• A Sea Change in Counterterrorism

    Even before the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January, the threat of domestic extremism was clear, with terrorist attacks by racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) eclipsing the threat posed by jihadist groups such as the Islamic State. The Biden administration will soon release a new strategy document for fighting domestic terrorism.

  • Invisible Scourge: The Investigation, Legacy, and Lessons of the 2001 Anthrax Attacks

    By Al Mauroni

    The anthrax incidents of 2001 represented a major milestone for the national security community, in that they highlighted the vulnerabilities of the United States to a very unique domestic threat. While the number of initial casualties were few, the anthrax-filled letters created a nation-wide panic because they were unattributed, and the biological agent was perhaps the most dangerous organism that had been weaponized. This “invisible scourge” also shook the public health community, which was not prepared to respond to deliberate biological threats.

  • The Evolution of Extremist Groups

    Early online support for the Boogaloos, one of the groups implicated in the January 2021 attack on the Capitol, followed the same mathematical pattern as ISIS—despite the stark ideological, geographical and cultural differences between their forms of extremism, a new study finds. The findings of the study suggest strategies to limit the growth of groups like the Boogaloos and ISIS.

  • Frankfurt Police Unit to Be Disbanded over Far-Right Chats

    The city of Frankfurt am Main and the leaders of the state of Hesse have announced they were disbanding the Frankfurt police’s Special Task Force (SEK) following the discovery of the participation of SEK officers in far-right extremist chat rooms. German police and military forces have been plagued by far-right scandals in recent years. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was forced to disband the 2nd company of the Bundeswehr’s Special Forces Command (KSK) in November last year after it became clear soldiers in the unit had covered far-right extremist activities carried out by KSK soldiers and officers.

  • Israel Says Hamas Was Using Bombed AP Building to Jam Iron Dome

    Israel on Tuesday gave specific justification for carrying out an airstrike that destroyed Jala Tower, a Gaza high-rise building which housed the Associated Press (AP) news agency and Al Jazeera, a Qatari television network. Israel had warned people in the building to vacate their offices, and destroyed the building after it was empty. The building housed several offices of Hamas, but Israel now says that the building was destroyed because Hamas operatives were using it to try and jam Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

  • A History of Political Murder

    Michael Burleigh explores the many facets of political assassination, explaining why it is more frequent in certain types of society than others and asking whether assassination can either bring about change or prevent it, and whether, like a contagious disease, political murder can be catching.

  • From Gradualists to Jihadists: Islamists in the West

    Individuals and groups adhering to militant Islamism, a political ideology underpinned by a strict and literalist interpretation of religion, have claimed tens of thousands of lives around the world. They have provoked the response of the most powerful military alliance in history. In recent years, the appeal of their utopian ideal has convinced thousands to abandon their lives and travel to join the brutal Islamic State experiment in Iraq and Syria. What narratives have Islamist propagandists used to persuade thousands of Westerners to follow go to the Caliphate, or carry out terrorist acts at home.

  • Defining Domestic Terrorism: Does the U.S. Need New Criminal Penalties for Domestic Terrorism Events?

    Debates over what legally constitutes domestic terrorism—and the barriers to prosecuting these incidents—stretch back decades. “Significant political opposition to anti-domestic terrorism statutes are already being observed among lawmakers,” Lucy Tu writes, adding that “Individual lawmakers, however, are not the only opponents to the new bill.”

  • Is Covid-19 a Bio-Weapon?

    The “racial disparity” of the deaths from Covid should raise alarms.  Not the relatively small differences between white, black and Hispanic death rates in America, but the massive disparity between death rates of East Asian countries, and everyone else on earth. On a per capita basis, non-East Asians are dying at rates 20 times higher that of East Asians. That is not a statistical “blip.” It screams that the virus has massively unequal kill rates - and kills people of different races very differently. That is the signature of a bio-weapon.

  • The Evolution of Extremist Groups

    Early online support for the extremist antigovernment Boogaloos followed the same mathematical pattern as ISIS, despite the stark ideological, geographical and cultural differences between their forms of extremism, a new study finds. The findings suggest new strategies to limit the growth of groups like the Boogaloo and ISIS.

  • Antisemitism on TikTok

    Over the last few years, TikTok—the social media app that allows users to create and share short videos—has gained immense popularity. While much of the content on TikTok is lighthearted and fun, extremists have exploited the platform to share hateful content and recruit new adherents.

  • Why a Commission Should Investigate the U.S. Capitol Attack

    By Bruce Hoffman

    Far too little is known about how the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol happened. A bipartisan investigation should address this, to dispel falsehoods and to help prevent such an assault from happening again.

  • Prominent Voices Demonize Israel Regarding the Conflict

    In response to the recent conflict in Israel and Gaza, prominent voices, including among NGOs and activists, have engaged in problematic rhetoric about Israel. Such harsh criticism, especially when it goes beyond criticizing Israel’s policies to a denunciation of the entire entity of Israel and its guiding ideology of Zionism, may not always cross the line into antisemitism, but it enables an environment in which hateful actions against Jews and supporters of Israel are accepted more freely, and in which anti-Jewish tropes may be normalized. We are already seeing too many examples of Jews and Jewish institutions being targeted in the guise of opposition to Israel and its policies.

  • On Christchurch Call Anniversary, a Step Closer to Eradicating Terrorism Online?

    Is it possible to eradicate terrorism and violent extremism from the internet? To prevent videos and livestreams of terrorist attacks from going viral, and maybe even prevent them from being shared or uploaded in the first place? Courtney C. Radsch writes that the governments and tech companies involved in the Christchurch Call are dealing with a difficult issue: “The big question is whether the twin imperatives of eradicating TVEC while protecting the internet’s openness and freedom of expression are compatible,” Radsch writes.

  • U.S. Anti-Hate Crime Law Provides New Enforcement Tools, but Will It Work?

    By Masood Farivar

    A bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Thursday gives local and federal officials new tools and resources to combat hate crimes, while putting the spotlight on a surge in anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impetus for the new law was a dramatic increase in attacks on Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic in Wuhan, China, more than a year ago.