The Homegrown Jihadi Terrorist: The Threat of Isis-Inspired Radicalization in the United States - American Foreign Fighters for Violent Islamist Extremism, Minnesota Cluster and Game Theory Analysis | Released: 05 Nov 2018

As this study establishes, the influence of Islamist extremists has expanded into the United States. The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has attracted many U.S. citizens to support its radical perspective of Islam. The ultimate goal of ISIS is to rule the Muslim world. Although establishing a caliphate or unleashing holy war on U.S. soil is clearly not in ISIS's immediate plans, its current goal is to recruit as many American supporters as possible. Since ISIS's declaration of its caliphate, American citizens have supported ISIS by attempting to become foreign fighters, soliciting jihadist material online, or plotting attacks in the United States. Homegrown jihadi terrorist ideology thus poses a threat, due to its inherently violent Islamic extremism. This threat needs to be defeated by a comprehensive approach that ensures the safety and security of the United States.The threat of terrorism born of radicalization is a critical issue that challenges the world today, and homegrown Islamic terrorists who become foreign fighters pose a substantial threat to our national security. The conflict in Syria and Iraq has attracted Western extremists eager to wage battle and violence against the United States. Although their number is minimal compared to the number of European Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) recruits, they remain a security concern that the government must resolve.Some theorists argue that the domestic terrorist threat is not a significant issue and that it arises due only the public's fear of a perceived, albeit exaggerated, risk that underscores the problem. However, others see the threat as real and agree with terrorism experts, such as Will McCants, Peter Bergen, and Bruce Hoffman, that radicalization, and recruitment of ISIS supporters in the United States are on the rise and that attacks are becoming concurrently more complicated to prevent due to the diversification and evolution of the threat.This thesis looks at the increase in the number of U.S. homegrown ISIS-inspired terrorists from 2014 to 2017. Estimates indicate that more than 250 Americans became foreign fighters in that period. Furthermore, over 161 have been arrested and convicted of being ISIS supporters, and currently, there are approximately 900 active investigations of individuals that may be ISIS supporters in the United States. This thesis reviews research using court records and open-source information to analyze ISIS radicalization and recruitment in the United States. It endeavors to explain the possible patterns of who supports ISIS, pledges an oath to it, and why.