The general trend in domestic extremism is the terrorist's disavowal of traditional, hierarchical, and structured terrorist organizations. Even well-established militia groups, which tend to organize along military lines with central control, are characterized by factionalism and disunity.
The very nature of the current domestic terrorism threat places severe limitations on effective intelligence gathering and evaluation. From a law enforcement perspective, the fundamental problem is that the traditional focal point for counterterrorism analysis – the terrorist group – is not always well-defined or relevant in the current environment.