By now most of us have heard of Jihad Jane. Jane is a blond haired blue eyed, high school dropout who converted to Islam and allegedly believed her life was best spent assisting fundamentalist terrorists by helping them kill their perceived enemies and otherwise providing material support. She helped recruit other Westerners of similar proclivities to wage violent jihad against the West. This among other place was reported in an article in The Washington Post.
Jihad Jane was born Colleen Renee LaRose. According to the Post article, in her more desultory days, been arrested in Texas for passing bad checks and driving while intoxicated. She had been living in Pennsylvania for quite a number of years. According to the charges, she was attempting to assist her co-conspirator in moving to Sweden where they reportedly would kill the infidels and try to win converts over to the terrorist cause.
This may sound funky, but we all know that this is true. What you must realize is that this is the among the worst nightmares for law enforcement and intelligence. There is no racial profiling here. These are Westerners who can blend in easily and perform the most horrible acts against the public as well as the government. We are all too well aware of the tragedies and near tragedies terrorists have perpetrated in the United States, Europe, and other countries around the world. So while this woman may not appear to have all her oars in the water, she still is dangerous as hell.
The thing is, many terrorists may be funded, but others are not. They have to eat; they need a place to live. Which means they have to work. They may be applying for jobs, and many may be crazy, but certainly not stupid. It’s the latest wrinkle in the new world in which we live. While extremely rare you would even find a Jihad Jane lite in your midst, this is definitely not the person you would want to hire. The ramifications are major. To say the least, hiring a terrorist is not the best way to promote your business. Having the captured terrorist and your business featured on the six o’clock news may prove upsetting to both customers and community.
There are several background checks that can assist in filtering out those on the terror watch lists. The Global Terror Watch List includes seventeen reporting agencies from the United States and around the world. It is a relatively inexpensive background check and can be added to any preemployment screening program. The Global Terror Watch List also includes individuals and entities that are prohibited from working or doing business in the United States.
Again, I stress the chance of your turning up a Jihad Jane among your job applicants is extremely rare. But keep in mind the greatest concern that law enforcement has is the rising number of home grown terrorists and assorted nut jobs appearing on the radar screen. There are enough of them to give any employer at list the slightest pause, if not concern. Besides, for government contracts and when doing business with defense related or homeland security related industries, the Global Terror Watch List is increasingly mandated by most concerns.
So check them out before you hire.
