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Countering Blockship Attacks in Key U.S. Waterways
Blockship attacks entail obstructing key waterways by deliberately scuttling ships, running them aground, or having them impale themselves onto infrastructure. Such attacks could delay maritime movements in U.S. or key overseas ports, affecting all U.S. military services and potentially disrupting billions of dollars in commerce.
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Extremist-Related Murders Set to Rise in 2025
All extremist-related murders in 2024 were committed by right-wing extremists. Growing concern about a return of violent attacks by homegrown Islamist extremists.
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“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert
The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”
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Trump Administration Shouldn’t Designate Drug Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Congress has given the president too much authority to prosecute a war on terrorism without sufficient oversight by the legislature and the courts. By designating drug cartels as FTOs, the Trump administration unlocks new powers for itself, creates a new media narrative that could fool many, and reinforces the rest of its anti-immigration and border enforcement agenda.
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Evidence-Based Solutions to Protect Against Mass Attacks
Mass attacks like the New Year’s Day incident in New Orleans stir public emotion and have tragic consequences. While the investigations into this case will take time, we know from our work that there are things law enforcement and the public can do to mitigate and perhaps stop mass casualty events.
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The August 2024 Taylor Swift Vienna Concert Plot
The Vienna Taylor Swift concert plot highlights an alarming trend of Islamic State-inspired teenage jihadis targeting events to inflict maximum casualties and attract widespread media attention. The plot also underlined that Islamic State Khorasan (ISK), which appears to have inspired the lead plotter, remains an enduring threat, evolving its tactics and strategy while focusing on radicalizing followers and supporters through relentless online propaganda.
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Trump’s Pardons and Purges Revive Old Question: Who Counts as a Terrorist?
The president’s sweeping clemency for Capitol rioters and his administration’s ongoing removal of career national security specialists foretell a permissive new climate for extremist movements, say current and former officials and researchers.
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Mis- and Disinformation Trends and Tactics to Watch in 2025
Predicting how extremists may weaponize false narratives requires an understanding of the strategies that allow them to spread most effectively.
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Southport Attacks: Why the U.K. Needs a Unified Approach to All Violent Attacks on the Public
The conviction of Axel Rudakubana for the murder of three young girls in Southport has prompted many questions about how the UK handles violence without a clear ideological motive. This case has also shown up the confusion in this area, and made clear the need for a basic reframing of how we understand murderous violence against the public today.
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Madison and Nashville School Shooters Appear to Have Crossed Paths in Online Extremist Communities
A month after a student opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School, another killed a classmate at Antioch High School. Both were active in an internet subculture that glorifies mass shooters and encourages young people to commit attacks.
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Antioch, Tenn., Shooter Inspired by Broad Extremist Beliefs and Previous Mass Killers
On January 22, 2025, a 17-year-old student opened fire inside the cafeteria at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter subscribed to broad accelerationist beliefs, which hold that society is irrevocably broken and must be destroyed to be rebuilt.
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Bystander Reporting Helps Prevent Mass Violence
Bystander reporting’s role in mitigating mass violence deserves much more attention –because peers, bystanders, and “bystanders of bystanders” often know a lot about a person’s concerning behavior, and because they often choose not to report because they perceive authority figures are not receptive or are unlikely to be helpful.
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Southport Attack: Changing the Definition of Terrorism Won’t Stop the Violence
Axel Rudakubana, who killed of three young girls in Southport in a stabbing attack in 2024, had been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism program three times, but failed to meet the threshold for intervention. Some want to change terror laws to deal with lone, violent killers. But as a researcher of counter-terrorism laws, I argue there is little point to widening what is already a broad definition of terrorism.
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What Is Seditious Conspiracy, Which Is Among the Most Serious Crimes Trump Pardoned?
The full effect that the pardons will have on militia actors and related groups in coming years is uncertain: Will the pardons send the message to all Americans that political violence is acceptable, or at least that it can be overlooked or forgiven if the right political figures are in power?
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Proud Boys: A Big Tent for Hate
Some of those pardoned by President Trump are leaders and members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group with a history of using violence, targeted harassment, and intimidation to achieve their political goals and combat perceived enemies – Jews, Muslims, gays, progressives, and feminists.
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The long view
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert
The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”