"No longer is the threat just from abroad, as was the case with the attacks of September 11, 2001; the threat is now increasingly from within, from homegrown terrorists who are inspired by violent Islamist ideology to plan and execute attacks where they live," the report states.
The report also claims that use of the Internet by extremist groups has expanded the threat.
"One of the primary drivers of this new threat is the use of the Internet to enlist individuals or groups of individuals to join the cause without ever affiliating with a terrorist organization," it states.
The report goes on to say that Muslim community leaders must play a more visible role in discrediting and providing alternatives to violent ideology and that government outreach to American-Muslim communities must be improved.
The report heavily relied upon a widely criticized and discredited New York Police Department study on domestic radicalization that claimed that typical "signatures" of radicalization include wearing traditional clothing, growing a beard, or giving up cigarettes, drinking, and gambling.
The advocacy groups are dismayed with the fact that the committee heard testimony from only one witness from the American Muslim community.
The letter calls for continued dialogue between the government and groups representing the American Muslim and Arab-American communities. It specifically urges the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to invite representatives of the American Muslim community to future hearings about that community.
The signatories said they were deeply disturbed with the committee’s decision to base their analysis, in part, on the NYPD’s report on domestic radicalization that recommends particular scrutiny of American Muslims and Arab-Americans.
"The NYPD report, and its shoddy analysis, are widely regarded as unreliable by counter-terrorism experts and federal law enforcement officials who have privately rejected the report’s contents and methodology," said Kareem Shora, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "We’re stunned that the committee based its own conclusions on so flawed a study."
