Stern Publishes Op-Ed in The Globe on Soft Target Terrorist Attacks
Jessica Stern, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed discussing the likelihood of future attacks on soft targets following the May 22, 2017 attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.
Stern’s Op-Ed, entitled “Attacks on Soft Targets Likely to Get Worse,” was published by The Boston Globe on May 23, 2017.
From the text of the article:
Police have identified a 22-year old Briton of Libyan descent as the suicide bomber in the deadly attack at Manchester Arena in England on Monday night. The attack at an Ariana Grande concert left 22 people dead and dozens injured. ISIS claimed credit for the attack, referring to the bomber as a “soldier of the caliphate.” Much remains unknown, including whether the bomber was part of a network.
Terrorism is psychological warfare, whose principal goal is to frighten us into overreacting. Another purpose is solipsistic: to shore up the fighting spirit of sympathizers and to attract new recruits — some of whom identify with the terrorists’ purported cause, but many of whom are simply angry at society and aim to lash out. Equally important, terrorists aim to demoralize those who identify with the victims. While they don’t often get what they claim to want, terrorists usually succeed in achieving two vital goals: spreading fear and provoking reactive policies.
Counterterrorism efforts have made a 9/11-style attack far more difficult to carry out. But jihadi groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda remain determined to attack the West, and they are likely to succeed with continuing attacks on soft targets, such as shopping malls or concert halls. International law enforcement and intelligence agencies are collaborating to thwart the external-operations plotters of jihadi groups, such as EMNI — the external-operations wing of ISIS. Nonetheless, as ISIS continues to lose territory, its ability to carry out attacks in the West will be enhanced with foreign fighters returning to their home countries to conduct, enable, or assist with attacks. The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Stern’s main focus is on perpetrators of violence and the possible connections between trauma and terror. She has written on terrorist groups across religions and ideologies, among them neo-Nazis, Islamists, anarchists, and white supremacists. She has also written about counter-radicalization programs for both neo-Nazi and Islamist terrorists. Learn more about her here.