• Extremism, Paramilitarism Threats in Europe

    A new report examines case studies from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine and outlines potential security risks as well as avenues to mitigate threats associated with extremism in paramilitary groups throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

  • The Role of Local Police in Countering Domestic Terrorism

    The Biden administration’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism lays out a multi-tiered approach to a growing threat. The White House strategy rests, in part, on increased federal-local cooperation, which remains difficult to achieve in practice. The administration’s strategy presumes local police departments have more insight into local permutations of violent extremism – and that federal agencies should have the capabilities to counter it. However, differing priorities and capabilities between local police departments will remain a significant challenge for federal agencies as they attempt to counter domestic terrorism.

  • Financing Violent Extremists

    Ethnically or racially motivated terrorism (EoRMT) is a complex phenomenon that encompasses a wide range of actors. These range from individuals, that operate as lone actors or so called “lone wolves” to small and medium organizations, as well as transnational movements which span borders, and sometimes even continents. A new report finds that the funding of such terrorist attacks varies from country to country, adding to the challenge of tackling such financing.

  • SEC's Increasing Focus on Terrorism May Limit Financial Oversight

    When SEC asks companies about potential ties to terrorism, it catches fewer reporting errors. The SEC’s shift of attention to firms’ financial ties to states sponsoring terrorism (SSTs) began at Congress’s behest in 2003, leading to a shift in the composition of SEC review staff — the number of lawyers the review staff has grown while the number of accountants has decreased.

  • What Do Former Extremists and Their Families Say about Radicalization and Deradicalization in America?

    Violent extremism has become a serious and complex threat in the United States. This development raises several questions: Who is at risk of joining violent extremist organizations? How do they find groups of like-minded people to join with? Can families and friends recognize whether someone is becoming radicalized? How do individuals change their minds and walk away from extremism? What can communities do to stop the growth of extremism in their areas?

  • Islamists in Germany: Quiet, but Dangerous

    A stabbing spree in the German city of Würzburg has renewed focus on the threat of Islamism, even if the attacker’s motive remains unclear.

  • Black Nationalist Arrested Following Shooting of Florida Officer

    On 26 June, following a 56-hour manhunt, multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the arrest of Othal Toreyanne Resheen Wallace just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Wallace has been affiliated with the Not F*cking Around Coalition (NFAC), a paramilitary group that advocates for Black liberation and separatism.

  • Al Qaeda Renews Its Focus on Anti-Semitism and Attacking Israel

    For decades, Al Qaeda has used the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to rally support for themselves and unify disparate Islamist movements under its banner. The terrorist organization, however, has failed to carry out attacks against Israel or against Jews in other countries, leading to criticism of Al Qaeda by other jihadist groups. In recent weeks, Al Qaeda has directed an unusual portion of its propaganda toward encouraging attacks on Israel, Jewish institutions, and Jewish people.

  • Who is Germany's 'New Right'?

    For the first time ever, the Bundesverfassungsschutz (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, included a section on the “New Right” in its annual catalog of political extremists in Germany. The BfV said that the tag refers to an “informal network” of individuals and organizations which don’t openly organize or call for violent attacks, but rather focus on nurturing a far-right “cultural revolution” which threatens the German constitution and democratic institutions. The BfV says that the New Right movement promotes racist, xenophobic, and anti-democratic ideologies by subtle and slick professional means.

  • Terrorists Tried to Take Advantage of the Pandemic: EUROPOL’s Report

    Terrorists – Jihadists, right-wing, and left-wing — use any opportunity to erode democratic structures, spread fear, and polarize society. In 2020, terrorist organizations attempted to take advantage of the global pandemic to spread hate propaganda and exacerbate mistrust in public institutions. Terrorist groups made use of simple weaponry, easy-to-make explosive devices – and the internet.

  • It’s Time to Talk about Lab Safety

    A new website, GlobalBioLabs.org, is an interactive web-based map of global Biosafety Level 4 facilities and biorisk management policies. Only 17 of the 23 countries that house BSL-4 laboratories have national biosafety associations or are members of international partnerships.

  • Inquiry Details 9 Missed Opportunities to Thwart 2017 British Concert Bombing

    Families of the 22 people who died in the 2017 terrorist bombing of a concert at Britain’s Manchester Arena are urging authorities to mount corporate manslaughter prosecutions against the firm responsible for security on the night of the attack and the company that runs the arena. Their demand came Thursday in the wake of the release of a damning official report into the terror attack that detailed nine missed opportunities to thwart the bombing of the Ariana Grande concert.

  • Foreign Disinformation Feeds U.S. Domestic Terrorism, Official Warns

    Newly unveiled efforts to combat a growing domestic terrorism threat in the United States will have to find a way to overcome a major obstacle: carefully crafted campaigns by foreign countries and terrorist groups to incite violence.

  • Administration Strategy Seeks to Confront Domestic Terrorism

    The administration on Tuesday released its long-awaited strategy for countering domestic terrorism, a comprehensive plan that calls for both short- and long-term measures to confront the growing threat of attacks from militant violent extremists. The strategy focuses on enhancing and sharing information about domestic terrorism, preventing terror recruitment, disrupting and thwarting attacks, and confronting the long-term drivers of domestic terrorism.

  • COVID Gives Rise to Extremism and Violence

    Both right- and left-wing extremism flourished during the pandemic year, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said in its latest report. Most alarmingly, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that 40 percent of the 33,300 far-right extremists in the country were categorized as “violence-oriented,” the highest proportion ever. And Germany’s security forces have themselves come under new scrutiny.