Peter Bergen Quotes

The Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013 remind us that the terrorist threat against the United States remains persistent. The threat from homegrown violent extremists is of particular concern. These individuals present unique challenges because they do not share a typical profile; their experiences and motives are often distinct and personal.

Well, one thing's very clear, that terrorism isn't just a threat which is external to Western countries. It's not simply a foreign menace that comes from overseas to strike our cities. It can and it does, as we now know, come from within our own countries and from inside our own populations.

We have identified over two dozen Americans who have converted to Islam and then have participated in Jihadist terrorist activities.

It's safe to assume none of us actually wants to see ISIS-inspired terrorists armed with semi-automatic rifles, able to attack at will within our own borders.

I'm the first person to say don't equate between terrorism and Islam. But at the same time, I'm not going to pretend that there isn't a threat from some British Muslim homegrown extremists.

Indeed, there are Islamic terrorist training camps in America

It is changing the face of terrorism. It is basically bringing it to the United States, to our great citizens. We know the terrorists are barbaric and murderers that attack innocent civilians, as they did in this case.

The threat has changed from simply worrying about foreigners coming here, to worrying about people in the United States, American citizens - raised here, born here, and who for whatever reason, have decided that they are going to become radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were born.

Terrorism is a significant threat to peace and security, prosperity and people.

Every lethal terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11 has been carried out by an American citizen or a legal permanent resident, not by recent immigrants or by refugees. So tamping down immigration won't fix the real issue, which is 'homegrown' terrorism.

When ISIS and al Qaeda have attacked or plotted attacks in the West in the past decade or so, they have invariably used hydrogen peroxide-based bombs because acquiring military-grade explosives or dynamite is nearly impossible for would-be terrorists in Western countries.

Second-generation Muslims who have lived all their lives in Europe are turning up among the suicide bombers and terrorists.

Foreign terrorists are using technology to radicalize Americans at a troubling pace that continues to increase.

ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism will face no more determined foe than I will be.

They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists.

The common thread linking the major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil - 9/11, the Ft. Hood shooting, the Boston Bombing, the San Bernardino attack, the Orlando attack - is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants. Clearly, new screening procedures are needed.

The Taliban is resilient.

What is happening in the Sahel for the past several months is that terrorists have structured themselves, have installed themselves. It's not simply a menace for west Africa.

We can't be afraid to call the enemy what it is: Radical Islamic terrorism.

We must be certain that we all realize that our enemy is not an enemy that is located in one single place. There are terrorist cells all around the globe.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev is telling no tales. The older of the two brothers who committed the Boston Marathon bombings was likely the one who planned the attack, but when he died in a shootout with police just days after the blasts, his thoughts and motivations vanished with him.

Terrorism takes us back to ages we thought were long gone if we allow it a free hand to corrupt democratic societies and destroy the basic rules of international life.

Terrorism as a force is gone. As individuals they are all around and we will continue to look for them.

We know that after September 11, there were still terrorists around. We do get continuing information that they're intent on causing some damage and harm to not only U.S. interests but allied interests.

We are in a war on terrorism. We need to conduct that war and take it to the terrorists, not here at home.