Editor's Note: (Heather Tsavaris served at the US Department of State from 2002 to 2012, spending most of that time as a senior terrorism analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Subsequently, Heather served in a consulting capacity to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Community Partnerships and now works to improve community well-being at the local level. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.)
(CNN) As I watched the attack on our nation's Capitol, my heart broke and I was so incredibly angry.
But this isn't about one day of events. When I watched the people storming the Capitol, parroting talking points they have heard ceaselessly on social media feeds for months, their words matched the themes that I repeatedly saw during my 10 years working in counterterrorism at the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
I was an all-source analyst, which meant I spent my days reading hundreds of intelligence reports trying to understand how al Qaeda, and eventually ISIS and al-Shabab, planned their attacks and how they recruited, radicalized and retained supporters.
Themes kept emerging. Recruitment messages were ones of strength that landed so well for people who felt they had no power. They offered a way to belong for people who felt like they were perennial outsiders, and they claimed your life may have been insignificant up to this point but, if you are willing to join the cause now, you will have meaning beyond your wildest dreams. The culmination of a very different kind of recruitment messaging that also played on themes of significance is what I saw unfolding at the Capitol, and I am haunted by the images, the words, the livestreams and interviews of people who participated in the insurrection, and probably will be forever.
The sentiment that I heard repeated often from the rioters was that the President invited them there and told them to storm the Capitol. I saw videos of men who looked like the guys I grew up with in my small mid-Western hometown, who would be far more at ease at a Friday night high school football game than part of a group violently beating down the doors of our nation's hallowed Capitol. I heard young adults with wonderment in their voices, seemingly in disbelief that they made it inside of the Capitol. There were also the people excitedly telling one another, you have to tell your grandkids about this.
After the Capitol was secured and so many of us continued to reel in shock, livestream footage from the lobby of the Grand Hyatt had a different feel.
There was a palpable sense of community, connection, and belonging amongst those who had traveled to be part of a historic day. These people had come to be together with others who were like them. They chatted about where they had flown in from, how they were thrilled to be meeting other "patriots," what this event meant to them -- mere hours after so much destruction and death had just occurred. One irony for me was that the last time I was in that Grand Hyatt lobby, I was receiving training from the US Department of Homeland Security on countering violent extremism.
To be clear, while I noticed striking similarities between the messaging themes like purpose, significance, and belonging that influenced the Capitol rioters and how people are recruited to join terrorist organizations, there were differences. One main one that I saw: Terrorist groups aim to harm civilians, but the rioters intended to disrupt a cornerstone of US democracy and, for a few at least, harm elected officials because they believe unsubstantiated claims about their votes were not being counted.
From a former terrorism analyst, who now works to improve community well-being, I know what it looks like when those ravenous for power manipulate people who feel they -- and their beliefs -- have been cast aside. Until we deeply understand and address how every human needs purpose, meaning, belonging and ways to contribute, there will always be selfish people claiming to fulfill these most basic needs towards their own narrow purposes, resulting in dire and sometimes deadly consequences.
As I, and so many others ponder what to do next, I can't help but think about how the US government has tried for years to address violent extremism: more stringent social media terms of use, improved community awareness, deployment of credible voices pushing back against extremist messages. All of these tactics have a place.
We are talking about a different situation here, though. A powerful tool in this instance is deeper community engagement that seeks to humanize, connect with, and profoundly understand the needs of our neighbors, including those who went to the Capitol.
Some were intent to carry out violence, did so, and should be condemned and fully prosecuted. But it would be useful to understand how, in the propagating of violence, they found such clear purpose and meaning, and intense belonging. Importantly, there are scores more who would never consider violence but who feel exceedingly marginalized who also must be heard -- frankly, on this issue and on so many more.
Although I no longer work in counterterrorism, my work is still very much focused on promoting belonging, purpose, meaning and ways to contribute in order to strengthen our local community.
To do this, I have led work in partnership with incarcerated men and those recently returned home to understand and create solutions together that improve their own sense of belonging when they are released. In so doing, community power brokers have said to them -- we need your help, your expertise. We can't do this without you.
I have engaged with formerly homeless young people to leverage their expertise and ideas about how to support youth experiencing homelessness during Covid. I have witnessed these young people step into their power when they presented their work to city councils. Realizing that they are making history in their community. That these are the stories they will tell their grandkids.
The goal of this work is to listen without judgment, unearth new insights, and create solutions together that offer true belonging and well-being for us all. Maybe this is the kind of approach that could provide more belonging for more people in a nation that really seems to need it.