Stern Warns of ISIS’s Enduring Digital Influence
Jessica Stern, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and terrorism expert, authored an analysis in The New York Times examining ISIS’s persistent influence despite its territorial defeat. Drawing on her extensive research interviewing extremists, Stern highlights how the group’s ideology continues to resonate with vulnerable individuals through online channels.
Following the tragic New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 and injured 35, Stern explains how ISIS’s appeal transcends its physical caliphate’s fall. Based on her two decades studying Western recruits to terrorist organizations, she identifies key elements that continue to attract individuals: “doctrinal certainty, identity, redemption and revenge.”
“The alarming reality is that many other people remain vulnerable to similar paths of radicalization,” Stern warns, pointing to several recent ISIS-linked plots in the U.S., including planned attacks on Election Day and Pride celebrations.
Stern, who has interviewed jihadis, white-nationalist terrorists, and eco-terrorists throughout her career, emphasizes that lone-actor terrorists are often driven by personal grievances as much as ideology. She argues that many such attacks can be viewed as “crimes of despair,” noting the frequency of underlying mental health challenges among perpetrators.
“Prevention is critical,” Stern stresses, advocating for increased public awareness of warning signs and the establishment of “off ramps” from violent radicalization. She highlights how potential attackers often signal their intentions beforehand, creating opportunities for community intervention.
Professor Stern is the co-author of “ISIS: The State of Terror” and has served on the Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law. Her expertise has been recognized with a recent Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation grant to study mental distress, loneliness, and warning signs in violent extremism. Learn more about Professor Stern on her faculty profile.