Sixty percent of people arrested for Islamic terrorist activities between January 2009 and April 2011 were American citizens, according to a new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy

Of the 104 American citizens arrested for Islamic extremist activities between January 2009 and April 2011, half were born in the United States, 22% were naturalized citizens and 7% were dual citizens. Of the 104, 5% entered the United States on a visa. Sixty-three percent of converts had a known prior criminal record. Of the 14 American converts with a prior criminal history, at least 55% had converted to Islam in prison. Ninety-two percent were male. Sixty-four percent were 30 years old or younger. Sixty-six percent had traveled or were in the process of traveling to the Middle East, Somalia, South Asia or the Balkans. Of the 104, 70% had an association or were attempting an association with an internationally recognized terrorist organization; al-Qaida and its associated branches were cited most. Of the 29 persons with no known association to a group, 11 had been active on terrorist-related chat rooms and websites. Overall, 38% had been involved in this Internet activity. Only 10 of the 104 are what the authors would consider “lone wolves”; most in the cohort had ties to others in the group or to an organization. Information on birthplaces and conversion to Islam was available for 77 of the 104 people arrested. The data revealed that 60% of the group was born outside the United States. Of the 31 U.S.-born persons where religion of origin could be determined, 14 were born into Muslim families and 17 converted to Islam. “The Internet and prison conversion are the two biggest new trends that policymakers need to look at more closely,” Neuhaus Schaan said. “We’ve seen a major change in how people become associated with extremist groups in the past 20 years, and we need to adapt.” The report concludes that approximately two-thirds of those involved in Islamic extremist activity are men under the age of 34, and no single, all-encompassing profile can be made of the analysis group of 104.