• Ten Years Later: The Legacy of the Paris Attacks on Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks in the West

    A decade ago, the terrorist attacks in Paris illustrated the risks and challenges posed by complex coordinated terrorist attacks in a Western capital. These marauding attacks, striking multiple scenes in quick succession, were different from the bombing of public transport in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. Western law enforcement response has evolved in order better to deal with such attacks, but the constantly evolving modus operandi used by terrorists requires a strong and constant anticipation effort by law enforcement.

  • The Bondi Beach Shooting Shows ISIS Threat in Australia and Beyond

    The attack in Sidney, Australia, comes at a time when several alleged terror plots in Europe have reportedly been foiled. The resilience of the ISIS ideology and ongoing concerns over extremist violence put an added burden on security officials to safeguard the many public events occurring at year’s end.

  • Why Public Views of Terrorism Don’t Match the Evidence, and What the Government Needs to Do to Keep People Safe

    It is essential to address the misalignments between public understanding of terrorism and the current evidence. The public needs clear, easy to remember, and updated information about current threats. Without this, people will struggle to recognize current threats and attune their instincts on how to react to them correctly.

  • Bondi Terror: Attack Reinforces the Need for Security Frameworks That Manage Risk

    The terror attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday should be understood not only as an act of violence but as a stress test of Australia’s security, social and policy systems. The more consequential question is what this event reveals about the community assumptions that have quietly taken hold—and what follows if those assumptions are left unchallenged.

  • Bondi Attack Came After Huge Increase in Online Antisemitism: Research

    As a researcher who studies hate and extremist violence, I am sadly not surprised by the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach. The Jewish community has been a top target for terrorist ideologies and groups for a long time. Many people working in this field have been expecting a serious attack on Australian soil.

  • Afghan Terrorism Is a Small Threat in the United States

    It is still not clear whether Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who murdered a West Virginia National Guard member in Washington, D.C., two weeks ago, was a terrorist – but assuming he is a terrorist, it would mean that since 1975, Lakanwal is the only Afghan terrorist to have murdered somebody on U.S. soil in an attack. In other words, the annual chance of being murdered in an Afghan terrorist attack on U.S. soil is about 1 in 14.2 billion per year. The annual chance of being murdered in a normal homicide is about 1 in 14,000 per year, approximately one million times greater.

  • Far-Right Extremists Have Been Organizing Online Since Before the Internet – and AI Is Their Next Frontier

    How can society police the global spread of online far-right extremism while still protecting free speech? Far-right extremists have long pioneered innovative ways to exploit technological progress and free speech. Efforts to counter this radicalization are challenged to stay one step ahead of the far right’s technological advances.

  • Labeling Dissent as Terrorism: New U.S. Domestic Terrorism Priorities Raise Constitutional Alarms

    There is no single official definition of terrorism in U.S. law, but all the different definitions focus on identifying violent or dangerous acts done with the intent to intimidate or coerce civilians or influence government policy. But more than redefining terrorism,National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-7, issued on 2 September 2025 (NSPM-7) reorients the machinery of national security toward the policing of belief. The directive’s emphasis on ideological orientations –“anti-Christianity, “anti-capitalism,” and “anti-American” views –as indicators of domestic terrorism potentially jeopardizes First Amendment rights.

  • What Can Be Done About Hamas Fighters?

    Peace is a prerequisite to the ambitious economic development plans that could transform Gaza. Securing that peace, however, requires addressing the future role of Hamas’s fighters.

  • Physical Approaches to Civilian Biodefense

    Progress in biological sciences and technologies will offer more opportunities to improve human well-being in the coming decades, but this progress may also lower barriers that are blocking bad actors from engineering pathogens to cause destruction. We need to identify potential preparedness measures for challenging biological threats.

  • Why Was James Garfield Assassinated? A Historian Reveals the Real Story Behind Netflix’s “Death by Lightning”

    The real history behind James Garfield’s murder is as much about the corrupt political system he railed against — and how his death ultimately shattered it.

  • Trump Debanks the Left? Antifa Terrorist Designation Means New Pressure

    Many people celebrated President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting “political debanking.” Yet, those same people seem to be silent now that the president has created new pressures to implement political debanking by effectively debanking the left. 

  • White Nationalism Fuels Tolerance for Political Violence Nationwide

    Political violence is certainly not new in American society, but current patterns differ in key ways. We found that, today, white nationalism is a key driver of support for political violence –a sign that white nationalism poses substantial danger to U.S. political stability.

  • Global Risk Index for AI-enabled Biological Tools

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the life sciences, accelerating breakthroughs in research, drug discovery and biotechnology. However, some of the AI tools that drive innovation can also be misused, posing significant dual-use risks.

  • Online Mobilization and Violence in the United States

    Even before the Charlie Kirk assassination, the United States was facing a resurgence of politically motivated violence that is deeply intertwined with the digital sphere. Extremists across the ideological spectrum exploit acts of violence to recruit followers, justify their ideologies, and sustain propaganda networks.