That's a question that we have to ask ourselves even more so after the Oslo Terror attack. Domestic Extremism is a growing threat to our county and our world.
Our politicians and and Law Enforcement Officials are right to protect us from all levels of terror. But I would imagine the overwhelming majority of our resources are go toward foreign threats, whether it be overseas or from immigrants, both documented and undocumented.
But according to Gary LaFree, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START there is a rising threat from right wing groups.
State police agencies polled by START researchers in 2008 overwhelmingly reported the presence of potentially dangerous extremist groups across the political spectrum, with nearly 90% saying neo-Nazi, skinhead, militia groups and other right-wing groups were present in their state. About two-thirds reported radical Islamic groups.
But they tended to rank Islamic terrorists as the greatest concern ahead of right-wing groups in terms of the threat posed, LaFree said.
"I think there's a little bit of perceptual bias there," he said.
And we can't just blame the government. There have been warnings, but the push back from the right has been hard. They have even been calls for the resignation of Janet Neapolitano because a Department of Homeland Security (DHS)report indicated that we should be watchful of Homegrown extremists.
And
A 2010 DHS study concluded that a majority of the 86 major foiled and executed terrorist plots in the United States from 1999 to 2009 were unrelated to al-Qaeda and allied movements.
Why is there such a "perceptual bias" and does this bias affect the security of the United States? Are our immigration policies and views of immigrants being distorted by this bias? These are questions that need to be confronted and debated by our society, our press and by our leaders in an intelligent manner.