Search results

In this chapter, we examine several attributes of lone wolf terrorists and how their activities are temporally and geospatially patterned. In particular, we demonstrate how precursor behaviors and attack characteristics of lone wolves are similar and different compared to those of group-based terrorists.

Based on data drawn from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), we examine 268 federal terrorism “indictees” linked to 264 incidents. Three types of loners are identified based on group affiliations and levels of assistance in preparing for and executing terrorist attacks. A series of analyses comparatively examine loners who had no assistance and those actors that did.

The results of this study suggest that lone wolf terrorists are more educated and socially isolated than group-based actors. Lone wolves also engage in less precursor activities than group actors, but are willing to travel greater distances to prepare for and execute attacks. Explanations for why lone wolves are able to “survive” longer than terrorist groups by avoiding arrest may in part stem from their ability to temporally and geospatially position their planning and preparatory activities.

Studies on lone wolf terrorism remain few and many are plagued by methodological and conceptual limitations. The current study adds to this growing literature by relying on lone wolf terrorism data recently made available by the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Our findings are valuable for members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities responsible for the early detection and prevention of lone wolf terrorism in the United States.

This chapter explains how economic analysis can contribute to the delineation of the lone wolf’s opportunities and choices in a manner that allows operationally relevant advice to be contributed to the investigative process.

Using a risk-reward analytical framework we examine the lone wolf’s attack method opportunities and choices and identify those attack methods that would be chosen by lone wolves with different levels of risk aversion. We also use prospect theory as an alternative methodology for the determination of the lone wolf’s preference orderings over the available attack methods in a context where he references his actions against those of a predecessor whom he wishes to emulate.

We find that lone wolf terrorists with different levels of risk aversion can be expected to choose different attack methods or combinations of attack methods. More risk averse lone wolf terrorists will choose attack methods such as assassination. Less risk averse lone wolf terrorists will choose attack methods such as bombing, hostage-taking and unconventional attacks. Also, we find that lone wolf terrorists who reference their actions against ‘predecessor’ lone wolf terrorists will choose differently from among the available attack methods depending on which predecessor lone wolf is being referenced.

The analysis provides two different perspectives on terrorist choice but by no means exhausts the analytical alternatives. The analysis focuses on the fatalities and injuries inflicted whereas other perspectives might include different ‘payoffs’ series, including news or media coverage.

The chapter contributes an analysis of the order in which lone wolf terrorists with particular characteristics will choose from a set of available attack methods. During the course of our discussion we point out the consistency between the ‘rise’ of the lone wolf terrorist and the diseconomies to scale that are evident within the terrorism context. This presents the opportunity for new debates.

The prevalence of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) being associated with terroristic threats, lone wolf terrorism or affiliating with terroristic groups is rare. This paper aims to discuss this issue.

However, several cases are presented, where individuals with autism are involved in making a naïve, empty terroristic threat or uttering serious serial terroristic threats. Other cases are also presented of individuals being at risk for an abduction or being used by a terrorist group, and finally committing an act of domestic lone wolf terrorism.

Essential to the analysis was establishing a functional connection between autism-based deficits and the terroristic threats, terrorism, and when to not criminalize naïve, empty terroristic threats or acts.

Currently, tools available to law enforcement and prosecutors exploit the vulnerabilities and liabilities which arise as a result of group interactions, a “preventive” approach to terrorism that is not applicable to the solitary, “lone wolf” terrorist. There has been relatively little research (including case studies) examining individuals with ASD who engage in terrorism. For instance, when dealing with an individual with ASD who is charged with terrorism, it is crucial to consider how the diagnosis of autism may have presented as a contextual vulnerability, and to make sure that justice, rehabilitation and management, are informed by an understanding of the person’s diagnosis of ASD.

In 2014, Paul Gill et al. introduced a study of 119 lone-actor terrorism cases, and found that lone-actor extremists could be more accurately identified by their behavioural characteristics and activities, rather than their extremist ideologies. The study was said to have significant impact on intelligence analysis in the field of counterterrorism. The purpose of this paper is to apply Gill et al.’s findings to financial intelligence investigations, to assist investigators with the detection and prevention of lone-actor terrorist financing.

This article provides an overview of the key findings provided by Gill et al. It then discusses the indicators of lone-actor terrorism in the context of financial intelligence investigations, and sets out methods to improve financial intelligence investigations to better identify and stop lone-actor terrorism in the future.

By applying traditional financial intelligence techniques, which focus on assessing an individual’s activity and behaviour, with open-source intelligence gathering, financial intelligence investigators will be better equipped to identify lone-actor terrorism and its financing moving forward.

This article will be of value to investigators specializing in terrorism and financial crime, as it will assist them in the identification of a proliferating security threat, the lone-actor terrorist. While the article relies on the findings provided by Gill et al., it takes a new approach by applying those findings specifically to the financial intelligence sector, to improve investigations related to terrorism.

This chapter will consider the media and white western society’s use of various ‘othering’ terms at the personal, social and political levels to misconstrue and inaccurately describe Islam and events and actions involving Muslim people. A psychological analysis of the personal and social impact on the misuse of ‘othering’ terminology will be undertaken to explore how British African-Caribbean converts to Islam, as a group, may find themselves antagonised and alienated by descriptions made about Islamic groups and behaviours misapplied and associated to Islamic religious and cultural practices. The chapter will consider how this antagonism may lead to alienation which, in turn may result in behaviours perceived to come about as a result of radicalisation. The chapter will consider whether British African-Caribbean converts to Islam are responding in a way which is the result of a process of ‘radicalisation’ or more reacting to antagonism and alienation affecting poor mental health due to negative media and dominant social group portrayal of black people. A critique of the media portrayal in depicting Muslims and Islam as ‘the other’ rather than depicting terrorist activity and terrorist groups as anti-Islamic, separate and distinct from Islam will be considered. Missed opportunities for critical review of inaccurate and racist terminology and its potential impact on British African-Caribbean converts to Islam will be explored.

Strategies for decreasing antagonism, alienation and violence through the review of terminology and social reclaiming will be suggested. The process of ethnic identity development and an evolving British Muslim identity will also be considered and how understanding and knowledge of this minority ethnic group identity process can be used to reduce the process of antagonism, alienation and violence. Psychological theories of minority group ethnic identity development will be explored and applied to the development of an alienated psychology of British African-Caribbean converts to Islam. Minority group identity theories relevance for individual and group intervention with alienated British African-Caribbean converts to Islam will be discussed in terms of the building and maintenance of a positive sense of self and affirmation to one’s religious group membership. Affirmation of ethnicity membership is proposed as a more active activity among groups who face greater discrimination as a means of maintaining self-esteem and group cohesion and connectedness.

The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 were a very traumatic event for the entire nation. This was especially true for law enforcement. Many law enforcement officers and other first responders lost their lives in the initial response to the attack while attempting to save the lives of the citizens they were sworn to protect. As a result of the 9/11 attacks, many changes have occurred in the missions, operations and tactics of local law enforcement agencies in the United States.

This chapter attempts to examine the changes that were forced upon law enforcement by the events of 9/11 and to look at what the future might hold for law enforcement in an enhanced homeland security environment.

Terrorism presents additional duties for law enforcement. Traditional police missions have not been lessened, but new threats to the public have arisen.

This paper aims to examine whether from a factual standpoint, it is sufficiently reasonable to address the suppression of terrorist financing by analogy with money laundering.

The process of terrorist financing will be examined in regard to the funding requirements of terrorists and the methods and tools that terrorists use to raise, move and store their funds. The process of money laundering will be compared with terrorist financing. The role of money laundering in terrorist financing will be discussed. In the core part of this paper, the assumptions justifying the inclusion of anti-money laundering measures to terrorist financing will be challenged.

What terrorist financing and money laundering share in common is money. However, there are fundamental differences between them with regard to the sources of funds and the direction of financial flows. None of the elements –“accumulation” and “legitimization”– involved in money laundering are necessarily engaged in the process of terrorist financing. This questions the authenticity of the assumptions which underlie the adopted approach. It also requires further investigation on the effectiveness of the integrated counter-terrorist regime, which will not be covered by this paper.

This paper provides a comprehensive introduction for those dealing with the greater question of whether the terrorist financing can and should be tackled by anti-money laundering measures.

This paper aims to discuss the dilemma of terrorism as a political phenomenon that many political scientists care about; however, they find themselves incapable of explaining some of its aspects and they resort to other disciplines. The second part of the dilemma is related to the incapability of well-established disciplines to provide political scientists with much help. This raises the following question: Will political scientists be able to enhance their knowledge of terrorism with the help of scholars from consolidated and well-established disciplines or with the help of scholars from interdisciplinary fields?

This research depends on the main theories of psychology and of social psychology and adopts a comparative approach to assess the effectiveness of both disciplines in providing political scientists with the knowledge they lack.

In spite of being a well-established and consolidated discipline, psychology is not the perfect discipline that can help political scientists know who a terrorist is. Social psychological theories of aggression provide political scientists with greater ability to understand what psychological and sociological factors motivate a person to turn to aggression and terrorism. Moreover, social psychology developed the “terror management theory” which clarifies various aspects of the phenomenon.

This research paper calls the attention of scholars of terrorism to the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to understand the various aspects of a complex phenomenon such as terrorism. The interdisciplinary field adopted will differ according to the research question that a researcher needs to answer.