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Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and Techniques of Violent Extremism

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S. Hrg. 115–309 IDEOLOGY AND TERROR: UNDERSTANDING THE TOOLS, TACTICS, AND TECHNIQUES OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 14, 2017 Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 27–393 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California CHRISTOPHER R. HIXON, Staff Director GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Chief Counsel DANIEL P. LIPS, Policy Director MARGARET E. DAUM, Minority Staff Director JULIE G. KLEIN, Minority Professional Staff Member LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk BONNI E. DINERSTEIN, Hearing Clerk (II) C O N T E N T S Opening statements: Page Senator Johnson ............................................................................................... 1 Senator McCaskill ............................................................................................ 3 Senator Hassan ................................................................................................. 17 Senator Harris .................................................................................................. 18 Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................................ 21 Senator Peters .................................................................................................. 24 Senator Daines ................................................................................................. 30 Prepared statements: Senator Johnson ............................................................................................... 35 Senator McCaskill ............................................................................................ 36 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University ..... 5 Asra Q. Nomani, Co-Founder, Muslim Reform Movement .................................. 6 John Lenczowski, Ph.D., Founder and President, The Institute of World Poli- tics ......................................................................................................................... 8 Hon. Michael E. Leiter, Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center ... 9 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Hirsi Ali, Ayaan: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 Leiter, Hon. Michael E.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9 Lenczowski, John Ph.D.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 110 Nomani, Asra Q.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 65 APPENDIX Sikh Coalition statement submitted for the Record ............................................. 127 Responses to post-hearing questions for the Record Ms. Hirsi Ali ..................................................................................................... 130 Ms. Nomani ....................................................................................................... 130 Mr. Lenczonwski ............................................................................................... 151 Mr. Leiter .......................................................................................................... 155 (III) IDEOLOGY AND TERROR: UNDERSTANDING THE TOOLS, TACTICS, AND TECHNIQUES OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Ron Johnson, Chair- man of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Johnson, Lankford, Daines, McCaskill, Tester, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHNSON Chairman JOHNSON. Before we start this hearing, let me just ask everybody in the audience to be respectful, no disturbances. This will be the warning. If there are further disturbances, if the wit- nesses are interrupted, if the questions are interrupted, we will re- move you. The Capitol Police will be instructed to do so, so I might as well—before we even start the hearing, let me lay that warning out. No disturbances. You can sit here, and you can listen to the hearing. We are trying to lay out a reality here, and if you are not willing to listen, you can go elsewhere. So, that is the only warn- ing. The next disturbance and you will be ushered outside of here. Good morning. This hearing is called to order. I want to thank the witnesses for your testimony, for taking the time, and for your courage. The mission of this Committee is pretty straightforward: to en- hance the economic and national security of America, and to pro- mote more efficient, effective, and accountable government. The Committee really is in many respects two committees in one from the House side. We have homeland security and we have govern- mental affairs. This hearing is really focusing on the homeland se- curity side of the Committee structure, and within that structure, we have four priorities: border security; cybersecurity; protecting our critical infrastructure; and countering extremism and violence in any form, including Islamist terrorism. What we try and do in this Committee is through this hearing process lay out a reality. I come from a manufacturing background, solved a lot of problems. The only way you solve a problem is to first admit you have one: properly define it, properly describe it, gather the information, and admit to the reality. There is no way (1) 2 anybody can deny we have a problem worldwide in terms of extre- mism and violence. We witnessed it just a few hours ago on a practice field for a charity baseball event. And, let me acknowledge first of all, our prayers are with those victims: Congressman Scalise, the staff member, and the two members of the Capitol Hill security detail that were wounded, and even having been wounded, they continued to return fire and prevented a far greater tragedy. The appreciation we owe to the men and women in public safety, that every day that they step out of the threshold of their door, they are literally putting their lives on the line, that was dem- onstrated again this morning. So, I appreciate anybody who is willing to step up to the plate, defend us, defend our freedom, protect public safety, but also stand up and tell the truth and describe reality in a world that is very dangerous, in a world that does not want to hear the truth and re- ality. Now, previous hearings on this subject have talked about the way radical Islamist terrorists are using social media. Particularly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become incredibly ef- fective at poisoning the minds of young people around the world to engage in these acts of terror and depravity. We have held hearings on trying to understand what are the mo- tives. What motivates this? What are they trying to accomplish? We have learned that in America what has been incredibly im- portant throughout our history: we are a Nation of immigrants. We have welcomed them. They have made this Nation great. But, what has made this Nation great is people that have come to this coun- try have come embracing the idea and promise of America, to be- come American, not rejecting their past culture. We never asked that. But, we do ask them to come and accept constitutional law to be able to take advantage of this wonder and marvel we call America and the American economy. We have certainly learned how important it is for us in govern- ment and our public safety officials to positively engage in commu- nities, every community, to make sure that people are welcome, they will assimilate. It is not perfect. It has not completely worked. I think we have probably done a better job, as we have witnessed recently, whether it is in Brussels, Paris, or places in Europe where the assimilation has not been as effective. But, it is far from perfect here in Amer- ica, and we will be talking about that. So, again, I just want to say again I appreciate the courage of our witnesses, their willingness to step up to the plate, and I just implore everybody to have an open mind. We need to understand the truth, we need to understand the reality if we have any hope of solving this problem. We are in a generational struggle at least. We have to get to a point where people can feel free and safe to go practice in the morning on a baseball field or walk a street or raise their family. That is what we are trying to accomplish.
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