Back to the 1970's when terrorism was home-grown
An American lurker has recommended this book 'Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence' by Bryan Burrough.
From the Amazon summary:
Quote:
enefiting from the extraordinary number of people from the underground and the FBI who speak about their experiences for the first time, Days of Rage is filled with revelations and fresh details about the major revolutionaries and their connections and about the FBI and its desperate efforts to make the bombings stop. The result is a mesmerizing book that takes us into the hearts and minds of homegrown terrorists and federal agents alike and weaves their stories into a spellbinding secret history of the 1970s.
Link:http://www.amazon.com/Days-Rage-Unde...bryan+burrough
Victims of Ideological Homicides 1990 - 2014
From the START consortium of researchers a short, two page summary of their research and their overview states, with my emphasis in bold:
Quote:
This research brief presents the preliminary results of 25 years of ideological victimization committed by al-Qa’ida and affiliated movements and the extremist far-right in the United States from 1990 to 2014. For a full copy of the report, visit START’s website. Very little is known about victimization patterns, especially across ideologies, as researchers in terrorism and extremist violence tend to focus on perpetrator motives and typologies. Victim and target centered research provides a nuanced perspective of these violent events that can help mitigate victimization risk. Excluding the homicide victims associated with the four attacks on September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, 62 individuals were killed in 38 ideologically motivated homicide events committed by extremists associated with al-Qa’ida and affiliated movements and 245 were killed by far-right extremists (FRE) in 177 ideologically motivated incidents.The data for this brief originates from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), an open-source dataset that examines ideologically motivated and routine criminal activity, both violent and financial, committed by ideological extremists.
Link:https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START..._March2016.pdf
Bringing Calm to Chaos: San Bernardino
NYT has a short version of a post-action report on the San Bernardino attacks, by the Police Foundation; it has lots of lessons to be learnt again methinks from my armchair.
Here is a taster:
Quote:
The report shows how officers from multiple agencies handled a rapidly unfolding crisis, making decisions on the fly, often with little coordination or direction. The results were quick, sometimes heroic responses that may have saved lives but also created confusion and mistakes, though none proved fatal.
Perhaps most disturbing, more than six hours passed before officers searched a bag the killers had left at the scene of the shooting. Inside were three pipe bombs.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/us/it-finally-clicked-that-this-wasnt-an-exercise-report-recounts-san-bernardino-shooting.html?
The Police Foundation report, 168 pgs (un-read):http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0808-pub
Not one, not two, more bombs found
Just found this report, from agencies:
Quote:
Five suspected explosive devices have been found in a backpack near a train station in New Jersey as the security alert gripping America ratcheted up following the Manhattan bombing.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-phone-reports
Whatever is happening I was surprised at the apparent details entering the public domain yesterday, seen on Twitter. One cited the Manhattan bomb being taken into the location in a suitcase by one man, then two men removing and walking off - caught on CCTV.
The Soufan Group's briefing:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrie...nd-new-jersey/
A Model Joint Terror Investigation
From The Soufan Group:
Quote:
Bottom Line Up Front: • The combined efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies led to an arrest approximately 48 hours after multiple bombings in New York and New Jersey.
• Despite the complex nature of the investigation, all problems and missteps were avoided through an impressive display of interagency cooperation.
• Civilians played a critical role at various stages of the investigation, from reporting locations of possible devices to the location of the suspect himself.
• Along with societal resilience, effective interagency counterterrorism cooperation will prove invaluable in a heightened terror threat environment.
Link:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrie...investigation/
I note the investigation went well - even when the NYPD Commissioner and the FBI's Asst. Director - were new in post.