Lone Wolf Terrorism (4 page)

We only have to look at some of the recent lone wolf incidents to see the significant role that the Internet is playing for the individual terrorist. Anders Breivik, the Norwegian lone wolf who perpetrated the dual terrorist attacks in Norway, posted a fifteen-hundred-page manifesto on the Internet shortly before he embarked on his campaign of terror. The manifesto called for an end to “the Islamic colonisation and Islamisation of Western Europe” and blamed Norwegian politicians for allowing that to happen. He hoped his attacks would bring attention to his manifesto, which it certainly did, as his document
suddenly became known throughout the world. Breivik was also influenced by anti-Islamic bloggers and writers in the United States whom he found on the Internet and whose quotations he used in his manifesto.
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Another lone wolf who posted a manifesto on the Internet before his terrorist attack was Joseph Stack. After setting fire to his home in Austin, Texas, on the morning of February 18, 2010, Stack flew his single-engine plane into a downtown Austin office building in which nearly two hundred people worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). One person besides Stack was killed in the attack. Stack was motivated by a hatred for the IRS, which he blamed for ruining his life. He was particularly upset with a 1986 change in the tax law that prevented contract software engineers like him from taking certain deductions. The new law made it difficult for information-technology professionals to work as self-employed individuals. This forced many of them to become company employees.
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In his manifesto, Stack wrote about the new tax law, saying that “they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave.”
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Stack's manifesto revealed the frustration that was building up inside him. He wrote, “I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn't so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.”
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Richard Poplawski, a white supremacist who killed three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2009, used the Internet to frequent a neo-Nazi chat room, “Stormfront,” where he shared his racist, anti-Semitic, and antigovernment views with other like-minded individuals. Finding kindred souls on the Internet seemed to embolden Poplawski. His postings from November 2008 until March 2009 revealed an increasingly confrontational nature. He urged other white supremacists not to “retreat peaceably into the hills,” but
rather to strive for “ultimate victory for our people [by] taking back our nation.” He also wrote that he would likely be “ramping up the activism” in the near future.
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Poplawski surfed the Internet to order the AK-47 assault-style rifle that he used in his attack. The Internet seller delivered the rifle to a store, where Poplawski purchased the weapon.
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Another example of a lone wolf who used the Internet was Colleen LaRose (who is discussed in further detail in
chapter 4
), also known as “Jihad Jane,” one of the few female lone wolves. She was attracted to the global reach of the Internet and hoped it would aid her in forming a terrorist network in 2008 and 2009 for high-profile attacks in Europe and South Asia. Meanwhile, a US Army major, Nidal Malik Hasan (who is discussed in further detail in
chapter 2
) opened fire at a soldier-processing center in Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, killing thirteen people and wounding thirty-two others. Hasan used the Internet to communicate with an American-born radical Islamic cleric who at the time was living in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki.

The Internet has been indispensable for lone wolves interested in learning about potential weapons. David Copeland, the British neo-Nazi mentioned earlier, who set off three bombs packed with nails in April 1999, discovered how to make the nail bombs after searching the Internet for information. Among the Internet sources he used were
The Terrorist's Handbook
and
How to Make Bombs: Book Two
. He acquired the bomb-making materials from shops and hardware stores but was not able to effectively assemble the necessary ingredients that were detailed in the web-based guides. He therefore used less-sophisticated bombs comprised of fireworks material and nails that were still powerful enough to kill three people and injure 139 others.
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Another British lone wolf terrorist, Nicky Reilly, who had converted to Islam, downloaded videos from YouTube in order to learn how to make nail bombs. His attempt in May 2008 failed, as noted earlier, when one of the three nail bombs he was preparing in the restroom of a restaurant in Exeter exploded in his hands. Reilly was in
contact over the Internet with two men believed to be living in Pakistan who encouraged Reilly to perpetrate a suicide terrorist attack. The men, who were never located, discussed with Reilly potential targets, including an attack on police, civil servants, or the general public. They ultimately persuaded him to commit an attack on the public.
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The Internet also provides lone wolves with an easy means for conducting surveillance of potential targets, including detailed maps of airports and buildings, flight and train schedules, and even computer images of the inside of a specific plane, indicating how many passengers will be on a flight and the exact location of available seats. This could be valuable information for a lone wolf hijacker, who would not want to seize a plane with too many passengers on board, since that could make controlling the passengers difficult. Knowing the seating chart would also be an advantage because the hijacker would know exactly where everyone is located and could choose a seat that works to his or her advantage. For example, there have been plots by terrorists to use liquid bombs on a plane that require the terrorists to assemble the bomb while onboard due to the unstable nature of the explosives (which could explode prematurely). A lone wolf could, therefore, use the Internet to choose a seat in the rear of the plane by the bathroom in order to not be noticed missing for an extended period of time as he or she assembles the bomb.

The Internet not only offers lone wolves a convenient way to conduct surveillance of a target, but it also can be the target itself. The lone wolf cyberterrorist threat includes using the Internet and other communication and information systems that are linked by computers to cause disruptions and chaos in government, businesses, and everyday life. The threat of cyber attacks has received increased attention in recent years. Most of this attention, however, has focused on foreign governments and terrorist groups launching cyber attacks, not on lone wolves. Yet lone wolves have demonstrated throughout history that they should not be ignored. A computer-savvy lone wolf could be as dangerous as the most sophisticated terrorist group or cell in using the Internet to perpetrate a major
cyberterrorist attack. Cyberterrorism may also be a natural fit for lone wolves who prefer to stay at home and perpetrate their attacks over the Internet, whether that be sending computer viruses or hacking into government databases and deleting or altering files. The lure of never having to venture out into the “real world” but instead being able to launch an attack from the comfort and privacy of their own home is something that isolated and socially maladjusted lone wolves may find appealing.

Perhaps one of the most obvious and yet overlooked reasons for why the Internet is the lifeblood for many potential lone wolf terrorists is the same reason it is the lifeblood for many scholars, professionals, and the curious public—namely, the addictive appeal of finding out virtually everything about anything at any time one chooses to do so. From using Google to research any topic, issue, or person to downloading books, articles, documents, and other materials, the world has opened up to anybody with access to a computer or smartphone. While for the most part this is a positive development, the downside is that a lot of material online is inflammatory and can inspire to take action those who may otherwise have never thought to do so. A blog or a webpage does not have to be controlled by extremists to have a catalyzing effect on volatile individuals.

Furthermore, even legitimate sources of information accessed on the Internet can propel individuals into violent action, whereas years ago such people may not have even thought about current affairs or any other issue. No longer do people have to go to a library, buy a newspaper, visit a bookstore, or attend a lecture to learn about the world around them. The Internet provides them with sufficient information to formulate views on any topic or issue they choose. For some potential lone wolves, this may be all that is needed to fuel hidden passions that can lead them to violence.

Another often-overlooked aspect of the technological and Internet age we are living in is that an individual can be “connected” to people, things, and ideas while at the same time being isolated, anonymous, and very alone. Individuals can hide behind screen
names and yet share details about their lives with others while never having to meet face-to-face. People can walk down the street and be oblivious to all that is around them while they are tuned into their smartphone, iPod, or any other device providing them with music, conversation, or other information. We are living in a society where eye contact and interpersonal relations can be replaced by e-mails, texting, and tweets. All this plays into the hands of lone wolves, who can remain “alone,” if they choose to do so, while still connecting with the world around them.

LEADERLESS TERRORISM

The growth of lone wolf terrorism can also be viewed as part of a trend in terrorism that began in the 1990s and has been described as “leaderless resistance.” The main proponent of this form of terrorism was Louis Beam, a white supremacist who, in 1992, wrote an influential article, “Leaderless Resistance,” that was published in his own journal, the
Seditionist
. Beam called for the creation of small, autonomous, underground groups that would be driven by ideology and shared beliefs rather than the direction of leaders and members of organizations. In his article, Beam credited the origins of the concept of “leaderless resistance” to a retired US Air Force colonel, Ulius Amoss, who several decades earlier had proposed the strategy as a defense against a Communist takeover of the United States. For Beam, the strategy now was needed “to defeat state tyranny.” The advantage of leaderless resistance over other strategies was that only those participating in an attack or any other type of action would know of the plans, therefore reducing the chance of leaks or infiltration. As Beam wrote, “All individuals and groups operate independently of each other and never report to a central headquarters or single leader for direction or instruction…. Participants in a program of Leaderless Resistance through phantom cell or individual action must know exactly what they are doing, and exactly how to do it.”
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It is not just white supremacists who have followed the strategy of leaderless resistance. So too have environmental extremist groups such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, which are not actually groups but rather small autonomous cells with no central leadership. The same is true for antiabortion militant movements such as the Army of God. Many Islamic extremists have also followed a form of “leaderless resistance,” which terrorism scholar Marc Sageman aptly describes as “leaderless jihad.” These are Islamic militants who do not rely on direction or orders from al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization. As Sageman notes, these extremists “form fluid, informal networks that are self-financed and self-trained. They have no physical headquarters or sanctuary, but the tolerant virtual environment of the Internet offers them a semblance of unity and purpose. Theirs is a scattered, decentralized social structure—a leaderless jihad.”
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There have been numerous cases of leaderless jihadist attacks in recent years. This does not mean, however, that in all cases “face-to-face radicalization has been replaced by online radicalization.”
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Islamic militants can still form leaderless jihadist links with each other in “real life,” such as through meetings at mosques, coffee shops, schools, and so forth. But Sageman is correct in viewing the Islamic extremist threat as coming more from informal networks of small numbers of militants rather than from large-scale, hierarchal organizations. With so many different types of terrorists adopting a “leaderless” philosophy but not all fitting into a “resistance” category (hence Sageman's
leaderless jihad
phrase), it would seem that a better term to use would be
leaderless terrorists
. This would, of course, include the multitude of lone wolves with varied causes who operate either entirely alone or with minimal assistance from others.

The idea that the world of terrorism is being populated by individuals not formally linked to an organization or central command is a difficult concept for many people to accept. The history of terrorism has been characterized by many well-known, organized groups such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Irish Republican
Army, the Baader-Meinhof Gang, and hundreds of others active in previous decades. There is also an assumption held by many that terrorist operations are complex endeavors that require detailed planning, resources, training, and leadership directed by large-scale organizations. That is not always the case, and as we have seen in recent years, the number of terrorist incidents and plots involving terrorists not affiliated with any group has increased. This adds to the challenges in combating terrorism. While centralized and even decentralized groups provide governments and others dedicated to fighting terrorism with a concrete object on which to focus their policies, the leaderless terrorists are more problematic. They are difficult to identify, track, and arrest. It is also difficult to proclaim a “war on terrorism” or any other catchy phrase when the threat emanates from leaderless terrorists.