Some 200 individuals have been charged with federal offenses connected to the siege at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Among them are at least 15 examples of family affiliated extremism. These instances include: five sets of husbands and wives; two cases of fathers and sons, mothers and sons, brothers, and cousins; and an instance of father/daughter and brother/sister participation. Although of a different strain and less serious offenses—none specifically terrorism nor involving murder —such kin-connected radicalism is neither a new phenomenon nor one unique to the United States or elsewhere. In fact, in my 2019 book, I analyzed 118 global cases of family terror networks, including some 50 instances involving U.S.-based jihadists, sovereign citizens, militia, and white supremacy adherents. Illustrations of such family terror networks encompassed: multiple brothers (e.g., 2013 Boston Marathon bombers), husbands and wives (e.g., 2015 San Bernardino attack), fathers and sons (e.g., 2010 murders of two police officers in Arkansas), cousins (e.g., subverted attack at an armory in Illinois in 2015), and many more. …read more

Source:: SecurityMagazine