Countermeasures Against Lone-actor Extremism and Terrorism

• In Event: Lone-Actor Terrorist Attacks: Empirical Findings and Policy Implications

Abstract

High-impact – low-probability incidents such as the lone actor extremist events are a major problem for the institutions responsible for preventing, combating and investigating violent radicalization and terrorism. The present phenomenon of the so-called lone-wolf attacks bear noticeable similarities to the incidents of multiple homicide (mass murder, school shootings, spree-killings) of the past, and both of these types of events have usually been approached through the retroactive analysis of the background and motivation of the perpetrators of the attacks. Due to the nature of these incidents, the existing counter-measures used by the law-enforcement agencies and security services (traditionally oriented on the group-based terrorism and organized crime) lack a calibration to the specific conditions of the attacks performed by the individuals detached from a wider structure. Based on the research findings of the PRIME Project (in-depth interviews with practitioners (Europol officials, Police investigators, Intelligence Services operatives, Border Protection and Immigration officers, public prosecutors and defense attorneys), as well as the surveys, literature reviews and open source research), the Paper explores the possibilities for the introduction of the tailor-made countermeasures designed for the prevention, interdiction and mitigation of lone actor extremism and terrorism as well as non-politically/religiously motivated mass murder.

Authors

• Kacper Gradon, Center for Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Warsaw

• Agnieszka Gutkowska, University of Warsaw

• Piotr Karasek, University of Warsaw