Oklahoma City Bombing - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest act of terrorism against the United States on American soil until the September 11 attacks six years later. It has been estimated that about 387,000 people in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area (a third of the population) knew someone who was directly affected by the bombing.

Within 48 hours of the attack, and with the assistance of the General Services Administration (GSA), the targeted federal offices were able to resume operations in other parts of the city. According to Mark Potok, director of Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, his organization tracked another 60 domestic smaller-scale terrorism plots from 1995 to 2005. Several of the plots were uncovered and prevented while others caused various infrastructure damage, deaths, or other destruction. Potok revealed that in 1996 there were approximately 858 domestic militias and other antigovernment groups but the number had dropped to 152 by 2004. Shortly after the bombing, the FBI hired an additional 500 agents to investigate potential domestic terrorist attacks.