Lone Wolf Terrorism (37 page)

So how, then, should we define terrorism? As I crafted the wording, I focused on what I thought to be the main challenge in creating a meaningful definition of terrorism—namely, how to account for those tactics that appear to be terrorism but are not perpetrated by a “terrorist” or do not have the same motives as those of a terrorist yet have virtually the same impact on government and society as a “terrorist” act. An adequate definition of terrorism also needs to exclude violence that may occur during the course of a protest, demonstration, popular uprising, or guerrilla insurgency against a government's troops. Taking all of these factors into account requires a rather long-worded definition of terrorism:

Terrorism is the use or threat of violence or nonviolent sabotage, including cyber attacks, against government, society, business, the military (when the military is not an occupying force or involved in a war, insurgency, or state of hostilities), or any other target, by individual(s) or group(s) (but not including actions taken during popular uprisings, riots, or violent protests), to further a political, social, religious, financial, or other related goal, or, when not having such an objective, nevertheless has the same effect, or potential effect, upon government, society, business, or the military in terms of creating fear and/or disrupting daily life and/or causing government, society, business, or the military to react with heightened security and/or other responses.

A definition of lone wolf terrorism would be exactly the same as the above general definition of terrorism, but to qualify as a lone wolf, an individual would have to be working alone or have just minimal assistance from one or two other people (such as Timothy McVeigh receiving assistance from Terry Nichols in preparing the bomb that was used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City). Therefore, lone wolf terrorism can be defined as follows:

Lone wolf terrorism is the use or threat of violence or nonviolent sabotage, including cyber attacks, against government, society, business, the military (when the military is not an occupying force or involved in a war, insurgency, or state of hostilities), or any other target, by an individual acting alone or with minimal support from one or two other people (but not including actions taken during popular uprisings, riots, or violent protests), to further a political, social, religious, financial, or other related goal, or, when not having such an objective, nevertheless has the same effect, or potential effect, upon government, society, business, or the military in terms of creating fear and/or disrupting daily life and/or causing government, society, business, or the military to react with heightened security and/or other responses.

Any definition of terrorism, whether it is lone wolf terrorism or terrorism in general, will naturally have many gray areas. For example, from the definition of both general and lone wolf terrorism, I have chosen to exclude all violent actions taken during a protest, demonstration, or mass uprising. Yet one could make the case that somebody throwing a bomb, shooting a gun, or setting fire to a building during a mass demonstration is perpetrating an act of terrorism. To do so, though, would seem to open up the floodgates on incidents of terrorism, as virtually every violent action occurring during a demonstration or protest would be counted as a terrorist act. That is why definitions of terrorism are problematic and will always be open to debate.

PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK

1
. Jennifer Levitz, “Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Sentenced to Death, Apologizes to Victims,”
Wall Street Journal
, June 24, 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-apologizes-before-being-sentenced-to-death-for-boston-bombing-1435170191
(accessed June 13, 2016); Richard Fausset, Richard Pérez-Peña, and Matt Apuzzo, “Slain Troops in Chattanooga Saved Lives Before Giving Their Own,”
New York Times
, July 22, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/us/chattanooga-tennessee-shooting-investigation-mohammod-abdulazeez.html
(accessed June 13, 2016); Laura Wagner and Bill Chappell, “FBI: San Bernardino Shooting Is Being Investigated as a Terrorist Act,”
NPR
, December 4, 2015,
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/04/458464907/alleged-san-bernardino-attacker-pledged-allegiance-to-isis
(accessed June 13, 2016); Ralph Ellis, Ashley Frantz, Faith Karimi, and Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Orlando Shooting: 49 Killed, Shooter Pledged ISIS Allegiance,” CNN, June 13, 2016,
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/
(accessed June 13, 2016).

2
. Julie Turkewitz and Jack Healy, “3 Are Dead in Colorado Springs Shootout at Planned Parenthood Center,”
New York Times
, November 27, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/us/colorado-planned-parenthood-shooting.html
(accessed June 13, 2016); Michael S. Schmidt, “Charleston Suspect Was in Contact With Supremacists, Officials Say,”
New York Times
, July 3, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/us/dylann-roof-was-in-contact-with-supremacists-officials-say.html
(accessed June 13, 2016); Polly Mosendz, “Dylann Roof Confesses: Says He Wanted To Start ‘Race War,'”
Newsweek
, June 19, 2015,
http://www.newsweek.com/dylann-roof-confesses-church-shooting-says-he-wanted-start-race-war-344797
(accessed June 13, 2016); Dan Weikel, Scott Gold, Richard Winton, Brian Bennett, Joel Rubin, Joseph Serna, Ari Bloomkatz, Samantha Schaefer, Kate Mather, Matt Stevens, Jill Cowan, Alicia Banks, and Laura J. Nelson, “LAX Shooting: Gunman Targeted TSA Officers, Wrote Anti-Government Note,”
Los Angeles Times
, November 1, 2013,
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/01/local/la-me-ln-lax-shooting-multiple-tsa-agents-shot-by-gunman-with-rifle-20131101
(accessed June 13, 2016).

INTRODUCTION

1
. Paul Avrich,
Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), pp. 196–97.

2
. Mike Davis,
Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb
(London: Verso, 2007), p. 2.

3
. Avrich,
Sacco and Vanzetti
, p. 207.

4
. The first reported midair plane bombing in the United States occurred near Chesterton, Indiana, on October 10, 1933. A United Airlines transcontinental passenger plane exploded, killing all seven people aboard. No motive or suspects were uncovered. The higher number of casualties caused by the Graham bombing and the reaction it elicited across the country, including front-page coverage in the
New York Times
, would seem to qualify that incident as the first “major” midair plane bombing in US history.

5
. Mark Juergensmeyer, “Religious Terror and the Secular State,”
Harvard International Review
(Winter 2004): 5.

6
. Avrich,
Sacco and Vanzetti
, p. 206.

7
. Among the few systematic studies of lone wolves are Dennis Pluchinsky,
The Global Jihad: Leaderless Terrorism?
(Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2006);
Lone-Wolf Terrorism
, COT, Institute voor Veiligheids-en Crisismanagement, Final draft, June 7, 2007, Case Study for Work Package 3,
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34968770/Lone-Wolf-Terrorism
(accessed June 10, 2011); Ramon Spaaij,
Understanding Lone Wolf Terrorism: Global Patterns, Motivations, and Prevention
(New York: Springer, 2012); Raffaello Pantucci, “A Typology of Lone Wolves: Preliminary Analysis of Lone Islamist Terrorists,”
Developments in Radicalisation and Political Violence
, March 2011; and George Michael,
Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance
(Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2012).

8
. Ricardo A. Martinez, “Partners in the Battle,”
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
, February 2011,
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/february2011/notable-speech
(accessed November 8, 2012).

CHAPTER 1. THE GROWING THREAT OF LONE WOLF TERRORISM

1
. Aamer Madhani, “Obama: ‘Lone Wolf' Attack Is Biggest Concern,”
National Journal
, August 17, 2011,
http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/obama-lone-wolf-attack-is-biggest-concern-20110816
(accessed August 23, 2011).

2
. “Intelligence Officials Warn Attempted al Qaeda Attack Months Away,” Fox News, February 2, 2010,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/02/intelligence-officials-warn-attempted-al-qaeda-attack-months-away/
(accessed April 16, 2010).

3
. Matt Wade, “Game On,”
Age
, March 1, 2010,
http://www.theage.com.au/world/game-on-20100228-pbc0.html
(accessed April 14, 2010).

4
. “Kevin Rudd Says Australia Faces Major Terror Threat,” BBC News, February 23, 2010,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8529613.stm
(accessed April 14, 2010).

5
. Brynjar Lia and Katja H-W Skjolberg,
Why Terrorism Occurs—A Survey of Theories and Hypotheses on the Causes of Terrorism
, FFI/RAPPORT-2000/02769, p. 8.

6
. David C. Rapoport, “The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism,” in
Attacking Terrorism: Elements of a Grand Strategy
, ed. Audrey Kurth Cronin and James M. Ludes (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2004), pp. 46–73.

7
. Ibid., p. 47.

8
. Ibid., p. 48.

9
. Ibid., p. 50.

10
. Ibid., p. 70, n. 23.

11
. Ibid., pp. 52–53.

12
. Ibid., p. 56.

13
. Ibid., p. 62.

14
. Ibid.

15
. For a discussion of the fifth wave of terrorism, see Jeffrey D. Simon, “Technological and Lone Operator Terrorism: Prospects for a Fifth Wave of Global Terrorism,” in
Terrorism, Identity, and Legitimacy: The Four Waves Theory and Political Violence
, ed. Jean E. Rosenfeld (London: Routledge, 2011), pp. 44–65.

16
. Jeff Shogol, “DOD Report Says EFP Attacks Are Up in Iraq,”
Stars and Stripes
, September 19, 2007,
http://www.stripes.com/news/dod-report-says-efp-attacks-are-up-in-iraq-1.68998
(accessed June 19, 2011).

17
. Scott Shane, “Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S.,”
New York Times
, July 24, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/25debate.html?pagewanted=all
(accessed July 28, 2011).

18
. David Cay Johnston, “Tax Law Was Cited in Software Engineer's Suicide Note,”
New York Times
, February 18, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/19tax.html
(accessed May 2, 2011).

19
. Asher Price, “Suicide Pilot Joe Stack Had History of Shutting Doors on People,”
Statesman
, March 7, 2010,
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/suicide-pilot-joe-stack-had-history-of-shutting-326300.html
(accessed May 6, 2011).

20
. “RAW DATA: Joseph Stack Suicide Manifesto,” Fox News, February 18, 2010,
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/18/raw-data-joseph-stack-suicide-manifesto/
(accessed May 2, 2011).

21
. “Richard Poplawski: The Making of a Lone Wolf,” Anti-Defamation
League, April 8, 2009,
http://www.adl.org/learn/extremism_in_the_news/White_Supremacy/poplawski%20report.htm
(accessed August 13, 2009).

22
. Jon Schmitz, “Poplawski Bought Guns through Shop in Wilkinsburg,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, April 7, 2009,
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09097/961071-53.stm
(accessed June 8, 2010).

23
.
Lone-Wolf Terrorism
, COT, Instituut voor Veiligheids- en Crisismanagement, Final draft, June 7, 2007, Case Study for Work Package 3, p. 43,
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34968770/Lone-Wolf-Terrorism
(accessed June 10, 2011).

24
. Duncan Gardham, “‘Al-Qaeda' Terrorists Who Brainwashed Exeter Suicide Bomber Still on the Run,”
Daily Telegraph
, October 15, 2008,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/3204139/Al-Qaeda-terrorists-who-brainwashed-Exeter-suicide-bomber-still-on-the-run.html
(accessed June 28, 2010).

25
. Louis Beam, quoted in “Extremism in America: Louis Beam,” Anti-Defamation League, 2005,
http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/beam.asp?xpicked=2&item=beam
(accessed July 4, 2010).

26
. Mark Sageman, “The Next Generation of Terror,”
Foreign Policy
(March/April 2008): 37–38.

27
. Ibid., p. 41.

28
. “‘Lone Wolf' Attacks: A Developing Islamist Extremist Strategy?” Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, June 29, 2007: 2,
http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/ITAC_lonewolves_062007.pdf
(accessed April 26, 2010).

29
. “Securing Australia/Protecting Our Community,” counterterrorism white paper, Australian government, 2010, p. 8.

30
.
EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2010
, Europol, p. 37.

31
.
Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment
, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, US Department of Homeland Security, April 7, 2009,
http://www.fas.org./irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf
(accessed April 22, 2009).

32
. Jeffrey D. Simon,
The Terrorist Trap: America's Experience with Terrorism
, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. 383–85.

CHAPTER 2. WHO ARE THE LONE WOLVES?

1
. Walter Laqueur,
The Age of Terrorism
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1987), p. 70.

2
. Yoram Schweitzer and Sari Goldstein Ferber, “Al-Qaeda and the Internationalization of Suicide Terrorism,” Memorandum 78, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, November 2005, p. 39.

3
. Jessica Stern,
Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill
(New York: HarperCollins, 2003), p. 172.

4
. David Johnston and James Risen, “Lone Terrorists May Strike in the U.S., Agencies Warn,”
New York Times
, February 23, 2003,
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DC113DF930A15751C0A9659C8B63
(accessed April 3, 2011).

5
. Ehud Sprinzak, “The Lone Gunman,”
Foreign Policy
(November/December 2001): 72–73.

6
. Ibid.

7
. See
chapter 5
of this book for a detailed discussion of lone wolf assassins.

8
. James W. Clarke,
American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics
, rev. ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990); R. Hrair Dekmejian,
Spectrum of Terror
(Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007), pp. 25–38.

9
. Carolyn Tuft and Joe Holleman, “Inside the Christian Identity Movement,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, March 5, 2000,
http://www.rickross.com/reference/christian_identity/christianidentity7.html
(accessed April 24, 2011); “Extremism in America: Christian Identity,” Anti-Defamation League, 2005,
http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Christian_Identity.asp?xpicked=4&item=Christian_ID
(accessed April 24, 2011).

10
. Scott Brown, “Interview with Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh Released as Part of MSNBC Special,” WGRZ/MSNBC, April 19, 2010,
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=76090&catid=13
(accessed May 1, 2011).
Buffalo News
reporters Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck spent parts of seven days interviewing McVeigh as he awaited his execution. They published a book on McVeigh in 2001 titled
American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing
(New York: Regan Books, 2001).

11
. Ibid.

12
. “Testimony of Jennifer McVeigh,” University of Missouri–Kansas City, May 5, 1997,
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/jennifertestimony.html
(accessed May 2, 2011).

13
.
PrimeTime: McVeigh's Own Words
, ABC News, March 29, 2001,
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132158&page=1
(accessed May 2, 2011).

14
. Brown, “Interview with Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh.”