Center for Strategic Communication

And another RUSI research report landing, part of a separate large project looking this time at Lone Actor terrorism. An earlier Literature Review paper was part of the same project and we have a couple more papers to come on this. The project has its own page on the RUSI site, and we are now exploring how to continue digging on this particular theme. Huge thanks are due to my colleague Clare on this project for really keeping the whole thing moving and providing excellent insights. This particular paper explores the issues around the fact that Lone Actors tend to leak information about their intentions.

In addition to this paper, we also published a large analysis paper which was the product of the entire consortium’s work, so I am not going to republish it in its entirety here. However, to read that please follow this link.

Lone-Actor Terrorism Policy Paper 4: ‘Leakage’ and Interaction with Authorities

Clare Ellis and Raffaello Pantucci

RUSI Publications, 29 February 2016

UK Counter-terrorism, Lone-Actor Terrorism, National Security and Resilience Studies, International Security Studies, Domestic Security, Terrorism

This fourth policy paper of the Countering Lone-Actor Terrorism series examines how lone-actor terrorists reveal their intent to commit attacks and recommends a targeted approach based on the characteristics and motivations of the specific threat.

Countering Lone-Actor Terrorism Series: No. 8

The aim of the Countering Lone-Actor Terrorism (CLAT) project is to understand lone-actor terrorism in a European context. The project will develop a database of lone-actor cases from across Europe. Its overall objective is to see if it is possible to discern any trends or patterns that could be translated into useful observations or recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers.

This is the fourth and final policy paper in the CLAT series. It outlines the policy implications of analysis in relation to changes in perpetrator behaviour, ‘leakage’ of extreme views or intention to act, and interactions with public authorities in the time leading up to an attack. It provides a series of practical policy recommendations in order to develop an effective response to various lone-actor threats.