Ebook: The Mounting Threat of Domestic Terrorism: Al Qaeda and the Salvadoran Gang MS-13

Starita considers the terrorist threat of the transnational criminal syndicate Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, its affiliation with Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) in El Salvador, and its possible link to al Qaeda. Starita's findings suggest that the goals, tactical capabilities, and organizational fecklessness of MS-13 make the Salvadoran gang capable of providing the assistance necessary for the realization of al Qaeda's goals and that this assistance could be provided by the cliques of MS-13 operating in the southwestern United States. Further, she finds indirect evidence of collaboration between MS-13 and al Qaeda andthat other transnational criminal syndicates could also offer al Qaeda the same tactical assistance MS-13 might provide.