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Terrorist attacks perpetrated by lone actors have already occurred in several countries, and this phenomenon is emerging as a threat to the security of both NATO members and other countries worldwide. In this context, a lone actor, or 'lone wolf’, is someone who individually prepares or commits violent acts in support of an ideology, group or movement, but who is acting outside of the command structure and without the assistance of any group. Up to now, these individual acts have been seen as almost impossible to forecast, but it is nevertheless important to develop a responsible security policy which takes them into account and incorporates planning for counteraction, prevention and response. This book presents papers, written by leading experts in the field, which reflect the subjects presented at the workshop 'Loan Actors – An Emerging Security Threat', part of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, held in Jerusalem in November 2014. The papers are divided into five sections: the threat of lone actor terrorism; case studies; countering and responding to the threat; legal and ethical aspects; and foresight and policy aspects. The insights, information and recommendations shared in this book will be of interest to all those involved in developing a more efficient response policy to this emerging threat.
This volume examines the lone actor terrorist phenomenon, including the larger societal trends which may or may not have led to their acts of terrorism. With lone actor terrorism becoming an increasingly common threat, the contributors to this volume aim to answer the following questions: What drives the actions of individuals who become lone actor terrorists? Are ideological and cultural issues key factors, or are personal psychological motives more useful in assessing the threat? Do lone actors evolve in a broader social context or are they primarily fixated loners? What response strategies are available to security services and law enforcement? What is the future outlook for this particular terrorist threat? Although these issues are frequently discussed, few books have taken a global perspective as their primary focus. While many books focus on lone actor terrorists in relation to terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, few, if any, cover lone actors of all ideological backgrounds, including the variants of active shooters and malicious insiders in information security, such as Edward Snowden – with both of these latter categories constituting an important variant of lone actors. Utilising the expertise of academics and practitioners, the volume offers a valuable multidisciplinary perspective. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence, criminology, security studies and IR.
This book provides the first empirical analysis of lone-actor terrorist behaviour. Based upon a unique dataset of 111 lone actors that catalogues the life span of the individual’s development, the book contains important insights into what an analysis of their behaviours might imply for practical interventions aimed at disrupting or even preventing attacks. It adopts insights and methodologies from criminology and forensic psychology to provide a holistic analysis of the behavioural underpinnings of lone-actor terrorism. By focusing upon the behavioural aspects of each offender and by analysing a variety of case studies, including Anders Breivik, Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh and David Copeland, this work marks a pointed departure from previous research in the field. It seeks to answer the following key questions: Is there a lone-actor terrorist profile and how do they differ? What behaviours did the lone-actor terrorist engage in prior to his/her attack and is there a common behavioural trajectory into lone-actor terrorism? How ‘lone’ do lone-actor terrorists tend to be? What role, if any, does the internet play? What role, if any, does mental illness play? This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism/counter-terrorism studies, political violence, criminology, forensic psychology and security studies in general.
"Contemporary lone-actor terrorism is a complex, multi-dimensional process, involving different contexts, ideologies, geographic regions, circumstances, drives, individuals, and modes of violence. Despite the complexity behind a violent incident, the outcome unfortunately is quite simple - harm and devastation to victims, families, and society. The purpose of this book is to explore lone-actor terrorism from different but complementary vantage points. One important focus is on the variability of clinical and forensic mental health concerns. In addition, this book explores other aspects of lone-actor terrorism, including law enforcement and homeland security, risk and threat assessment, geography, ethical considerations, and legal issues. Lone-actor terrorism does not happen in a vacuum. In the context of a given set of conditions, stressors, and rhetoric, many people will think about acting in some form of opposition, vocalize their disagreement or outrage, protest, and vote, in order to effect change. A very small number of individuals, however, think they have to 'take matters in their own hands' and act violently in order to effect change"--
The lethality of lone-wolf terrorism has reached an all-time high in the United States. Isolated individuals using firearms with high-capacity magazines are committing brutally efficient killings with the aim of terrorizing others, yet there is little consensus on what connects these crimes and the motivations behind them. In The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism, terrorism experts Mark S. Hamm and Ramón Spaaij combine criminological theory with empirical and ethnographic research to map the pathways of lone-wolf radicalization, helping with the identification of suspected behaviors and recognizing patterns of indoctrination. Reviewing comprehensive data on these actors, including more than two hundred terrorist incidents, Hamm and Spaaij find that a combination of personal and political grievances lead lone wolves to befriend online sympathizers—whether jihadists, white supremacists, or other antigovernment extremists—and then announce their intent to commit terror when triggered. Hamm and Spaaij carefully distinguish between lone wolves and individuals radicalized within a group dynamic. This important difference is what makes this book such a significant manual for professionals seeking richer insight into the transformation of alienated individuals into armed warriors. Hamm and Spaaij conclude with an analysis of recent FBI sting operations designed to prevent lone-wolf terrorism in the United States, describing who gets targeted, strategies for luring suspects, and the ethics of arresting and prosecuting citizens.
"Lone-actor terrorism is rising in Europe. Given that current global events, such as civil wars in Syria, Libya and Yemen, and the spread and effectiveness of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propaganda, all represent potential sources of inspiration for lone-actor terrorist plots, policy-makers in Europe must be adequately equipped to respond. Crucially, the response should be commensurate with the threat posed; however, the threat has hitherto tended to be framed using hypotheses rather than empirical analysis relevant to Europe. The perceived freedom that lone-actor terrorists have in designing and implementing their plots without interacting with individuals or groups that might alert police and security services to their activities is a commonly cited concern. However, as the Countering Lone-Actor Terrorism (CLAT) Analysis Paper shows, other fundamental factors should be considered in terms of attack methodology and logistics. In particular, the diversity in casualty rates, preferences for certain types of weapons that are relatively available in Europe, the ethnographic nature of lone-actor terrorist targeting and the range of actors' competencies have all highlighted in the Analysis Paper. The need to identify these other trends led to the formation of the Countering Lone-Actor Terrorism (CLAT) consortium. Following an extensive data-collection phase with the Royal United Services Institute, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, and Leiden University, Chatham House was allocated nine variables from the completed dataset to analyse in order to help develop a more nuanced understanding of the lone-actor terrorism threat in Europe. These variables are: Injuries, Fatalities, Target type, Target details, Weapon type, Weapon details, Legal gun possession, Reported military experience, Indication of a safe space. This paper expands upon those findings and suggests policy recommendations based on that analysis."--Page [1]
This textbook examines non-traditional forms of security and expands the notion of security to include non-state actors and non-human actors. Proposing an expansive view of non-traditional forms of security that go beyond traditionally recognized issues of threats to state and national territory, this new textbook rests on the following premises: traditional state-centered threats, such as nuclear proliferation and espionage, remain a concern; old and new threats combine and create interlocking puzzles—a feature of wicked problems and wicked messes; because of the global erosion of borders, new developments of unconventional insecurity interact in ways that frustrate traditional conceptual definitions, conceptual maps, and national policies; unconventional security challenges which have traditionally been seen as "low politics" or "soft" issues are now being recognized as "hard security" challenges in the twenty-first century; many of the so-called "new" threats detailed here are in fact very old: diseases, gender violence, food insecurity, under-development, and crime are all traditional security threats, but deeply modified today by globalization. The chapters offer local and global examples and engage with various theoretical approaches to help readers see the bigger picture. Solutions are also suggested to these problems. Each chapter contains discussion questions to help readers understand the key points and facilitate class discussion. This book will be of great interest to students of international security studies, human security, global politics, and international relations.
Non-state threats and actors have become key topics in contemporary international security as since the end of the Cold War the notion that state is the primary unit of interest in international security has increasingly been challenged. Statistics show that today many more people are killed by ethnic conflicts, HIV/AIDS or the proliferation of small arms than by international war. Moreover, non-state actors, such as non-governmental organizations, private military companies and international regimes, are progressively complementing or even replacing states in the provision of security. Suggesting that such developments can be understood as part of a shift from government to governance in international security, this book examines both how private actors have become one of the main sources of insecurity in the contemporary world and how non-state actors play a growing role in combating these threats.
This book examines the European governance of emerging security technologies. The emergence of technologies such as drones, autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, cyber and biotechnologies has stimulated worldwide debates on their use, risks and benefits in both the civilian and the security-related fields. This volume examines the concept of ‘governance’ as an analytical framework and tool to investigate how new and emerging security technologies are governed in practice within the European Union (EU), emphasising the relational configurations among different state and non-state actors. With reference to European governance, it addresses the complex interplay of power relations, interests and framings surrounding the development of policies and strategies for the use of new security technologies. The work examines varied conceptual tools to shed light on the way diverse technologies are embedded in EU policy frameworks. Each contribution identifies actors involved in the governance of a specific technology sector, their multilevel institutional and corporate configurations, and the conflicting forces, values, ethical and legal concerns, as well as security imperatives and economic interests. This book will be of much interest to students of science and technology studies, security studies and EU policy. Chapter 11 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.