Domestic Terrorism Assignment | Custom Assignment Help

Require a paper to address the following thesis statement “Future Lone Wolf attacks will increase due to the ever growing availability of information and materials necessary to conduct such acts of terrorism”. Attached are two support papers. The document (Case 1) provides background and more importantly the order in which I plan to present the various aspects. (see Mod 1, question and answer, #3). Additionally, I have attached a document (SLP 1). This document provides the why and several references I was planning on incorporating into the paper.

Domestic Terrorism (The Lone Wolf)

Domestic Terrorism is a broad subject, my paper will focus on the sub-categories of Ideology and Targets of Opportunity (TTO). Previous classes within this program of study and additional research has driven me to the following thesis statement for this class:

Future Lone Wolf attacks will increase due to the ever growing availability of information and materials necessary to conduct such acts of terrorism.

The reason for selecting this topic is that hits close to home. On February 14, 2018 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida, a gunman acting as a Lone Wolf opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and murdering students and faculty. This attack took the lives of fourteen students and three staff members on Valentine’s Day, 2018. “Seventeen others were injured, left with lasting scars, physical and mental. Hundreds more had their lives upended: parents suddenly without children, students rallying for gun control by day and dealing with panic attacks at night, first responders denounced for the choices they made amid the chaos.” (Contrera, 2018)

There are not a lot of scholarly articles on the Parkland shooting, granted this will make the creating this paper difficult, I feel that I must proceed to share the paper with my family in an effort to provide some sort of closure. Additionally, my background of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), where I am often tasked to mitigate explosive threats or conduct sensitive site exploitation actions resulting from Lone Wolf attacks, makes this subject extremely interesting to me. Further, having been involved in countless gunfights in both Iraq and Afghanistan, being both directly targeted and returning fire to engage the enemy has raised interest into the psyche of a gunman as to what triggers (no pun intended) them to act.

The following is a list of references, not all-inclusive that will be utilized during the capstone project:

1. Andone, D (Feb, 2020) 2 years since deadly shooting at Parkland, Florida. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/us/parkland-shooting-marjory-stoneman-douglas-2-years/index.html

2. Baker, E. (Dec, 2011) Perspectives on Terrorism. Some CT Approaches Addressed. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26298538?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

3. Barrer, E. (Nov, 2010) Lone Wolves. How to prevent this phenomenon. Retrieved from: https://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Bakker-deGraaf-EM-Paper-Lone-Wolves.pdf

Brief Summary: This source dives into the commonalities of lone wolves. Additionally, it provides insight into counter-terrorism focus should be how not who. Understanding the radicalization process of lone wolves.

4. Beydoun, K (2018) Lone Wolf Terrorism: types, Stripes and Double Standards. Retrieved: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=nulr

5. Byman, D. (Feb, 2017) How to hunt a Lone Wolf: Countering terrorist who act on their own. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-to-hunt-a-lone-wolf-countering-terrorists-who-act-on-their-own/

6. Connor, J. (Nov, 2018) What to do about Lone Wolf Terrorism? Retrieved from: https://www.fpri.org/article/2018/11/what-to-do-about-lone-wolf-terrorism-examining-current-trends-and-prevention-strategies/

7. gov (Sept, 2013) Understanding Lone-actor Terrorism. Retrieved from: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OPSR_TP_TEVUS_Comparing-Lone-Actor-Terrorism_Hate-Crimes_Group-Terrorism_2013-508.pdf

8. FEMA (Oct, 2017) National Incident management System (NIMS). Retrieved from: https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/148019

9. FEMA (Jan, 2008) National Response Framework. Retrieved from: https://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/about_nrf.pdf

Brief Summary: The National Response Framework will be of great help during the capstone as it outlines roles and responsibilities for response forces. Additionally, it provides clarity is required to build a unified response effort to a lone wolf attack.

10. Levenson, E. (Feb, 2018) These are the victims of the Florida school shooting. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-shooting-victims-school/index.html

Brief Summary: Given that the Parkland shooting is recent compared to other terrorist events, there is not an abundance of scholarly articles on the incident. This source provides the background information on all victims to include images. Quite a moving article.

11. Marlatt, G. (Sept, 2013) Lone Wolf Terrorism – A Brief Bibliography. Retrieved from: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/lone-wolf-attacks-are-becoming-more-common-and-more-deadly/

12. SERT (2014) Florida State, Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). Retrieved from: https://www.floridadisaster.org/globalassets/importedpdfs/2014-terrorism-annex-to-the-cemp.pdf

Brief Summary: I found this source to be helpful with regards to the response from state and local authorities. It outlines terrorist event response detection, notification and how to classify the threat. Additionally, it dives into training and exercise objectives, which I would like to research when if at all, state or local authorities conducted a lone wolf attack exercise?

13. Smith, B. (Sept, 2015) The Emergence of Lone Wolf Terrorism: Patterns of Behavior and Implications for Intervention. Retrieved from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1521-613620150000020005/full/html

14. Ubaldi, J. (June, 2019) The continuing threat from lone-wolf terrorist in America. Retrieved from: https://inhomelandsecurity.com/continuing-threat-lone-wolf-terrorists/

Brief Summary: This is a great source as it defines when lone-wolves arrived in the United States, how they became part of domestic terrorism, lone wolf tactics, and how to detect a lone wolf terrorist.  

15. Vision of Humanity (2020) Increase in self-radicalized “Lone Wolf” attackers. Retrieved from: http://visionofhumanity.org/terrorism/increase-in-self-radicalised-lone-wolf-attackers-2/

References

Contera, J. (Jan, 2019) Why did you do this? Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2019/01/25/feature/his-brother-confessed-to-gunning-down-17-people-in-parkland-but-hes-the-only-family-zach-cruz-has-left/

Levenson, E. (Feb, 2018) These are the victims of the Florida school shooting. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-shooting-victims-school/index.html