Common Pre-Travel Activities of Aspiring US Foreign Fighters

An unclassified review of recently arrested US persons who aspired to travel or succeeded in traveling to fight with or support foreign terrorist organizations produced a list of common, observable activities by many of the individuals leading up to their planned travel. Some observed activities that may be suspicious include constitutionally protected activity. These activities should not be reported absent articulable facts and circumstances that support the source agency or bystander’s suspicion that the observed behavior is not innocent, but rather reasonably indicative of criminal activity associated with terrorism, such as indications of possible preparations for or attempts to travel overseas to engage in or support violence.