Christopher Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), popularised the use of the term Salad Bar Extremism (also understood as Mixed, Unstable, or Unclear and Composite Violent Extremism) during a Congressional testimony in 2020 to signal a new security threat facing the United States. He underscored that it had become complex for law enforcement officials to neatly compartmentalise the multiple ideological threats facing the US because
‘One of the things that we see more and more in the counterterrorism space is people who assemble together in some kind of mish-mash, a bunch of different ideologies…a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and what they are really about is the violence…’
Political violence experts such as Daveed Gartenstein-Ross observe that violent extremists are displaying
‘an amalgamation of different disparate beliefs, interests and grievances (idiosyncratic patterns of grievances) … We as people are becoming more incoherent [and] extremists are becoming more incoherent as well.’
Salad Bar extremists are, therefore, those who incorporate multiple extremist agendas. They blur lines between various ideological trends or give primacy to one worldview (for example, white supremacy) while also espousing other secondary perspectives (for example, Islamism). Some reach across ideological lines to forge alliances based on shared interests. For example, in 2019, Atomwaffen Division (a neo-Nazi group) eulogised Osama bin Laden. Neo-Nazis and White supremacists have also expressed support and admiration of martyrdom tactics used by Salafi-jihadi organisations.
Pertinent Examples
In December 2018, Damon M. Joseph, a supporter of ISIS’ Salafi-Jihadi ideology, was arrested for conspiring to attack two synagogues situated in Toledo (Ohio) after being inspired by the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh carried out by a Christian neo-Nazi (Robert Bowers) two months ago in which at least eleven people lost their lives. Joseph expressed his admiration for Bowers due to shared animosity towards the Jewish community in the lead-up to his arrest:
‘I admire what the guy (Bowers) did with the shooting actually…I can see myself carrying out this type of operation Inshallah. They wouldn’t even expect [an attack] in my area…’
The accelerationist militia culture supporters in the United States support the Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In September 2020, Benjamin R. Teeter and Michael R. Solomon, members of the Boogaloo Bois Movement, were arrested by the FBI for attempting to provide weapons to Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States. Despite having no affiliation with the Palestinian group and without being converts to Islam, they pursued this path owing to their hostility towards the American government. They wanted to overthrow the democratically elected federal government and wage violence across the country. Nicholas Young, a former Virginian Police Officer convicted in 2019 was a neo-Nazi who revered Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich while also providing ISIS with material support.
In May 2021, an outlet mall in Austin (Texas) was targeted by a Hispanic individual named Mauricio Garcia, adhering to incel (involuntary celibate) and neo-Nazi ideologies whose activities resulted in the death of eight visitors and injuring at least seven others. The investigations into Garcia’s online activities following the mall rampage revealed his anti-Semitic, White supremacist, extremist anti-minority and misogynistic beliefs, which propelled him to carry out an act of mass violence. Garcia’s actions are one key example of the complexity surrounding formulating strategies to foil acts associated with salad bar extremism.
Traditionally, membership in White supremacist communities – online and offline – has been occupied by members of a specific racial community with a discriminatory attitude displayed towards those who do not demonstrate the required physical attributes, including Mexican, Arab, Asian, and African immigrants. However, Garcia defied the conventional understanding of the threat of white extremism and its supporters. This makes it more challenging for authorities to narrow down potential threats and take preventive action against them.
Beyond the Western Discourse
As indicated above, while salad bar extremism has been recognised as a recent phenomenon, highlighting the evolving security threats posed by domestic violent extremists to the United States, other regions have experienced similar trends. One of the most well-known examples could be the long-standing jihadi ties between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. While the Afghan Taliban espouses Hanafi-Deobandi interpretation of Islam, Al-Qaeda had (until ISIS’ emergence) established itself as the most notorious adherent of the Salafi-Jihadi ideology. Despite being ideological rivals, these extremist movements have remained united in a bid to impose Sharia and fight against Western forces and their allies. It has frequently been argued that the Taliban’s cooperation, including through the provision of training camps to Al-Qaeda, was crucial in preparing for the 9/11 attacks and granting refuge to Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan after the launch of the Global War on Terror.
Debates have also taken place about how ideologically divergent security threats to countries like India have worked in tandem to undermine its territorial integrity. Khalistani separatists and Kashmiri militants have joined hands to subvert India’s national security (while being guided by Pakistan’s ISI agency). At the same time, Baloch insurgents (secular and left-wing armed fighters) are believed to have increasingly cooperated with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (a Hanafi-Deobandi organisation), an offshoot of Afghan Taliban, to target their mutual enemies, Pakistan’s government and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Moreover, Yemeni Houthis, Shiite rebels, have launched a barrage of attacks against Israeli and Western- affiliated (United States and Western Europe) vessels in the Red Sea and disrupted the maritime traffic moving through one of the most critical trading routes, the Suez Canal. Since 2023, they have acted as a disruptive force to support Hamas, a Sunni Palestinian militant group fighting in the Gaza Strip against Israel, which is mutually considered a hostile entity.
Conclusion
The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories by political leaders, academics, and media, mainly amid the advent of digital proliferation and decentralisation of access to technology, has cultivated a conducive atmosphere for salad bar extremism to sustain. In the US specifically, that process appears unlikely to reverse, primarily considering the polarised bipartisan ecosystem that has become deeply rooted in American society and is expected to worsen with the upcoming Presidential campaign.
As adherents continue to infuse and reach across ideological divides to radicalise potential recruits and inflict violence, it would make it harder for law enforcement and intelligence communities to counter emerging threats. The rapidly evolving technological developments, such as the advent of the metaverse and the transition of extremists to encrypted and unregulated digital forums, will exacerbate the challenges faced by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in containing this security threat, which in turn could make the domestic landscape more complex.
Heightened geopolitical tensions, growing mistrust and plummeting cooperation in the security domain, and the outbreak of conflicts in various hotspots have hindered global cooperation in devising strategies and interoperability to counter salad bar extremism. Hostile entities, primarily violent non-state actors, are likely to take advantage of these loopholes to inflict more violence and instability over the next decade.
