Astute observations, all.
While searching for the small foreign faction, I ran across the Garvey Essays. I was looking for a link to the usual suspects.
In those essays there is mention of the concern that a (small?) foreign faction might interfere to a dangerous degree in U.S. foreign policy. I believe the genesis of this idea was attributed to one of our founding fathers. An example of such a faction--and I'm not anti-semitic--would be the Jewish Americans, who fervently support Israel. Some feel that our unbalanced support of Israel is, in part, what brings upon us the wrath of militant Islamists (I'm also not anti-Islam).
The point of my remarks is not to spark a political debate, but to offer one definition of a foreign faction; in the above case, U.S. citizens who are loyal to a foreign country, or cause, by virtue of their ethnicity. I know that in my own neck of the words, when I was a sprite, there were many German immigrants--some of them my relatives--and there was a lot of talk among them about the "old country". Now, I'm waxing nostalgic.
I ran across another definition of foreign faction that I thought might fit the bill for the one mentioned in the Ramsey note. It was a group mentioned by an Iraqi government official while Saddam was in power. Essentially, this official issued a warning to those Iraqis who might demonstrate a sympathy toward the U.S. and the coalition during the first Gulf War. I assume he was directing his threat at the Shia in the South.
This "small foreign faction" is an ambiguous label to say the least. I thought if I could get a handle on which sort of faction the writer had in mind, I might get headed off in the right direction in search of a suspect.
One can easily get the impression that the person or persons who composed this note had done a fair amount of research into the subject of kidnapping. I found it hard to imagine that a Ramsey parent or Burke could sufficiently educate himself/herself on the subject of kidnapping on a moment's notice; in time to crank out the note. Of course, it is reported that Patsy, especially, was an avid reader; and it is reported that Foster reached his conclusion, in part, based on poring over the material that Patsy was alleged to have read. But, Douglas made the observation that Patsy wouldn't likely have been attracted to literature and movies dealing with this topic.
Still, if you're concerned that your daughter might be a target for abduction, won't you educate yourself about the matter? Also, John, being the CEO of a company with offices in many foreign countries, and having to engage in business-related foreign travel from time to time, might also have educated himself regarding the practices of "foreign factions" and the need to address his own security. Might you not even go so far as to procure a stun gun for your own personal use?