The Director of the FBI, John Corney, has announced a reduction in the recruiting of Americans to ISIL, especially Somali young men these terrorist organizations. That’s good news for everyone. But why is this trend happening? http://www.startribune.com/fbi-director-visiting-minneapolis-office-today-will-speak-to-media/382111931/
If you recall, in 2008, several Somali young men started disappearing from cities across the U.S. Here in Minnesota it was particularly unsettling since we have one of the largest Somali populations in the country. No one knew, for certain, where or why the young men disappeared.
The FBI confirmed the men were recruited to fight for a group in Somalia called El Shabbab, a group fighting against Christian incursions into Somalia. Since then, it shifted to the recruiting of Americans to ISIL But numbers have dropped over the years from 6-10 men per month to 1-2 men per month. Why has this happened? Here’s one reason.
The FBI and federal prosecutors across the country stepped-up the prosecution of the young men involved in terrorist recruiting. In Minnesota recently, three men were convicted in trial of two charges:
- Conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization
- Conspiring to commit murder abroad for a terrorist organization.
It’s only the third trial in the nation about these kinds of crimes—recruiting of Americans to ISIL, so it was important and followed by many people. Starting six years ago, the FBI infiltrated a local group of about ten young men. One of the conspirators agreed to become a secret informant. He was the main witness for the prosecution during their successful trail that resulted in convictions.
Why would the trial and FBI efforts cause a decrease in recruiting? http://www.startribune.com/jury-reaches-verdict-in-isil-recruitment-trial/381796251/
- Would-be terrorists have to worry that even their own trusted co-conspirators may be informants for the FBI. That would discourage many young men from being involved in the recruiting.
- The convicted men in Minneapolis are facing life in prison. As a result, the entire Somali community has paid attention to these cases, the accusations, trial, and convictions. Young people know that even planning to fight for ISIL could result in long prison sentences. This also acts to discourage recruiting of Americans to ISIL and other terrorist groups.
- The crimes they three men were convicted of are not actual acts of violence like blowing-up bombs, shooting people, torturing, etc. The conviction were for the conspiracy to do violent acts “outside the United States.” Conspiring means only the initial planning and organizing of a group with at least one step forward. Since these success conviction, it means prosecutors don’t have to wait for violent terrorist acts to occur—they can step-in earlier at the planning stages and get convictions.
For all these reasons, there is a disincentive to even start talking about recruiting of Americans to ISIL to fight for them or other terrorist groups overseas. What do you think?
