Jump to content

Lone wolf terrorism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Lone-wolf terrorism)

Part of a series on
Terrorism and political violence
By ideology
Religious
Special-interest / Single-issue
Related topics
Organizational structures
  • Methods
  • Tactics
Terrorist groups
Relationship to states
State terrorism
State-sponsored terrorism
Response to terrorism

Lone wolf terrorism, or lone actor terrorism, is a particular kind of terrorism committed by an individual who both plans and commits the act on their own. The precise definition of the term varies, and some definitions include those directed by larger organizations and small cells. Other names for the phenomenon include lone operator terrorism, freelance terrorism, solo terrorists, and individual terror cells. It is similar to but distinct from the concept of leaderless resistance.

The name 'lone wolf' is derived from the notion of a lone wolf, a pack animal that has left or been excluded from its pack. The term was popularized in the late 1990s, from the FBI and the San Diego Police Department's investigation into the activities of white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger, named Operation Lone Wolf, largely due to their encouragement of other racists to commit violent acts, which they dubbed "lone wolf" action. Compared to the general population and members of organized terrorist groups, lone wolf terrorists are more likely to have been diagnosed with a mental illness, though it is not an accurate profiler.

Definition

[edit]
refer to caption
A lone wolf

The term lone actor or lone wolf is not a legal term or a social science concept.[1] It is usually defined as a terrorist who operates on their own without outside help. Other definitions include terrorists who operated solely on their own, but also those who committed an act themselves while being directed by a larger organization, groups of two and small cells.[2]

Other equivalent terms include lone operator terrorism, freelancers, freelance terrorism, solo terrorists, and individual terror cells.[3][4] A similar and related but distinct concept is leaderless resistance, also used by terrorists.[4][5] The descriptor 'lone wolf' is derived from the notion of a lone wolf, a pack animal that has left or been excluded from its pack.[6] The term "lone wolf" was popularized in the late 1990s by white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger (see § Origin of the term and Operation Lone Wolf).[4]

Motives and considerations

[edit]

Lone actor terrorists are ideologically driven, with political or religious motives, and are intended to create fear and influence public opinion.[1] Lone wolf terrorists may sympathize with and consider themselves part of larger groups, but they are usually not active participants.[7] The links between lone wolves and actual terrorist groups tend to be informal and conducted online.[8] These individuals tend to become radicalized online and through media outlets.[9]

There have been cases of terrorist attacks conducted by individuals which were later found to have been directed remotely by terrorist organizations. Thus they were technically not lone wolves.[10][11] In many cases, such as with Alex Curtis, the lone wolf never has personal contact with the group they identify with. As such, it is considerably more difficult for counter-terrorism officials to gather intelligence on lone wolves, since they may not come into contact with routine counter-terrorist surveillance.[12] According to the Financial Times, counter-terrorism officials refer to "lone individuals known to authorities but not considered important enough to escalate investigations" as "known wolves".[13] In the United States, lone wolves may present a greater threat than organized groups.[14]

Some groups actively advocate lone wolf actions. According to The New York Times, in news analysis of the Boston Marathon bombing, the Al-Qaeda activist Samir Khan, publishing in Inspire, advocated individual terrorist actions directed at Americans and published detailed recipes online.[15]

History

[edit]

Historian Richard Jenson says the years 1878–1934 were the era of anarchist terrorism and should be considered the classic age of "lone wolf" or leaderless terrorism. Anarchists rejected authoritarian, centralized control over acts of planned violence as well as over anything else. Jenson says there were hundreds of violent anarchist incidents during this period most of which were committed by lone individuals or very small groups without command structures or leaders.[16] Since 1940, there have been around 100 successful lone wolf attacks in the United States.[17]

Origin of the term and Operation Lone Wolf

[edit]

The popularization of the term "lone wolf" in reference to terrorism probably began in the 1990s among the white supremacist movement.[18] White supremacist Louis Beam had promoted the similar tactic and his particular conception of leaderless resistance,[5][19] but "lone wolf" as a term in reference to this concept was effectively coined by white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger (leader of the White Aryan Resistance) in the 1990s; both encouraged other white racists to commit crimes for tactical reasons.[4][19][20] Curtis, one of the far-right's earliest popular figures online, was the operator of a website called the Nationalist Observer out of San Diego.[21][19]

Unlike Beam's leaderless resistance concept, which allowed for small cells as part of the model, Metzger and Curtis preferred lone actors.[5] George Michael noted Curtis as then being the "most vociferous" promoter of the lone wolf approach.[21] Curtis argued against formal group membership and meetings, given the easy infiltration of them and the ability of others to file legal action against dissident groups; "lone wolf" action would avoid incriminating the group. He promoted a two tiered system, with a propaganda wing to encourage the lone wolves alongside the actors themselves.[21][19] To facilitate this he created a website updating readers on instances of right-wing violence, criticizing their mistakes in committing their violent acts and offering points on how to do better, as well as a "security issue" to avoid detection and what to do if arrested.[21][22] One issue of the National Observer contained descriptions of biological toxins useful for committing terrorist attacks.[23]

Curtis's rhetoric brought him to the attention of authorities, and he became the subject of a two-year FBI and San Diego Police Department investigation in 1998, called Operation Lone Wolf.[23][19] Following a report by the Anti-Defamation League in November 2000 about Curtis, he and two others were arrested for various civil rights violations; he had worked with others to harass several San Diego figures including politicians and members of anti-hate groups. Facing an initial sentence of 10 years, he was in 2001 sentenced to 3 years in prison with the agreement to not affiliate with white nationalist activists after his release.[23][22]

[edit]

While initially popular among white supremacists, the method was used increasingly among Islamic terrorists in the early 2000s, partially through example in other attacks and later through promotion by the Islamic State.[5]

A 2013 analysis by Sarah Teich, a research assistant at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, found five emerging trends in Islamist lone wolf terrorism in North America and western Europe between 1990 and 2013:

  • An increase in the number of countries targeted by lone wolves from the 1990s to the 2000s.
  • An increase in the number of people injured and killed by lone wolves.
  • Increased effectiveness of law enforcement and counter-terrorism.
  • Consistency in the distribution of attacks by "actor types" (loners, lone wolves, and lone wolf packs).
  • An increase in the number of attacks against military personnel.[24]

Mental health factors

[edit]

Compared to the general population, lone wolf terrorists are significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with a mental illness, although it is not an accurate profiler.[25] Studies have found that roughly a third of lone wolf terrorists have been diagnosed at some point in their life with a mental illness.[26] This puts lone wolves as being 13.5 times more likely to suffer from a mental illness than a member of an organized terrorist group, such as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Environmental factors such as relationships with those belonging to a terrorist group, social isolation, and various stressors mediate the relationship between mental illness and lone wolf terrorism.[27]

Mental health challenges are thought to make some individuals among the many who suffer from certain "psychological disturbances", vulnerable to being inspired by extremist ideologies to commit acts of lone wolf terrorism.[28] An alternative explanation is that terrorist groups reject those with mental illnesses as they pose a security risk, creating a selection bias.[29]

Stochastic terrorism

[edit]
Main article: Stochastic terrorism

Stochastic terrorism refers to political or media figures publicly demonizing a person or group, inspiring their supporters to commit a violent act against the target of the speech. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is done using indirect, vague or coded language, which allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence. Global trends point to increasing violent rhetoric and political violence, including more evidence of stochastic terrorism.[citation needed] It is in this manner that the stochastic terrorist is thought to randomly incite individuals predisposed to acts of violence. Because stochastic terrorists do not target and incite individual perpetrators of terror with their message, the perpetrator may be labeled a lone wolf by law enforcement, while the inciters avoid legal culpability and public scrutiny.[30] In their 2017 book The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, criminologist Mark S. Hamm and sociologist Ramón Spaaij discuss stochastic terrorism as a form of "indirect enabling" of terrorists.[30] They write that "stochastic terrorism is the method of international recruitment used by ISIS", and they refer to Anwar al-Awlaki and Alex Jones as stochastic terrorists.[31]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Liem et al. 2018, p. 46.
  2. ^ Liem et al. 2018, pp. 45–46.
  3. ^ Liem et al. 2018, p. 45.
  4. ^ a b c d Weimann 2012, pp. 76–77.
  5. ^ a b c d Bouhana et al. 2018, p. 151.
  6. ^ "Lone wolf". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  7. ^ Spaaij 2012, p. 18.
  8. ^ Weimann 2012, p. 77.
  9. ^ Borum, Randy. "What Drives Lone Offenders?". IndraStra. ISSN 2381-3652.
  10. ^ Callimachi, Rukmini (4 February 2017). "Not 'Lone Wolves' After All: How ISIS Guides World's Terror Plots From Afar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  11. ^ Gartenstein-Ross, Daveed; Barr, Nathaniel (26 July 2016). "The Myth of Lone-Wolf Terrorism". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  12. ^ Leenaars & Reed 2016.
  13. ^ Jones, Sam (24 March 2017). "'Known wolf' attackers force intelligence rethink". Financial Times. London. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  14. ^ Marks, Alexandra (27 May 2003). "Lone wolves pose explosive terror threat". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  15. ^ Shane, Scott (5 May 2013). "A Homemade Style of Terror: Jihadists Push New Tactics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  16. ^ Jensen 2013, p. 87.
  17. ^ Worth, Katie (14 July 2016). "Lone Wolf Attacks Are Becoming More Common — And More Deadly". Frontline. PBS. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  18. ^ Borum, Fein & Vossekuil 2012, p. 291.
  19. ^ a b c d e Borum, Fein & Vossekuil 2012, p. 391.
  20. ^ Streigher 2013, p. 38.
  21. ^ a b c d Michael 2012, p. 46.
  22. ^ a b Pitcavage 2015, p. 1664.
  23. ^ a b c Michael 2012, p. 47.
  24. ^ Teich 2013, p. 1.
  25. ^ Selfert, Kathryn (20 January 2015). "Lone-Wolf Terrorists and Mental Illness". Psychology Today. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  26. ^ Bouhana et al. 2018, p. 114.
  27. ^ Corner & Gill 2015, p. 31.
  28. ^ Alfaro-Gonzalez, Lydia (27 July 2015). Report: Lone Wolf Terrorism (PDF). Security Studies Program, National Security Critical Issue Task Force. p. 86. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  29. ^ Corner & Gill 2015, p. 30.
  30. ^ a b Hamm & Spaaij 2017, pp. 84–89.
  31. ^ Hamm & Spaaij 2017, p. 157.

Works cited

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Lone_wolf_terrorism&oldid=1278357336"