Today, terror acts launched one or two individuals have increased, and this kind of terrorism is very challenging and unpredictable. These terror acts, which are generally called lone-wolf terror attacks, are difficult to them coming as well as hard to defend against. In recent years, this kind of terrorist acts have increased and are seen as a large threat to modern society (Brynielsson, Horndahl, Johanson, Kaati, Martenson, & Swenson, 2012)). There have been many high profile lone wolf terror attacks in the past few years. Notable examples include the Fort Hood attack and the Boston Marathon Bomb. The extremist Islamic ideology motivated the two attacks mentioned above. These types of terror attacks represent a significant adjustment in tactics for many terrorist organizations present across the world. Lone-wolf terrorism represents an excellent opportunity for secluded individuals radicalized for various reasons (Hamm and Spaaj 2015). This paper will address the key attributes of this type of terrorism. The paper will then delve at discussing what intelligence agencies do to address this issue. Lastly, the paper will discuss whether this kind of terrorism is detectable as well as address the critical indications and warnings of these terror acts and how nations address this issue.
Key Attributes
The Internet has made it easier for individuals who launch terror acts to access information, learn different tactics and techniques to help them launch attacks (Thompson 20123). Lone wolves may also get in touch with organized groups to get hands-on training and funds. However, they usually do not discuss their plans with other individuals unless the individuals are directly involved in the plan or the attack. Lone wolf attacks are untraceable and hard to detect and this, in turn, makes it difficult for security agencies to stop them.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The second attribute is that lone wolves act alone. They are loners who operate by themselves. Since they make decisions on their own without involving others, they are much hard to identify and very unpredictable (Barnes 2013). They also tend to associate themselves with their ideology firmly. Thus, lone wolves tend to condemn anyone who criticizes their ideology aggressively, and this may manifest itself as a need to cause harm to the individual(s) against their ideology (Hamm and Spaaj 2015). Another key attribute of the lone wolf threat vector is the recklessness in the actions of lone wolves in their daily activities. For in instance, Boston Bomber brothers were drug dealers and were involved in cage fighting league.
Another potential key attribute is its anti-social tendency. Lone wolves tend to push away people around them unless the people share their ideology. The choice of weaponry is another key attribute of the lone wolf threat vector. Lone wolves usually use homemade bombs and biochemical materials in their attacks, as they are readily available in retail markets (Hamm and Spaaj 2015). According to Barnes (2013), a lone-wolf terrorist has a common compulsion to use the Internet before the attacks to communicate their attacks. With the advance in technological communication tools, lone wolves can engage in online training as well as publish their ‘final manifesto’ on their internet portals before launching their attacks. Lone wolves usually combine personal grievances with political grievances and tend to use violence to make the political system listen to their grievances (Hamm and Spaaj 2015).
How Law Enforcement and National Security/National Intelligence can address the Issue of Lone Wolf Terrorism
Law enforcement and national security or national intelligence agencies find it challenging to address the issue of lone-wolf terrorism because of the very nature of the lone wolf attacker. Lone wolves provide fewer opportunities for detection, and this makes it difficult for intelligence agencies to protect every potential terrorist target (Barnes 2013). However, these agencies can put a few measures in place to monitor and counter possible lone-wolf attacks. One of the measures is to monitor extremist websites and chat rooms, although the extremists may decide to change their websites or change how they share their ideology once they realize their sites or chats are monitored. With this information and by tracking historical data from previous lone wolf attacks, these agencies can observe a pattern and enable them to come up with strategies to address the issue. Secondly, they need to monitor places that are a hotbed of terrorist activities, although this may not be effective enough. This is because it would be difficult to monitor all people in a region. The most effective way is to rely on the public. Law enforcement and national security or national intelligence agencies ought to ask people to come forward and report individuals they believe have a plan of attacking others. However, due to the limited resources, these agencies may find it difficult to investigate every warning provided by the public. With more robust cooperation between surveillance and intelligence agencies both at the national and international levels, lone wolves can be tracked.
Is Lone Wolf Terrorism Undetectable?
Presently, lone-wolf terrorism appears to be a formidable attack vector. According to Thompson (2013), the lone wolf threat vector is undetectable. It is difficult to see it coming. This is because of their nature and the fact that the attacks are usually planned and executed with a short time frame. One or two dedicated individuals also plan lone-wolf terror attacks, and this makes it difficult to know their plans. This is because the individual(s) do not discuss the attack before the attack happening. Thompson (2013), this type of terrorism is inevitable in the future. Thompson's interview with Jeffrey Simon suggests that lone wolf terrorism will increase in the future to include a cyber-terrorist attack. The weaponry used by lone wolves makes it difficult for intelligence agencies to identify the source of the attacks. Lone wolves who employ biochemical weapon are hard to detect as well as challenging to defend against.
Critical Indications and Warning (I&W) of the Threat
The scenario used in the simulation does not provide a good case study in the use of indications and warnings to prevent lone-wolf attacks. In the attack on the cruise ship, the individual who launched the attack was targeting a domestic element, although the attack had a global impact. The attacker would have launched his attack at the target’s domestic country, which was Russia if he had the chance. It was only after the attack when Western intelligence agencies became involved. The agencies used the information gained after the attack to look for what seemed as indications and warnings. The Western intelligence agencies had not indications and warnings to pick on since the person who carried out the terror attack belonged to a nationalist organization, and the simulation could not simulate whether the nationalist organization can stage domestically or internationally. If the Russian intelligence agency had identified any signs before the attack, they would have prevented the attacked from happening. However, it is possible that the Russian intelligence agency had the information but failed to share it with other intelligence agencies.
Intelligence agencies usually have an internal focus, and this makes it unreasonable for them to allocate the few resources they have on every nationalist organization. In the simulation, the nationalist organization never gave indications and warnings on the attack. To add to this, the individual who launched the attack in the simulation was a lone wolf, and therefore, the intelligence community had no information to help it conduct threat analysis and prevent the attack. Western intelligence was capable of recognizing the threat of the lone wolf vector as well as be able to conduct a threat analysis only after the attack had happened.
To isolate the source, the victims who displayed symptoms of the biological agent were isolated. However, the best response to the threat would have been to identify and put the individuals who can potentially be affected in medical observation and quarantine. Putting this measure would have helped limit the biological agent from spreading as well as give physicians ample time to treat the victims. Since a biological agent was used in the attack, the passengers who disembarked and never returned should have been identified in order to be included in the medical observation and quarantine program. In the simulation, if a chemical agent were used instead, the vector could have been removed by isolating the ship from the port.
How Nations address Such Attacks
Many nations, including America, Canada, and the EU, are aware of the need to address lone wolf terrorism. These nations have put measures in place, such as implementing a biological threat protocol to ensure they address the issue by protecting people against lone-wolf terror attacks that employ biological weapons. Due to the impact posed by these terror attacks, America, Canada, and the EU are putting measures in place with the aim of expanding their biological agent protocols. This would help them respond better to any threat. However, the issue with the protocols implemented by these nations is that they are natural vector and an anthropic vector. In the simulation, the protocol used was able to quickly identify as well as quarantine the people on the vessel to help minimize the vector from spreading to other people.
The threat posed by biological attacks can be devastating and high because the symptoms of the vector can take time before they start to manifest themselves in an individual. Also, the threat can be high because of the vector can travel fast given the advance in the transportation network in recent years. In the case of lone-wolf attacks, the intelligence community can find it challenging to identify indications as well as the warnings, which can help security agencies implement the biological threat protocol promptly in order to reduce the threat posed by such attacks. Once the intelligence community identifies the source or cases of the biological agent outbreak, they can initiate the biological threat protocol.
Conclusion
Lone wolf terrorists are hard to detect, which makes it difficult to defend against. However, lone wolves often make use of the Internet to share their ideologies and obtain information and knowledge to help them launch their attacks. Thus, it is possible that they leave digital traces that intelligence agencies can collect and analyze to discover possible or potential lone-wolf terrorists. While there can be some indications and warnings of lone-wolf terror attacks, these attacks are usually planned and executed within a short time frame. It is hard to get information on these types of attacks before the attack happening because one or two dedicated individuals usually plan them and the individual(s) tend not to discuss any information before the attack. These type of terror attacks depend on an individual's element of surprise on their intended victims in order to make the attack cause the most damage and chaos.
Bibliography
Barnes, Beau. "Confronting the one-man wolf pack: Adapting law enforcement and prosecution responses to the threat of lone-wolf terrorism." Boston University Law Review, Vol. 93; (2013): 1613-1662.
Brynielsson, Joel., Horndahl, Andreas., Johanson, Fredrick., Martenson, Christian., & Svenson, Pontus. “Analysis of weak signals for detecting lone wolf terrorists. 2012 European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference. (2012) 197-204.
Hamm, Mark, and Romon, Spaaj. “Lone wolf terrorism in America: Using knowledge of radicalization pathways to forge prevention strategies. (2015) Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248691.pdf . Accessed 8 th September 2019.
Thompson, Mark. The danger of the lone-wolf terrorist. (2013). [Online]. Retrieved from: http://nation.time.com/2013/02/27/the-danger-of-the-lone-wolf-terrrorist/ . Accessed 8 th September 2019.
