New York City officials may remove a 92-page report on Islamic terrorists from its website due to complaints that the report promotes discrimination against Muslims, the New York Post reports.
A former official from the NYPD, which had two of its officers attacked with a hatchet last October by a man wielding a hatchet who aspired to be part of the Islamic State (IS), told the Post that a decision to scrub its site of the report would send the message that the "the NYPD is going to back down on its counterterrorism effort in the name of political correctness."
The NYPD official said that the report, which specifically warned of al Qaeda-inspired jihadists in the United States and abroad attacking in their home countries, reads like a crystal ball.
Here are some of the other findings contained in the report, from the Post:
- "The majority of radical individuals began as ‘unremarkable’ — they had ‘unremarkable’ jobs, had lived ‘unremarkable’ lives and had little, if any criminal history."
- Most terrorist wannabes are reasonably well-educated male Muslims between ages 18 and 35, local residents, second- or third-generation with roots in the Middle East or South Asia, and from middle-class families.
- "The Internet is a driver and enabler for the process of radicalization"—providing information on extremist beliefs to practical advice on constructing weapons
- Recent converts to Islam can be the most radical. "Their need to prove their religious convictions to their companions often makes them the most aggressive."
- Potential jihadists flock to mosques as their religious beliefs deepen, then withdraw from them when "the individual’s level of extremism surpasses that of the mosque."
- Once a person is radicalized, an attack can happen very quickly. "While the other phases of radicalization may take place gradually, over two to three years, this jihadization component can be a very rapid process, taking only a few months, or even weeks."
The NYPD is also being pushed to halt surveillance operations in the Muslim community after two lawsuits from Muslim groups that claimed the community was being subjected to unwarranted surveillance.
The city's legal department said that "discussions are ongoing, and nothing is final."