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On the surface, white

supremacists and Islamic

State recruits would not

seem to have much in com-

mon. One group embraces a

racist, anti-immigrant

ideology and is mobilized by

fear that people of color will

soon outnumber whites in

the United States. The

other group believes it must

kill “infidels” and create an

Islamic caliphate.

Terrorism experts, how-

ever, say the radicalization

process, tactics and narra-

tives used by violent white

nationalists are strikingly

similar to those employed

by Islamic State. Under-

standing what the two

groups have in common,

experts say, can help offi-

cials develop a strategy for

preventing homegrown

extremism.

“I see extremism as a

structure for beliefs,” said

J.M. Berger, author of the

book “Extremism.” “We

need to do a better job in

treating extremism as a

universal phenomenon.”

The challenge of combat-

ing domestic terrorism and

white supremacist violence

was most recently thrust

into the spotlight after a

gunman, who is alleged to

have posted a racist screed

online, went on a bloody

rampage Saturday, killing

22 people in the aisles and

parking lot of a Walmart in

El Paso. (Several hours

later, another shooter, who

had reportedly held leftist

beliefs, killed nine people in

Dayton, Ohio.)

Many were quick to

point out how the Trump

administration has shifted

resources away from a

Department of Homeland

Security program meant to

counter violent extremism,

including far-right and

white supremacist groups,

to focus mainly on combat-

ing Islamist extremism.

On Tuesday, Rep. Bennie

Thompson (D-Miss.), rank-

ing member of the House

Committee on Homeland

Security, released an action

plan to address the threat of

domestic terrorism.

Despite their ideological

differences, white suprema-

cists and supporters of

Islamic State derive their

strength from a similar

narrative: They believe they

are in the midst of an exist-

ential crisis that threatens

their way of life and that the

only way to ensure self-

preservation is to use

violence, experts say.

“These groups have

apocalyptic and exclusion-

ist ideologies that are re-

peated and circulated in

order to serve as a rallying

point to susceptible individ-

uals,” said Bruce Hoffman, a

senior fellow at the Council

on Foreign Relations.

Although there’s no

magic formula to predict

who will be drawn to ex-

tremist ideologies, experts

have identified broad per-

sonality traits when it

comes to Islamic State

recruits and white national-

ists: They tend to be young

men who feel alienated or

marginalized or lack a sense

of community.

The radicalization

process doesn’t happen

overnight. And just because

a person might feel ostra-

cized doesn’t mean they’ll

necessarily succumb to

using violence.

But “the thinking that

terrorists appear out of

nowhere is misleading. It

doesn’t occur in a vacuum,”

Hoffman said.

One theory that de-

scribes how people end up

carrying out terrorist at-

tacks is called the staircase

model. A Georgetown Uni-

versity psychology profes-

sor, Fathali Moghaddam,

coined the term in a paper

published in 2005.

According to Moghad-

dam, all members of society

start out at the bottom floor

and remain there if they feel

content with their living

conditions. If people feel

discontent, they climb to

the second level to try to

find a solution.

At that point, if an indi-

vidual hits a dead end and

continues to feel unsatis-

fied, he or she might begin

to feel angry, frustrated and

eager to point fingers at a

target, such as a govern-

ment or religious and ethnic

groups. It’s at this stage

that experts say interven-

tion is necessary.

People who climb to the

third floor begin to feel

comfortable with the idea of

using violence against their

perceived threat. They are

also susceptible to recruit-

ment at this stage. A person

climbs to the fourth floor

when he or she is recruited

by an extremist group.

At that point, Moghad-

dam says, there’s little that

can be done to prevent the

person from climbing to the

fifth and final floor, which is

when violence is used

against the target.

There are obviously

significant differences be-

tween white supremacists

and Islamic State recruits.

One is organizational: Is-

lamic State has a leader

members can rally around

— Abu Bakr Baghdadi —

and at one point established

a government that adminis-

tered large swaths of land in

Iraq and Syria, albeit for a

short time.

White supremacist

groups, by contrast, are

intentionally decentralized

and fragmented.

Law enforcement’s

infiltration into white supre-

macist groups in the 1970s

and ’80s was the catalyst

that spurred the move-

ment’s leaders to adopt that

model.

Since then, leaders of

various white nationalist

movements, such as Rich-

ard Spencer of the National

Policy Institute, haven’t had

much success in consoli-

dating power when they’ve

tried, said Scott Stewart,

vice president of tactical

analysis at the Texas-based

global intelligence firm

Stratfor.

For instance, the 2017

“Unite the Right” march in

Charlottesville, Va., brought

in an array of far-right

groups, but the situation

got out of hand when they

were confronted by counter-

demonstrators. The rally

was canceled and violence

ensued, culminating when a

white supremacist drove

into a crowd and killed a

counter-protester.

However, Stewart said a

decentralized strategy of

relying on social media,

online forums and private

meetings has worked for

white supremacist groups.

Three individuals with

ties to racist or white su-

premacist ideology are

alleged to have posted on

the online forum 8chan

prior to killing people: the

suspect in the New Zealand

mosque massacre of 49

people in March; the sus-

pected gunman in the at-

tack at a Poway synagogue

in April; and the suspect in

El Paso.

“Social media sites and

forums like 8chan act as an

echo chamber. People are

feeding off the violence,”

Stewart said.

Hoffman says he worries

that the internet and social

media sites have sped up

the radicalization process.

“The threats from these

groups are evolving and

moving much faster be-

cause of the power of social

media in recent years,” he

said.

Data show that far-right

groups have been carrying

out deadlier attacks than in

the past.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001,

terrorist attacks, far-right

groups have killed about the

same number of Americans

(109) as jihadist groups

(107), according to data

compiled by New America, a

Washington-based think

tank.

“It’s becoming increas-

ingly clear that we may be

witnessing a shift in tactics

over the past couple of

years,” David Sterman, a

senior policy analyst at New

America, said in reference to

an increase in deadly at-

tacks by white suprema-

cists.

For years, counter-ter-

rorism experts and govern-

ment officials have been

voicing concern over the

increasing threat posed by

individuals inspired by

far-right and white suprem-

acist groups; a Department

of Homeland Security re-

port warned elected officials

about the increasing threat

of domestic terrorism in

2009.

And FBI data show that

hate crimes increased for

the third consecutive year in

2017, up 17% from the year

prior.

Red flags popped up

again in May when Michael

McGarrity, head of the FBI’s

counter-terrorism unit,

testified during a congres-

sional hearing that of the

roughly 850 domestic terror-

ism cases the bureau was

investigating, 40% involved

racially motivated violent

extremism — and again last

month when FBI Director

Christopher A. Wray told

the Senate Judiciary Com-

mittee that a majority of

domestic terrorism cases

the bureau has investigated

are motivated by white

supremacy.

In recent years, Islamic

State has been following in

the footsteps of white na-

tionalist groups when it

comes to using social media

and online forums to dis-

seminate information, chat

with vulnerable individuals

and inspire violence.

As Islamic State’s caliph-

ate has withered, the group

has been relying less on its

leaders to spread ideology

and are focusing more on

the power of social media to

inspire individuals to carry

out attacks on its behalf,

Hoffman said.

Experts say the threat

from Islamic State in this

country comes mainly from

individuals radicalized in

the U.S., such as Joshua

Cummings, who shot and

killed a transit guard in 2017

in Denver, and Corey John-

son, a 17-year-old who con-

verted to Islam and, after

watching extremist videos,

allegedly stabbed three

people during a sleepover in

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.,

in 2018.

According to New Ameri-

ca, 84% of people charged

with Islamic State-related

terrorism offenses are U.S.

citizens or legal permanent

residents.

Islamic State “is repli-

cating what white suprema-

cists were the first ones to

do,” Hoffman said, “whether

consciously or not.”

BACK STORY

THE 2017“Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Va., brought together various white supremacist groups

in the deliberately decentralized far right, which favors social media, online forums and private meetings.

Albin Lohr-JonesPacific Press

White supremacists are

not unlike Islamic State

Experts say they rely on remarkably similar radicalization processes

By Melissa Etehad

ISLAMIC STATEmembers rally around a leader,

Abu Bakr Baghdadi, and had a government and land.

AY-Collection/Sipa/Shutterstock