Lone wolf terrorism is the term used to describe violent acts committed by a single perpetrator. Jasparros 2010 study asserts that lone wolf terrorism is not a big threat, as lone wolf attacks carry a poor record of success, and result in fewer fatalities. Hamm and sociologist ramon spaaij discuss stochastic terrorism as a form of indirect enabling of terrorists. Domestic terrorism and related radical violence as opposed to terrorist attacks emanating from abroad continue to plague the nation. A study on the connection between mental illness and lone actor terrorism. To say that lone wolf terrorism is a neglected field of research is an understatement. See clark mccauley, sophia moskalenko and benjamin van son, characteristics of lonewolf. Lonewolf terrorism is a growing concern for security and a puzzle for social science. Lone wolf terrorism was adopted by al qaeda after september 11, 2001, when us military forces attacked its operational base in afghanistan. Yet, the accuracy and level of detail found in media. Larry steve mcquilliams acted alone when he opened fire on the austin, texas, police department and other buildings.
How radicalization to terrorism occurs in the united states i ational institute of justice nij. Global patterns, motivations and prevention london. A fter 911, lonewolf terrorism suddenly seemed like a distraction from more serious threats. Spaaij begins this thoughtful and meticulous analysis by offering a concise fourpart definition of lone wolf terrorism that clearly distinguishes the phenomenon from terrorist activities carried out by underground organisations or states. Their outlook is one that divides the world simplistically into them and us. In the last two years, lone wolf jihadists seemed to emerge as the new face of terrorism, writes daniel byman. The lone wolf attack in boston was first a crime and then a terrorist act.
Lone wolf terrorism a brief bibliography updated august 2019 show summary open resource pdf open full abstract this bibliography, compiled by greta e. The psychology of lonewolf terrorism article pdf available in counselling psychology quarterly 242. Lone wolf attacks are harder to stop, but tend to be less deadly, than those planned and executed by. Experts in homegrown terrorism said that a prerequisite for finding domestic lonewolf extremists before they commit acts of terrorism is robust trust between local communities and the government. Leaders of al qaeda prompted their followers to take part in independent acts of violence against their perceived enemies at any given moment. Global patterns, motivation, and prevention 2012, and sport and social exclusion in global society 2014. Kagan, kimberly kagan, jennifer cafarella, harleen gambhir, and katherine zimmerman al qaeda and isis. The 19 men who carried out the attacks were jihadis who had been hand picked, trained, equipped and. Waagner, lone wolf terrorism, lone wolf terrorist, nidal malik hasan, opinion radicalization, school attackers, vera zasulich since 911, the success in tracking and disabling alqaeda and other major terrorist networks around the world has been accompanied by. They write that stochastic terrorism is the method of international recruitment used by isis, and they refer to anwar alawlaki and alex jones as stochastic. Moreover, no decade has been bloodier than the 1990s when lone wolves left 212 victims, killing 30 and wounding 182 others. A lone wolf initiative was later added in an attempt to identify potential lone attackers before they can act violently. A second conclusion is that lonewolf terrorism is far more prevalent in the united states than in the other sample countries, with the us cases accounting for almost 42 percent of the total see table 6. Mar 30, 2017 a fter 911, lone wolf terrorism suddenly seemed like a distraction from more serious threats.
Lone wolf terrorism a brief bibliography homeland security. In its original sense, a lone wolf is an animal or person that generally. In addition, we look into the challenge of countering lone wolf terrorism and map out possible responses to prevent attacks in this paper for the expert meeting entitled lone wolves. A lone actor, loneactor terrorist, or lone wolf is someone who prepares and commits violent acts alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group.
They may be influenced or motivated by the ideology and beliefs of an external group and may act in support of such a group. Yeartoyear changes in loneactor terrorism are moderately correlated with groupbased terrorism, indicating that the two seem to ebb and flow together rather than one replacing the other. The apparent growth of lone wolf violence, combined with the increased use of social media to recruit new. They found that most lone actors have social ties that they rely on in planning attacks. The definitions incorporated in the literature concerning lone wolf terrorism do not differ greatly. What research sponsored by the national institute of justice tells us allison g. Lone wolf terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. In the aftermath of the boston marathon terrorist attack, america can learn a few vital lessons on how to stop the next lone wolftype assault. But given the trend toward increased lone wolf terrorism over time, the annual average of lone wolf attacks by the 2000s had reached 7. Analysis of weak signals for detecting lone wolf terrorists. Scholars also suggest that lone wolf terrorism what we refer to in this report as loneactor terrorism is more prevalent in the u.
The prevalence of lone wolf terrorism is not limited to radical islamism, but is also prominent among white supremacists, such as anders breivik of. Scholars also suggest that lone wolf terrorism what we refer to in this report as. An examination of capabilities and countermeasures. The global terrorism database gtd documents more than 190,000 international and domestic terrorist attacks that occurred worldwide since 1970. The plots a timeline of terror southern poverty law. Lone wolf terrorism is a growing phenomenon, and research on the topic is severely lacking1.
The plots a timeline of terror in the last six years, incidents of domestic terrorism in the united states have been overwhelmingly carried out by solitary lone wolves or leaderless groups of just two people. Marlatt at the naval postgraduate school, contains a list of resources related to lone wolf terrorism. Lone wolf terrorism northwestern pritzker school of law. He, along with ramon spaaij, a sociologist at victoria university, built one of the dojfunded databases and will be publishing the data in the forthcoming book, the age of lone wolf terrorism. Lone actor terrorist attack planning and preparation. Lone wolf attacks pose a risk because the absence of a cell or major external links may make it. It is also the culmination of a lot of hard thinking about the interior world and entanglements of that most quintessentially american iteration of con temporary terrorism. According to spaaij 2010 in the enigma of lone wolf terrorism. This person acts independently and without the help of outside organizations. Understanding loneactor terrorism homeland security. They use terrorism as a tactic, but these organizations are insurgencies that aim first to overthrow all existing governments in the muslim world and replace them with their own, and later, to attack the west from a position of power to spread their ideology to all of humanity. With details on various dimensions of each attack, the gtd familiarizes analysts, policymakers. Oct 27, 2014 but given the trend toward increased lone wolf terrorism over time, the annual average of lone wolf attacks by the 2000s had reached 7.
Recently, a group of researchers from the netherlands and the united kingdom analyzed 55 cases of terrorist attacks committed by lone attackers, looking to see what these attacks had in common. Icct, november 2010 downloadfileicct expertmeetingsummarylonewolves. Analysis of weak signals for detecting lone wolf terrorists joel brynielsson, andreas horndahl, fredrik johansson, lisa kaati, christian martenson, pontus svenson. Taken together, these findings suggest that the idea of the lone wolf terrorist is probably something of an. Therefore, this paper will examine the following question. The relative scarcity of lone actor extremist attacks and the difficulties associated with gaining access to privileged information, such as police files, make open. Trends and developments in lone wolf terrorism in the western. Lone wolf or lone wolves and terrorism or terrorist. How radicalization to terrorism occurs in the united.
A profile of the lone wolf terrorist allpsych blog. An explanation and assessment claire wiskind, research assistant, ict summer 2016 the views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the international. With its sarin attack on the tokyo subway system on march 20, 1995, the. Future overthehorizon threats, such as the proliferation of new biotechnologies and amateur doityourself capabilities, pose a risk that lone wolves could develop weapons at a time when travel, access to knowledge, and dualuse technologies, in the globalizing environment, make lone wolf terrorists more dangerous. In fact, ramon spaaij and mark hamm, two experts on the topic, state that of the 1,000 new studies on lone actor terrorism every year, only 1% include.
This terrorism wave is analyzed employing advanced statistical methods, using a unique dataset constructed for the purpose of this paper, consisting of data on 363 terrorist attacks that were perpetrated by 420 assailants between october 2015 and december 2017. Hewitts 2003 study identified 30 cases of lone wolf terrorism in the united states between. Jul 14, 2016 he, along with ramon spaaij, a sociologist at victoria university, built one of the dojfunded databases and will be publishing the data in the forthcoming book, the age of lone wolf terrorism. For an extensive examination of the literature in relation to loneactor terrorism see raffaello pantucci, clare ellis and lorien chaplais, loneactor terrorism. Spaaij 2011, and that the threat is particularly acute today. Trends and developments in lone wolf terrorism in the. What moves an individual from radical opinion to radical action. An explanation and assessment claire wiskind, research assistant, ict summer 2016 the views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the international institute for counterterrorism ict. Search terms used to help compileupdate this bibliography include. Overall, between 1968 and 2010, lone wolf attacks accounted for about 1. Based upon a descriptive analysis of the data, the major research conclusions are as follows. Lone wolf the threat from independent jihadists chris jasparro key points the threat that individuals could carry out independently motivated terrorist attacks was highlighted by the november 2009 fort hood shootings in the us. The potomac institute for policy studies hosts a discussion on recent attacks by socalled lone wolf terrorists in the u.
However, it is noteworthy to mention that, in real life, not only security agents, but also lone wolves face challenges. Oct 24, 2017 terrorist attacks perpetrated by people acting alone come seemingly out of nowhere, but they have the potential to cause devastating loss. For the years between 1970 and 2010, i combined terroristgroupattack data from the global terrorism database with lonewolfattack data from ramon spaaijs book understanding lone wolf. Library of congress federal research division the sociology and psychology of terrorism 2 essentially anyone who is not a fundamentalist muslim or an aum shinrikyo member. What does the recent spate of lone wolf terrorist attacks. In this paper for the expert meeting entitled lone wolves. We therefore examine these aspects exclusively on the basis of the five cases. Abstract this article is based on the idea that lone wolf terrorists may have characteristics in common with two other types of lone actor violent offenders. National institute of justice national institute of justice. Much has changed since hamm wrote that lone actor terrorism was a neglected field of research 15. Moreover, the people who surround lone actors often play an instrumental role in forming and maintaining the motivation for the attack. Lone wolf terrorists have long been a troublesome issue for policymakers and intelligence agencies. Moreover, he shows the tricks he himself used to circumvent european.
Swedish defence research agency foi stockholm, sweden email. Ramon spaaijs understanding lone wolf terrorism is therefore an important contribution to the literature. There are enough cases of lone wolf attacks to give rise to typologies of single actor terrorism, jihadist or. A case study in lone actor terrorism 3 terrorist violence, a factor undoubtedly affecting the study of violent extremists, and lone actors in particular. Role of internet in lone wolf terrorism article pdf available in journal of security and sustainability issues 72 december 2017 with 1,328 reads how we measure reads.
A study on the connection between mental illness and loneactor terrorism. Dickson 5 a narrower definition offered by spaaij 2010 attempts to isolate the phenomenon of lone wolf terrorism and specifies, a lone wolf terrorist may identify or sympathize with extremist movements or terrorist organizations, however if they join an established organization, they cease to be deemed as a lone wolf. Although mcquilliams was killed by police before harming anyone, he left a note indicating he was a white supremacist priest in the fight against antigod people. The prevalence of lone wolf terrorism is not limited to radical islamism, but is also prominent among white supremacists, such as anders breivik of norway, and antiabortion activists. Table 6 country prevalence of lonewolf terrorism in. Waagner, lone wolf terrorism, lone wolf terrorist, nidal malik hasan, opinion radicalization, school attackers, vera zasulich since 911, the success in tracking and disabling alqaeda and other major terrorist networks around the world has been accompanied by a new concern about lone wolf terrorism. Lone wolf attacks are becoming more common and more. If the characteristics that distinguish lonewolf from groupbased terrorists are the same characteristics that are common for assassins and school attackers, the implication would be that lonewolf terrorism is part of a larger phenomenon of loneactor grievancefueled violence. The plots a timeline of terror southern poverty law center. He believes that the most serious threats remain those posed by groupbased terrorists12. Lone wolf as a tactic the increase in lone wolf terrorism in the us in the last three decades can partly be explained by the adoption and dissemination of this method by and amongst right wing extremists.
Dec 11, 2017 a study of lone wolf terrorism in the u. A datadriven analysis of individual terrorists in the united states since 911. Lone wolvesactors of terrorism universiteit leiden. Preventing the next lone wolf terrorist attack requires. The southern poverty law center s study of the nature of these attacks is based on the following 63 incidents, which occurred. Lone wolf attacks are becoming more common and more deadly.
An assessment the term lone wolf terrorism encompasses terrorist attacks which are carried out by one person, who does not belong to an organised terrorist group. Icct, november 2010 expertmeetingsummarylonewolves. The age of lone wolf terrorisma massive study of loneactor terrorism in the united statesis the product of years of patient and dogged empirical investigation. Loneactor terrorism is not a mirror image of either groupbased terrorism or violent hate crimes. Orlando gunman known to fbi shows difficulty of lone wolf.
The term lone wolf, particularly when used in the public domain, misunderstands the fact that terrorism is at its core an act of strategic communication a very loud message using the cheapest, often least sophisticated means and methods of attack. In their 2017 book age of lone wolf terrorism, criminologist mark s. We describe two very different cases of lonewolf terrorism. From literature i have learned that the main motivational factors for lone wolf terrorism are that of political ideologies or religious views. Towards a theoretical framework for comparative analysis. The myth of the lone wolf terrorist news the guardian. His books include understanding football hooliganism 2006, understanding lone wolf terrorism.
In 2010, cia director leon panetta described lonewolf terrorism as the main terrorist threat to the united states. Although lone wolf terrorism may not be increasing in the united states, it is undergoing dramatic changes in terms of modus operandi. June 2018 this paper was prepared with support from the national institute of justice, office of justice programs. The relatively novel threat of lone wolf terrorism presents a challenge for. Ramon spaaij is a sociologist based at victoria university and the university of amsterdam. How radicalization to terrorism occurs in the united states. Destroying isis and al qaeda, report one frederick w. Although lonewolf attacks are hard to prevent, governments in the west can do. This study also reveals that the vast majority of this violence is coming from lone wolves or leaderless resistance groups, most of the latter composed of just two men.
335 186 6 1173 890 94 320 969 97 1658 6 990 1301 721 1582 864 940 465 801 447 324 1084 506 1282 852 266 1612 1590 1441 739 1118 739 1172 386 104 1294 379 705 108 1084 996 403