It'd be interesting to see breakdowns by race/religion (Muslims in mosques vs NRA gun collectors who are in local militias).<p>There have been cases where mosques have contacted the FBI to inform them of people they found disturbing (trying to recruit people) only to discover later those people were FBI agents sent to root out extremists.<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-plant-banned-by-mosque-ndash-because-he-was-too-extreme-2153057.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-plant-b...</a><p>If one of these people, released from prison in exchange for this work, feels pressured to convert/indoctrinate a person who would normally not give a damn about any type of revolution, how is that not entrapment?<p>Other disturbing trends: some people are arrested for giving money to a mosque in some far of region they grew up in. If you gave money to a church or a lobby origination that ends up doing highly illegal stuff, are you now liable?<p>The greater speech issue: if Americans start to gather and think America should be split or states should succeed (won't happen today; there's less then 3% support even in places like Texas/Cascades--but in the future?), even if they work on peaceful means, could this be marked at terrorism? What if peaceful organizations for revolution have a few violent members? Will the leaders of peaceful originations be arrested for giving monetary support to members of a militia who do something violent?
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxx1KdGXti0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxx1KdGXti0</a><p>^ I was listening to this earlier and I can't help but point out the creeping government overreach in all aspects of our lives. We drop bombs at the drop of a hat, and send people to prison for thought crimes.<p>I really hope everyone can see that we must roll back the powers of the federal government, or it is going to roll over us.
OP here. For those interested, the journalists who compiled all this data also wrote extensively about their findings: <a href="https://theintercept.com/series/trial-and-terror/" rel="nofollow">https://theintercept.com/series/trial-and-terror/</a>
Good prevention work then. If a person is already in a state where undercover FBI agents are able to set him up with a sting operation, then he could've just as easily been involved in the real thing if they didn't do their job.
This is a specific case of a general problem with how violations of law are investigated and prosecuted in this country that happens to be made worse by the fact that in this case it involves federal officers and many people who are not native to the US (and aren't as familiar with their rights).<p>How "terrorism" cases are prosecuted is not the problem here. How cases in general are prosecuted is the problem.