s technology will undoubtedly do even more.
About the Author
Daryl Johnson is the owner of DT Analytics, a private consulting firm for law enforcement. Johnson is the former lead analyst for domestic terrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Johnson has over 25 years experience working as a counter-terrorism analyst for the U.S. government. He is the author of 'Rightwing Resurgence: How A Domestic Terrorist Threat Is Being Ignored' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012)" and a forthcoming book called "Hateland: A Long, Hard Look at America's Extremist Heart" (Prometheus Books, 2019).
Daryl Johnson
Daryl Johnson is the owner of DT Analytics, a private consulting firm for law enforcement. Johnson is the former lead analyst for domestic terrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Johnson has over 25 years experience working as a counter-terrorism analyst for the U.S. government. He is the author of 'Rightwing Resurgence: How A Domestic Terrorist Threat Is Being Ignored' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012)" and a forthcoming book called "Hateland: A Long, Hard Look at America's Extremist Heart" (Prometheus Books, 2019).
