Editor’s Note: Leon Panetta served as Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013 and is chairman of The Panetta Institute for Public Policy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion on CNN.
On January 6, 2021, America crossed a line. Few thought it was possible in the 21st century: American terrorists attacked and occupied the US Capitol and brought our democracy to a halt. We were again at war with terrorism, only this time it was homegrown.
The lessons of history are clear. It took the brutal attack by al Qaeda on 9/11 for Americans to grasp the threat foreign terrorism posed to our country. Prior to that attack, intelligence had identified Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda as terrorists who were a danger to us.
But while there was evidence that foreign terrorism was behind the attacks on our embassies and ships in the decade before 9/11, few expected the kind of sophisticated planning that led to the hijacking of three airliners that would crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with a fourth targeted, unsuccessfully, to the Capitol and White House. Nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children were killed.
When foreign terrorists crossed that line, it was a wake-up call to all Americans that we were at war and would need to do everything necessary to make sure such an attack would never happen again.
January 6 must be the same kind of wake-up call. In the war against al Qaeda, we came to understand that Bin Laden motivated his followers to conduct violent attacks on US targets to destroy those who symbolized American power. He motivated them with a fundamental lie — that all those nonbelievers who did not share that goal were responsible for the failures in their lives and deserved to die. Many of those followers were poor, not well educated, frustrated by their lot in life and wanted to find others to blame. Their religious extremism made them blind to reality and to the consequences of their actions.
Some of the same frustrations that motivated foreign terrorists are also present in those who attacked the US Capitol. They too are moved by lies promoted by their leader — Donald Trump. Among the lies he told: We were “rounding the corner” on Covid-19; masks leave you vulnerable to the disease. But most importantly, he promoted deception and denialism around the November election, falsely claiming that it was being stolen from him, and that he was the real winner. He wanted them to march on and attack those in the US Capitol who symbolized American political power that left him out.
Trump found willing loyalists in members of far-right extremist groups (and even casual online followers of such ideologies) that already believed in false conspiracies aimed at them — overwhelmingly white people isolated by grievances based on imagined affronts and angered by anyone who they perceived as imposing rules and limits on their freedom. The former president, through his lies, constant shows of outrage and attacks on our democracy provided the perfect expression of their resentment.
Like all terrorists, these extremists see violence as the most effective way to get others to pay attention to their cause. Their goal is to disrupt and undermine the processes of government because they, like Trump, have little patience with the rule of law.
Terror, now, has become their weapon. While foreign terrorists use bombs, IEDs, and armed attacks on the innocent, the terrorists at the Capitol used clubs, flagpoles, fire extinguishers and other weapons to destroy property, make lethal threats, create havoc — and kill. They found comfort in numbers, responded to the incitement of the President, and moved against a Capitol we learned was all too vulnerable to attack.
As CIA Director during President Barack Obama’s administration, I had the responsibility to deal with terrorism, whether it emanated from abroad or within our borders. In this, the key to success was having good intelligence, well targeted military and law enforcement operations, the close cooperation of federal and local law enforcement, shared information with our allies and a coordinated and unified command that would spare no effort to bring criminals to justice. Most importantly, we learned to never underestimate their willingness to cause harm and chaos — and their resilience.
The mistake by the Capitol Police, the Pentagon and others was that they assumed the worst would not happen. It is essential that there be preparations not only for the expected but for the unexpected as well. Perimeters may be secure but the disruptions that can occur outside those perimeters are equally dangerous. It is essential for federal and state governments to use sufficient security measures, within the law, as may be necessary to secure our democracy.
Terrorists will not accept the truth of why they are wrong, but they will accept the reality of overwhelming force.
There are important lessons that can be learned in the fight against terrorism — both foreign and domestic —since 9/11. But there is also a fundamental difference between the two that could ultimately provide the key to success. Extremists abroad — such as in the form of ISIS, al Qaeda, Boko Haram and others — are much more willing to die for their cause and much more patient about achieving success. Their terrorism is driven by deep religious conviction and not just political paranoia. That makes them much more resilient and difficult to defeat.
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Terrorists in the United States draw their strength and followers by promoting the politics of hate and anger, fueled by political frustration more than religious conviction. That actually provides some hope: that if a new administration can work to improve a depressed, pandemic-riven economy, provide needed jobs and reach out and hear all Americans in distress, such a functioning democracy can deprive would-be terror leaders of their acolytes and help control American terrorism.
In the meantime, it would be careless for our national security and law enforcement agencies not to take seriously the clear and continued threat of homegrown terrorism in America.