TERRORISM STUDIES

Interview with Dr. Matthew Crosston
(Faculty Member, Doctoral Programs, School of Security and Global Studies, American Military University)

Copyright: https://inhomelandsecurity.com/look-lone-wolf-terrorism-2020s/
Posted at RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 1July 2018.

Note: Dr. Matthew Crosston is also RIEAS Senior Advisor

In 10 years’ time, the “9/11 syndrome” will be over, according to Dr. Matthew Crosston. In this exclusive vlog, American Military University’s Dr. Crosston discusses terrorism in its current state and what the future of counterterrorism efforts will look like in the next decade. Read more

Ammar El Benni
Cristian Troncota

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 21 April 2018

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

The terrorist attacks that shook Europe in the last five years have been committed by young people raised and educated in Western societies, and most of whom had been already known by the law enforcement community in the countries where they lived. While violent radicalisation is not a new phenomenon, its most recent manifestations, its scale and the use of new communication tools pose new challenges that must be addressed through a joint effort of all relevant actors across society. This reflection paper proposes the development of a strengthened partnership between the education sector (schools and universities) and the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to develop a comprehensive communication strategy for counter-radicalisation at national and European level, by mentioning the American model as a possible model to follow. ..Read more

Emily Boulter
(Writer based in the Netherlands. She is the creator of the current affairs blog “From Brussels to Beirut”. From 2010 -2013 she worked as an assistant to the Vice-chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament)

Dr. Tamir Libel
(Beatriu de Pinós Research fellow at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI).

Copyright: www.ejpress.org – Publication in RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 10 July 2017

The attacks in London, Paris and Brussels which took place in June were added to a seemingly endless list of terror attacks in which crude tactics are used to maximum effect. As Europeans come to terms with the growing terror threat, many politicians and members of the security services have stressed the challenges of predicting and preventing the actions of self-motivated individuals or lone wolves. However there is evidence to suggest that the problem may be less intractable, as outside Europe measures are being adopted, which are producing results. Read more

Seymour M. Hersh
(Investigative journalist and political writer based in Washington D.C. USA. He is a long time contributor to The New Yorker magazine on national security matters and has also written for the London Review of Books since 2013)

Copyright: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin

Note: RIEAS received permission from the Author, Mr. Seymour M. Hersh and the London Review of Books to post the article.

Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August. In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts. Most significant, he failed to acknowledge something known to the US intelligence community: that the Syrian army is not the only party in the country’s civil war with access to sarin, the nerve agent that a UN study concluded – without assessing responsibility – had been used in the rocket attack. In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports, culminating in a formal Operations Order – a planning document that precedes a ground invasion – citing evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad. Read more

Kyle Orton
(Author)

Copyright: The Henry Jackson Society (UK) – www.henryjacksonsociety.org - Publication on RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 26 March 2017.

Terrorist attacks by the Islamic State (IS) around the world have, since IS established its "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in June 2014, become an increasingly regular feature of the international news landscape. But IS began its efforts to conduct foreign attacks before that, with several plots discovered earlier in 2014, and a trail of violence in Europe and beyond back to 2002, when IS had entered Iraq and the United States had not. Read more

Rukmini Callimachi
(Author, Asharq al-Awsat, Saudi Arabia,.London)

Copyright: http://english.aawsat.com/

Hyderabad, India — When ISIS identified a promising young recruit willing to carry out an attack in one of India’s major tech hubs, the group made sure to arrange everything down to the bullets he needed to kill victims.For 17 months, terrorist operatives guided the recruit, a young engineer named Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, through every step of what they planned to be ISIS’ first strike on Indian soil.They vetted each new member of the cell as Yazdani recruited helpers. They taught him how to pledge allegiance to the terrorist group and securely send the statement. Read more