The counter-terror industry is now quite established and dug in, completely committed no doubt to its mission but also being mindful of their own survival and well-being, particularly as the national security community shifts to a new Cold War. One of its major activities is forging an ever closer tie with civilian life, either by incorporating the private sector into the government’s priorities or by creating standards (such as in cyber security) that obscures the difference between private and public.
Since this government industry hardly ever issues specific warnings to the unwashed world (and as we saw on January 6th, it hardly can coordinate with itself), it instead satisfies itself with issuing a flood of vague and not very useful bulletins (see previous here) to keep a high level of fear, to aggregate every obscurity into a narrative of and fear and stoke the fire.
One such series that the counter-terror industry uses is the “First Responder’s Toolbox” series, National Counterterrorism Center publications attributed to the Joint Counterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) made up of NCTC, FBI and DHS that communities with the giant first responder community to indoctrinate them into being a quasi-military entity and certainly part of “national security.”
The Toolbox is a particularly harmless variety. Here are some recent issues born of the brilliant minds, the full documents included:
See Something, Say Something
Issued in October 2022, reporting on the original tattletale system, since evolved to be the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), is constantly sold by the Toolbox. In this latest version from October, the NCTC stresses that people in all communities should report suspicious activity but then lists pages of places to report to, the perfect 9/11 storm. Plus, given that school shootings seem the biggest threat and are uppermost in people’s minds, it is odd that in its list of those who should report — Police and fire personnel, security officers, parole officers, health care professionals, emergency managers, 911 operators — teachers and school admnistrators aren’t even mentioned.
Churches, temples and mosques are targets, duh
Issued in July 2022, another worthless domestic terrorism report telling law enforcement officers how to have better relations with religious institutions, saying that “Strong partnerships are critical in the fight against terrorism.” It sounds harmless, except that it is preaching greater integration of religious institutions into the mechanisms of the state. And it communicates a false promise, that somehow if these stronger relations are forged, that the religious institutions will get “accurate information on threats and attacks.” Of course, they won’t, nor will the police, but then searching for that Holy Grail has sustained this apparatus for decades.
The Magnitude of the Threat
Issued in September 2021, this
report suggests that the number of FBI disruptions of international and domestic terrorist plots increased in the Trump administration, the worse year being FY 2017. “According the US Department of Justice Annual Performance Report, a disruption is defined as interrupting or inhibiting an international or domestic terrorist threat actor from engaging in criminal or national security related activity. A disruption is the result of direct actions and may include, but is not limited to, the arrest; seizure of assets; or impairing the operational capabilities of key threat actors.”
Threats to Railroads
Issued in September 2017, a “For Official Use Only” report that still says nothing.
Terrorist Initiated Arson Attacks
Issued in January 2022, this report tries to equate arson with terrorism.
Early Risk Factors
Issued February 2022: “Radicalization occurs when an individual evolves from adherence to a nonviolent belief system to a belief system that includes willingness to actively advocate, facilitate, or use unlawful violence as a method to effect societal or political change.”
Use of Memes by Violent Extremists
Issued in July 2022, an attempt to criminalize free speech. “Violent extremists are supplementing their traditional messaging—which can rely heavily on lengthy, academic-style recitations and philosophical arguments—with memes that arefaster and easier to consume.”
The Catalog
A full list of issuances from December 2013-December 2021.