By Abdul Masih —
Hate and violence are expensive.
The United States alone spends $100 billion a year to counter domestic terrorism, according to estimates.
Here’s what other nations spend annually:
- United Kingdom: £1.02 billion2024-25, plus part of £3.6 billion to MI5/MI6 through the Single Intelligence Account (SIA)
- Australia: A$594.3 million Australia Intelligence Security Organisation, plus part of Federal Police A$2.3 billion, plus A$106.2 million over four years on prevention, support services and capability-building initiatives aimed at countering violent extremism and radicalization, plus A$104 million to bolster security at Jewish community sites and related protective measures after Bondi.
- Germany: €1.24 billion for 2026 overall BKA (Bundeskriminalamt or German Federal Criminal Police Office) budget, including counterterrorism, cybercrime and other major national policing functions.
But if prevention sounds like it has a hefty price tag, a new study reveals the costs of the fallout of a terrorist attack is also pricey.
A survey of past attacks in the U.S.:
- The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing resulted in 168 fatalities and $652 million in losses according to preliminary estimates following the attack.
- The 2009 Fort Hood shooting cost an estimated $115 million
- The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing cost around $500 million
- The 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting hit $425 million.
- Any single homicide costs $10M-$20M figuring for medical expenses, emergency response, mental health treatment, property damage, economic disruption and lost revenues.
The Government Technology and Services Coalition found in its August study “profound economic consequences of violence, in addition to lives lost and the lasting mental health effects endured by survivors and communities.”
“At the community level, mass shootings result in job losses, reduced business activity, and depressed housing markets,” the study says. “One study found that in targeted counties, mass shootings reduced the number of establishments and jobs, significantly decreased total earnings and earnings per job, and that housing prices decreased by approximately 3% in the years following a mass shooting.”
And to criminally process a terrorist? The estimated cost of criminal justice expenditures, covering investigation, prosecution, incarceration, and post-release supervision, can total between $2.8 million and $3.4 million per perpetrator.
That’s a lot of dollars just to deal with ideologies of hate, whether they be racist whites like Timothy McVeigh or what increasingly is the case, Islamic terror and Antifa violence.
On Dec. 12, the FBI caught Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield and Tina Lai allegedly assembling a trial bomb in Lucerne Valley near Los Angeles.
Along with another suspect from New Orleans, the group formed Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), described as pro-Palestinian, anti-government, anti-capitalist and anti-law-enforcement. They planned to detonate five separate bombs on New Year’s Eve in LA and Orange Counties, police say.
“Turtle Island” is the name for North America among radicals who want to hand over the land to tribal sovereignty.
Might it be actually better to fight against hate ideologies, as Pilgrim Dispatch does, without leftist-controlled platforms shadow-banning and sidelining as Islamophobes and right-wing extremism?
