• Two Men Sentenced in Plot to Attack Power Grids in the United States

    Two men were sentenced in federal court Friday, 21 April, for crimes related to a scheme to attack power grids in the United States in furtherance of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism. DHS and the FBI have warned that domestic terrorists were increasingly focused on disrupting the U.S. power grid.

  • DOJ: Total Distribution of Over $6B to Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism

    The U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (the Fund) today notified a group of eligible claimants of upcoming payments totaling approximately $2.7 billion that the Fund will begin issuing in the coming weeks. The Fund will issue these payments to 5,361 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks and certain spouses and children of the victims of those attacks.

  • Governments Are Using Science Fiction to Predict Potential Threats

    By Mike Ryder

    From high-tech fighting machines to supercomputers and killer robots, science fiction has a lot to say about war. You might be surprised to learn that some governments are now turning their attention to these fantastical stories as a way to think about possible futures and try and ward off any potential threats.

  • Study Links Hard-Right Social Media with Incidents of Civil Unrest

    An increase in social media activity on “hard-right” platforms — those that purport to represent viewpoints not welcome on “mainstream” platforms — contributes to rightwing civil unrest in the United States, according to a new study. A new Yale-led study finds evidence that social media activity on hard-right platforms contributes to political unrest offline. “The magnitude of the effect we found is modest but two characteristics of social media and civil unrest caution against dismissing it,” said Yale sociologist Daniel Karell.

  • Antisemitism, False Information, and Hate Speech Find a Home on Substack

    Substack continues to attract extremists and conspiracy theorists who routinely use the site to profit from spreading antisemitism, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Platforms with more lenient content moderation policies, like Substack, provide fertile ground for the spread of hateful rhetoric and false information – a known catalyst for offline harm and violence.

  • Education and Awareness Are Key to Stopping Online Radicalization

    By William Frangia

    The current battlefield for terrorism is not a faraway country but the computers and phones right next to us. Terrorists have taken advantage of this technology to allow conflict to transcend its geographic borders. They know that reaching one sympathetic viewer can create catastrophic consequences in support of their agenda. The social network is now an environment where everyone is vulnerable to encountering propaganda or misinformation online, making everyone susceptible to radicalization.

  • The ‘Incelosphere’ and Incel Violence: A Worsening Problem?

    By Lewys Brace

    Should incel ideology be considered as extremist? Here is a summary of the research on how violent extremist language has increased over time as different online platforms have emerged and shutdown within the incel online ecosystem.

  • Major Foreign Terror Attack on U.S. “Almost Inconceivable” Now

    By Jeff Seldin

    Foreign terrorist groups, including some Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates, may have the desire to launch major attacks on U.S. soil, but decades of counterterrorism work have made carrying out such an operation close to impossible at the moment, a top U.S. homeland security official said.

  • MI5 Increases Terror Threat Level in Northern Ireland to “Severe”

    There has been increased dissident republican activity in Northern Ireland, including the attempted murder of a senior police officer last month. MI5 believed it had dealt a major blow to the New IRA in 2020 when police arrested nine suspected leaders of the organization, but the New IRA appears to have regrouped.

  • Hard-Right Social Media Activities Lead to Civil Unrest: Study

    Does activity on hard-right social media lead to civil unrest? With the emergence and persistent popularity of hard-right social media platforms such as Gab, Parler, and Truth Social, it is important to understand the impact they are having on society and politics.

  • Terrorist Attacks More Deadly, Despite Decline in the West

    The tenth annual edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) reveals that terrorist attacks are more deadly, with 26% more people dying in each incident - the first rise in lethality in five years. After substantial increase in terrorism activity between 2016 and 2019, progress has plateaued with both attacks and deaths remaining roughly the same since 2019. The number of countries recording a death ranged from 43 in 2020 to 42 in 2022.

  • Conspiracy Theories, Holocaust Education, and Other Predictors of Antisemitic Belief

    A new research explored a variety of topics to better understand which factors are linked with holding greater numbers of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel attitudes. Understanding the relative predictive power of each of these variables will have significant implications in developing strategies aimed at ameliorating antisemitism.

  • Understanding Antisemitism on Twitter After Musk

    New research has found a major and sustained spike in antisemitic posts on Twitter since the company’s takeover by Elon Musk on October 27, 2022. Researchers found that the volume of English-language antisemitic tweets more than doubled in the period following Musk’s takeover.

  • Preventing Violence in Schools: Encouraging Students to Report Threats

    By Doug Irving

    One of the most consistent findings in research on school shootings is that someone knew an attack was possible and didn’t report it. A recent RAND study looked at how schools can better encourage students to come forward when they see or hear something that should concern them. Its top recommendations: tip lines, training, and a lot more trust.

  • “Prevent” Review: Why We Need a New – and Clearer – Definition of Islamist Extremism

    By Julian Hargreaves

    An independent review of the UK counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, has recommended that the government increase its efforts to tackle Islamist extremism. One fundamental question this review poses is what exactly “Islamist extremism” is. This matters because many professionals (including teachers, lecturers, social workers, health workers and prison guards) are now legally obliged to watch out for it. A clearer definition is possible.