Terrorism is a broad category and there are different types of terrorism in the world. Two of the more dominant types of terrorism are domestic terrorism and international terrorism. Domestic terrorism is “the unlawful use of force or violence by an individual or a group that is based and operates entirely within the United States and its territories, acts without foreign direction, and directs its activities against the elements of the U.S. government or population” (Schmalleger, 2013 p.562). One of the most recent examples of domestic terrorism in the United States would have to be the bombings at the Boston Marathon, which took place on April 15, 2013. An article written by the Los Angeles Times on April 24, 2013, which was eleven days after the bombings, describes what the offender and his brother did, and has information that pertains to their arrest and the hun...
It is therefore imperative that the fight against terrorism focuses on preventive rather than reactive strategies that involve understanding how terrorism works and what can be done to prevent terror attacks. One way of achieving this is through learning the psychology of terrorist group recruitment. Understanding this psychology is important as it will raise awareness to the general public to understand how terrorists are recruited and how they can avoid being recruited into terrorist organizations. In addition, anti-terrorist groups and policy experts may use this knowledge to develop interventions or policies that discourage and prevent terrorist group recruitment. This paper will focus on the psychology of terrorist group recruitment and the discussions will be summarized at the end.
One of the most complex aspects of counterterrorism (CT) for the intelligence community (IC), law enforcement (LE), and CT communities is the psychology of terrorism. In the broad study of the psychology of terrorism, a highly misunderstood and challenging subject area is the recruitment of terrorists. A “normal,” rational person would wonder why an individual would pledge to commit acts of terror that would inflict lethal or grave danger upon innocent civilians for a politically educed cause. When in matter of fact, that rational person could also be susceptible to recruitment by a terrorist organization based upon any anti-political ideologies they may hold against their respected government. There are many reasons an individual may want to join a terrorist organization which includes aspects associated to an individuals psychology, ideology, theology, and state of mind. It also includes factors like an individuals religion, culture, morals, influences, integrity, and environment. More specifically terrorists go through a top-down or bottom-up process to enter the life of a terrorist and either have a strategic choice or psychological forces which make them susceptible to terrorism and recruitment. For IC, LE, and CT professionals the psychology of terrorist group recruitment is gravely important because it will allow them to identify indicators of individuals who are at a particular point in the recruitment process, who are already recruited, and who may also be planning attacks against U.S. assets, infrastructure, and personnel. Terrorism is a serious threat to national and homeland security and it all starts with a terrorist recruitment. If an individual is identified, exploited, or neutralized before ...
A new wave of terrorists, named Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, have grown to be well over the size of Al-Qaeda. In an article, 60 Terrorist Plots Since 9/11: Continued Lessons in Domestic Counterterrorism, ISIS is reported to be increasingly popular in social media, which leads to the influence of extremism in the United States. The article states, “Most disturbingly, an increasing number of Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks are originating within America’s borders. The rise of homegrown extremism is the next front in the fight against terrorism and should be taken seriously by the Administration”. This significance is crucial to understanding the mass spread of terrorism, and understanding that the United States has roots of terrorism sprouting from the soil. For example, the Boston Marathon bombing was conducted by two United States citizens in an attempt to accomplish mass casualty (Zuckerman, Bucci, and Carafano). According to an article by a CNN author, the security officials in Boston at that time were able to respond quickly in correspondence with local authority to apprehend the suspects. Shortly after the detonation of both bombs, the men had fled the scene knowing that authorities were hot on their heels. Within hours, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had released images of the two men to the public (Botelho). Already, the response by authorities in the Boston Marathon bombing was proving to be better organized compared to the response of authorities during the 9/11 attacks. Effective communication, fast response, and unrivaled determination gave police the upper hand. Botelho wrote, “Tamerlan Tsarnaev dies after the gunfight, while his brother eludes authorities...When the suspect is found, he has visible injuries including apparent gunshot wounds to his head, neck, and legs” (Botelho). Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remains in the custody of authorities
An individual terrorist is more likely to be predisposed to acts of violence without any apparent political assignment. An example of an individual terrorist is Lee Harvey Oswald or Timothy McVeigh. These are the people that are only trying to make a statement for their personal higher cause. More often than not, you will find that the terrorist acting alone is a mentally unstable person that is seeking approval for his idea(s).
It could be anyone. The government is talking about the so-called lone wolf attacks. About the person that gets it in his or her head to attack people, to attack a way of life. The lone wolf scenario is more than likely a fallacy in most cases,
The members of the aforementioned organizations are primarily peaceful and seek redress via nonviolent means. However, as with any highly charged political issue, the issues that drive these organizations to take to the streets has the potential to attract lone-wolf fringe individuals who may use violence to address perceived injustices. The FBI defines lone wolf attackers as “a single individual driven to hateful attacks based on a particular set of beliefs without a larger group’s knowledge or support” and that “most domestic attacks are carried out by lone offenders to promote their own grievances and agendas”. (FBI, 2009) Furthermore, it is difficult to define, categorize, or pattern such individuals, as they can “run the gamut, from hate-filled
To do so, this project utilises the microsociology of violence (MoV), a theory developed by the sociologist Randall Collins. This theory has been used to explore many kinds of violence, but it has only seen limited use in studies of terrorism, with no use in the study of lone actor terrorism. To compliment this sociological theory, I also draw upon existing research on lone actor terrorism, as well as observations from the fields of forensic psychology, neurology, physiology, and criminology. By using MoV, this project involves analysing the person-to-person emotional and physiological interactions within a lone actor terrorist attack. The specific analytical focus is on how a situation is emotionally constructed through the interactions of its participants, and how these constructs influence the performance, nature, and intensity of violence. By exploring these situations in detail, it will be possible to map individual lone actor terrorists actively shape the situation to perform violence and manage the emotional burden of performing
The issue of domestic terrorism has been a fairly recent phenomenon. With little attention given until such acts as the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Unabomber made national headlines. It is because of this that there has been little research done on the area and most of the research there is focuses on the hate groups associated with the acts of violence. A strong force in the domestic terrorist movement is the fervent anti-government stance that these groups internalize. As Mark Hamm wrote in 1997, “I used the term apocalyptic violence to depict not only the astounding carnage witnessed on that day, but also to describe the anti-government counter-culture to which Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices belonged. In this statement he is referring to the assault on the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, TX. It is believed by many that this is the act which pushed McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City. Hamm went on further to argue, “The federal government had created an apocalyptic subculture in the hinterlands of the USA. And that it had done so through its ruthless use-of-force at Waco.”
There has been a recent spike in the number of lone wolf terrorist activities inspired by radical terrorist groups with the United States being the primary target of these aggressions. Scholars and researchers have warned that as the Islamic State loses control over territory in Iraq and Syria there will be even more lone wolf attacks abroad. This research project attempts to contribute to the broader study of understanding the dangers and combatting lone wolf terrorism. Specifically to answer the question: Why do terrorist organizations, the Islamic State in particular, accept credit for lone wolf attacks? The U.S. does not have a standardized definition of ‘lone wolf terrorist’. For the purpose of this paper the National Counter Terrorism
As David Canter stated in his book, The Faces of Terrorism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, “Terrorism is multifaceted and, as a consequence, no one explanation, theory or discipline will ever fully account for all terrorist activities. However, the psychological and social psychological processes that lead any given person to commit a terrorist act tend to have been under-represented in the terrorist literature. This is doubtless in part due to the difficulty of conducting studies that engage directly with those individuals who carry out terrorist acts.” (Canter 1) Basically, Canter discusses how terrorism, as discussed before, is not a one-sided act.
... terrorists’ groups and networks and that have become a challenge for the intelligence agencies of the world. At present in numerous nations terrorists have made a state of lack of determination and repulsive fallings in the personalities of billions of individuals, particularly with the terrorist assaults of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Building in the United States of America. The pure individuals keep on suffering wretchedness and restraint because of these barbaric demonstrations of terrorism. The merciless and explicit terrorism constraint both by people and at a few places the state supported terrorism acts against honest men, ladies and kids have few parallels in the archives of history. Because of these unlawful and repulsive acts, numerous spots of the world have gotten rotting bruises
Domestic terrorism is described as “occurring primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the US” (“Terrorism”). Some examples of domestic terrorist groups are white supremacists, animal rights/environmental extremists, and Pro-life extremists (Martin 19). Domestic terrorism also encompasses shootings by a lone individual such as the school shootings at Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary. They are considered a terrorist because according to The Revised Academic Consensus Definition of Terrorism, a terrorist can be a lone individual who is trying spread their message an audience that can relate to them or become fearful enough to succumb to the terrorist’s desired change (Schmid 2). International Terrorism is what usually comes to people’s mind when someone mentions terrorism. International Terrorism is then described as taking place outside of the US or transcending national boundaries (“Terrorism”). The attacks on the Twin Towers on September 1st, 2001 are an example of international terrorism because the attacks were orchestrated by the Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda, to punish the United States for their involvement in Middle Eastern
The social development or structure of a terrorist does not reveal dominant features of psychopathology from an outside perspective. The psychopathology of terrorism has been interpreted as ‘unconscious motives and impulses’ that stemmed in childhood (Borum, 2004). A better example would be reactive aggression described through aggressive expressions and vengeful hostility with lack of impulse control commonly developed within an individual’s childhood. Many children who are humiliated at a young age for their beliefs or interest advance into adult terrorist (Spencer, 2009). The underlining fundamental build of a terrorist or terrorist organization is best understood by analysis of their history. If the psychopathological role of a terrorist leader or organization is determined or understood then law enforcement will have proper information to predict future attacks. Social disorganization is the best way to describe motivation for terrorist actions. Thus, bringing the relation to terrorist being inspired through their beliefs in justification and necessity to incorporate change through public fear. The understanding of a terrorist’s psychopathology helps reveal the relevance in understanding a terrorist’s individual
It has been three weeks since the beginning of this class and we have learned so much within those three weeks. Each week was assigned with one module with learning materials. In this paper, I am going to discuss and explain what I have learned in all three modules. In module one, I will focus on international threats from both political and religious perspectives; module two, I will focus on explaining the face of terrorism and their history, and the application of theory; then module three explains the philosophical concepts associated with the will to harm individuals in large numbers.