The New Phase of Global Terrorism

The New Phase of Global Terrorism explores the nuances of the shift in the organization, strategy, and operation of terrorist groups into smaller and more robust terror groups in both the United States and international levels. To develop efficient counterterrorism measures, both domestically and globally, an understanding of the changing nature of terrorist group structure and strategy is essential. In this edited collection, authoritative scholars use relevant theories of sociology and psychology, as well as evidence from leading counterterrorism agencies such as the FBI, to support analysis, examples, and explanations of the landscape of terrorism around the world.

Part I discusses the evolution, theories, and psychology of terrorism. In this part, the authors outline the rationale of the book, capturing how terrorism has changed over the years. In Part II, the book explores the new phase of domestic terrorism, drawing on left-wing extremism, right-wing extremism, and jihadist attackers in the United States with a focus on their use of lone actor attacks and decentralized networks. Part III focuses on the new phase of international terrorism and discusses operational organization and strategies of international terror groups and their capabilities in the form of combat operations and small group operatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South-East Asia. Part IV covers terrorists’ use of technology for propaganda, recruitment, training, and operations, with examples from the use of technology in recruiting and training by Al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Part V brings this information together and analyzes the criminal justice response, including building partnerships with counterterrorism agencies, intelligence sharing, and the use of courts to bring terrorist actors to justice.

Ideal as a text in terrorism, counterterrorism, and homeland security courses, this book is highly readable for criminal justice, psychology, and sociology students and professors, as well as policymakers and practitioners concerned with countering terrorism at home and abroad.

Binneh.S. Minteh is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Salem State University. He is former Gambian Armed Forces First Lieutenant. He attended the Turkish Land Forces Command School in Istanbul, and the Turkish Gendarmerie Officers School in Ankara. He was the Gambia National Gendarmerie training school commander where he taught courses on National Security, Police and Society, Intelligence, Leadership, and Terrorism and counterterrorism. He immigrated to the United States in 1997 as a Refugee. Dr. Binneh Minteh has published topics on terrorism, and counterterrorism, social movements, police and society, organized crime, cybercrime, cyberspace and cybersecurity. His research interests include social movements, peace and security studies, terrorism and counter terrorism, cybercrime, organized crime, and police and society.

James Bacigalupo is a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His primary focus is on domestic political extremism, where he is currently exploring the impact of partisanship on counterterrorism. James also applies his real-world experience from his full-time role as a correctional officer in Boston, MA, to the topic of institutional corrections, where he has gained insights into areas including inmate subcultures, misconduct, and rehabilitation.

Kevin Borgeson is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and former Research Fellow for the Center for Holocaust and Genocidal Studies at Salem State University. Dr. Borgeson has published articles and op-eds on skinheads, cyberhate, profiling, serial crime, and right-wing domestic terrorism for the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Buffalo News, USA Today, and the London Daily Telegraph. Dr. Borgeson is the author and editor of ten books covering the topics of serial crime, skinheads, domestic terrorism in the United States, cyberhate, and criminal profiling. He has appeared on media outlets in Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, India as well as the United States, as an expert on hate crimes, hate groups, domestic terrorism, serial offenders, and child abductions. Over the past twenty-five years Professor Borgeson has worked as a consultant to various law enforcement agencies conducting profiles and case linkage analysis assisting in cold cases of serial murder, serial rape, and child abduction. Dr Borgeson has served as a consultant to many colleges and universities on issues dealing with hate on campus and is the main editor and researcher for the website Understanding Deviance which provides op-eds, podcasts, and analysis of serial crime, both domestic and internationally.

Robin Maria Valeri is professor of psychology at St. Bonaventure University. Valeri studies hate, extremism, and terrorism, with an emphasis on the role cyberspace plays in the spread of hate and terrorism, especially on the social influence tactics used by purveyors of hate and terrorism to convince potential acolytes to accept extremist beliefs and act on them.