Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tracking Terrorism: The Role of Technology in Risk Assessment and Monitoring of Terrorist Offenders

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Science Informed Policing

Abstract

Intelligence is a critical aspect of countering violent extremism, and technology is increasingly used to help expand the amount of information collected about potential terrorist threats. However, it is clear that an equally important (if not more important) part of these efforts is the ability to separate, within the mass of individuals (or data) identified, those individuals who will conduct acts of terrorism (the minority) from those who will not (the majority). Thus, a core challenge is how information is handled, interpreted, analyzed, and used to inform decisions. In this chapter we discuss the dynamic interplay between the collection of intelligence (including technology-assisted surveillance) and decision-making. Specifically, we focus on how issues in our understanding of “the terrorist” interact with and impact the use of technology within counterterrorism. In addition to this, and in support of future research in this area, we highlight some innovative areas for growth and new avenues to facilitate the integration of technology within counterterrorism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    In the U.S., the role of the military in counterterrorism is limited to overseas activities, but this is not the case in many other countries

  2. 2.

    The TRAP-18 Manual and Code Sheets can be found online at: https://www.gifrinc.com/trap-18-manual/

  3. 3.

    As described by Psychology Today, “Neuroticism, one of the Big 5 personality traits, is typically defined as a tendency towards anxiety, self-doubt, depression, shyness, and other similar negative feelings. Since all personality traits, including emotional instability, exist on a spectrum, everyone is a little neurotic to some degree—some people are just much more neurotic than others.” Online at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroticism

Bibliography

  • Bakker, E. (2006). Jihadi terrorists in Europe, their characteristics and the circumstances in which they joined the Jihad. Clingendael Security Paper: Netherlands Institute of International Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC News. (2001, May 29). What you need to know about Echelon, BBC News. Online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/1357513.stm.

  • Berger, J. M., & Morgan, J. (2015). The ISIS twitter census: Defining and describing the population of ISIS supporters on twitter, Brooking project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, Analysis Paper, 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjelopera, J. P. (2017, August 21). Domestic Terrorism: An Overview (pp. 3). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Online at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R44921.pdf.

  • Bloom, R. M., & Clark, W. T. (2016, Spring). Small Cells, Big Problems: the increasing precision of cell site location information and the need for fourth amendment protections. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 106(2). Online at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7583&context=jclc.

  • Brachman, J. (2009). Global Jihadism: Theory and practice (p. 2009). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J., Hseih, G., Mahmud, J., & Nichols, J. (2014). Understanding Individuals’ Personal Values from Social Media Word Use. Values & Social Norms, CSCW 14, February 15–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corner, E., & Gill, P. (2015). A false dichotomy? Mental illness and lone-actor terrorism. Law and Human Behaviour, 39, 23–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deese, J. (1983). Thought into speech: Psychology of a language. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Justice Policy Guidance. (n.d.). Domestic use of unmanned aircraft systems https://www.justice.gov/file/441266/download;

  • Docobo, J. M. (2006). Protecting America’s communities from terrorism: A law enforcement perspective. In J. J. F. Forest (Ed.), Homeland security: Protecting America’s targets. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubrovsky, V. J., Kiesler, S., & Sethna, B. N. (1991). The equalization phenomenon: Status effects in computer- mediated and face-to-face decision-making groups. Human-Computer Interaction, 6, 119–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FBIs Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit (CFSRU), online at: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/scientific-analysis/counterterrorism-forensic-science-research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2004, August 9). Strategic plan 2002–2009. Online at: http://www.fbi.gov/publications/strategicplan/stategicplantext.htm

  • Fernandes, R., Hatfield, J., & Soames Job, R. F. (2010). A systematic investigation of the differential predictors for speeding, drink-driving, driving while fatigued, and not wearing a seat belt, among young drivers. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 13(3), 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forest, J. J. F. (2015). Introduction. In Essentials of counterterrorism (pp. 1–32). Westport: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedersdorf, C. (2016, March 10). The rapid rise of federal surveillance drones over America. The Atlantic. Online at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/the-rapid-rise-of-federal-surveillance-drones-over-america/473136/.

  • Gallagher, R. (2015, November 18). From Paris to Boston, terrorists were already known to authorities. The Intercept. Retrieved via: https://theintercept.com/2015/11/18/terrorists-were-already-known-to-authorities/

  • Gautam, G., & Yadav, D. (2014). Sentiment analysis of twitter data using machine learning approaches and -semantic analysis. 2014 Seventh International Conference on Contemporary Computing (IC3), Noida, 2014, pp. 437–442.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelder, K. (2006). Epic fantasy and global terrorism. In E. Mathijs & M. Pomerance (Eds.), From hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the rings (pp. 101–118). Kenilworth: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P. (2013). Tipping point-the adoption of suicide bombings. Psicología Política, 46, 77–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P. (2015a). Toward a scientific approach to identifying and understanding indicators of radicalization and terrorist intent: Eight key problems. Educational Publishing Foundation, 2(3–4), 187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P. (2015b). Lone actor terrorism: A Behavioral analysis. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P., & Corner, E. (2013). Disaggregating terrorist offenders: Implications for research and practice. Criminology & Public Policy, 12(1), 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P., & Horgan, J. (2013). Who were the volunteers? The shifting sociological and operational profile of 1240 provisional Irish Republican Army members. Terrorism and Political Violence, 25(4), 435–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, P., Horgan, J., & Deckert, P. (2014). Bombing alone: Tracing the motivations and antecedent behaviors of lone-actor terrorists. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59(2), 425–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gruenewald, J., Chermak, S., & Freilich, J. D. (2013a). Far-right lone wolf homicides in the United States. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 36, 1005–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gruenewald, J., Chermak, S., & Freilich, J. D. (2013b). Distinguishing ‘loner’ attacks from other domestic extremist violence: A comparison of far-right homicide incident and offender characteristics. Criminology & Public Policy, 12(1), 63–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, B. (2006). Inside Terrorism (pp. 40–41). New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horgan, J. (2013). The psychology of terrorism (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horgan, J., Shortland, N., Abbascianno, S., & Walsh, S. (2016). Actions speak louder than words: A behavioral analysis of 183 individual convicted of Terrorist Offenses in the United States from 1989–2012. Submitted to Journal of Forensic Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horgan, J., Shortland, N. D., & Abbasciano, S. (2018). Towards a typology of terrorism involvement: A behavioral differentiation of violent extremist offenders. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, 5(2), 84–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament. (2014). Report on the intelligence relating to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. United Kingdom. Online at: http://isc.independent.gov.uk/committee-reports/special-reports

  • International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2005, May 17). From hometown security to homeland security: IACP’s principles for a locally designed and nationally coordinated homeland security strategy. Online at http://www.theiacp.org/leg_policy/HomelandSecurityWP.PDF.

  • Kebbell, M. R., & Porter, L. (2011). An intelligence assessment framework for identifying individuals at risk of committing acts of violent extremism against the west. Security Journal, 25, 212–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E. V. (2018, January 11). What is the Section 702 surveillance program and why should you care? USA Today. Online at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/11/what-section-702-surveillance-program-and-why-should-you-care/1025582001/.

  • Khader, M., Neo, L. S., Ong, G., Tan, E., & Chin, J. (Eds.). (2016). Countering violent extremism and radicalisation in the digital era. Hershey: IGI Global.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraft, M. (2015). The US Governments counterterrorism research and development programs. In J. J. F. Forest (Ed.), Essentials of counterterrorism (pp. 195–220). Westport: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraft, M., & Marks, E. (2012). U.S. Government counterterrorism: A guide to who does what. Washington, DC: CTC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankford, A. (2013). The myth of martyrdom: What really drives suicide bombers, rampage shooters, and other self-destructive killers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lum, C., Kennedy, L. W., et al. (2006) Are Counter-Terrorism Strategies Effective? The Results of the Campbell Systematic Review on Counter-Terrorism Evaluation Research, Journal of Experimental Criminology : 489–516.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matney, L. (2015). Uncovering ECHELON: The Top-Secret NSA/GCHQ Program That Has Been Watching You Your Entire Life. TechCrunch (August 23). Online at: https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/03/uncovering-echelon-the-top-secret-nsa-program-that-has-been-watching-you-your-entire-life/.

  • McCabe, A., & Bliss, L. S. (2003). Personal narratives: Assessment and intervention. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 19(4), 130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meloy, J. R. (2011). Approaching and attacking public figures: A contemporary analysis of communications and behavior. In C. Chauvin (Ed.), Threatening communications and behavior: Perspectives on the pursuit of public figures (pp. 75–101). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meloy, J. R., & Gill, P. (2016). The lone-actor terrorist and the TRAP-18. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, 3(1), 37–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meloy, J. R., & O’Toole, M. E. (2011). The concept of leakage in threat assessment. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 29, 513–527. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meloy, J. R., & Yakeley, J. (2014). The violent true believer as a “lone wolf”—Psychoanalytic perspectives on terrorism. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 32, 347–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (2018). Statistical transparency report, calendar year 2017. Washington, DC: Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency (May 4). Online at: https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/icotr/2018-ASTR%2D%2D%2D%2DCY2017%2D%2D%2D%2DFINAL-for-Release-5.4.18.pdf.

  • Pang, B., & Lee, L. (2008). Opinion mining and sentiment analysis. Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval, 2(1–2), 1–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pang, B., Lee, L., & Vaithyanathan, S. (2002). Thumbs up? Sentiment classification using machine learning techniques. In Proceedings of the Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennebaker, J. W., & King, L. A. (1999). Linguistic styles: Language use as an individual difference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1296–1312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Postmes, T., Spears, R., & Lea, M. (2002). Intergroup differentiation in computermediated communication: Effects of depersonalization. Group Dynamics, 6, 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prentice, S., Rayson, P., & Taylor, P. J. (2012). The language of Islamic extremism: Towards an automated identification of beliefs, motivations and justifications. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 17(2), 259–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prentice-Dunn, S., & Rogers, R. W. (1989). Deindividuation and the self-regulation of behavior. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), The psychology of group influence (2nd ed., pp. 86–109). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pressman, D. E., & Flockton, J. (2014). Violent extremist risk assessment: Issues and application of the VERA-2 in a high–security correctional setting. In A. Silke (Ed.), Prisons, terrorism and extremism: Critical issues in management, radicalisation and reform (pp. 122–143). New York: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pressman, E. D., & Ivan, C. (2016). Internet use and violent extremism: A cyber-VERA risk assessment protocol. In M. Khader, L. S. Neo, G. Ong, E. Tan, & J. Chin (Eds.), Countering violent extremism and radicalisation in the digital era (pp. 391–409). Hershey: IGI Global.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Risen, J., & Lichtblau, E. (2005, December 16). Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts. The New York Times. Online at: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy-on-callers-without-courts.html

  • Roberts, K., & Horgan, J. (2008). Risk assessment and the terrorist. Perspectives on Terrorism, 2(6), 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenau, W. (2014). The ‘first war on terrorism?’ – U.S. Domestic counterterrorism during the 1970s and early 1980s. Washington, DC: CNA Center for Strategic Studies (October).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding terror networks. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sageman, M. (2014). The stagnation in terrorism research. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26, 565–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarma, K. M. (2017). Risk assessment and the prevention of radicalization from nonviolence into terrorism. American Psychologist, 72(3), 278–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, A. (2013). The Routledge handbook of terrorism research. New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, A. P. (2014). Comments on Marc Sageman’s polemic “the stagnation in terrorism research”. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 587–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuurman, B. (2018). Research on terrorism, 2007–2016: A review of data, methods, and authorship. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silke, A. (2007). The impact of 9/11 on research on terrorism. In Mapping terrorism research (pp. 90–107). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simcox, R., & Dyer, E. (2013). Al Qaeda in the United States: A complete analysis of terrorism offenses. London: The Henry Jackson Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, B., & Barzilay, R. (2007). Multiple aspect ranking using the good grief algorithm. in Proceedings of the Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (NAACL/HLT-2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, J. (2014). Response to Marc Sageman’s “the stagnation in terrorism research”. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 607–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. Cyber Psychology and Behavior, 7, 321–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner, C., Byers, A., Boochever, R., & Park, G. J. (2012). Predicting dark triad personality traits from Twitter usage and a linguistic analysis of tweets. 11th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), vol. 2. IEEE Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talbot, D. (2005). Terror’s server. Technology Review. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/infotech/14150/.

  • Tausczik, Y. R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2009). The psychological meaning of words: LIWC and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29(1), 24–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M. (2014). If I were you, I wouldn’t start from here: Response to Marc Sageman’s “the stagnation in terrorism research”. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 581–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, M., Pang, B., & Lee, L. (2006). Get out the vote: Determining support or opposition from congressional floor-debate transcripts. Proceedings of the Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP), pp. 327–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanner, L. (2019). Automatic classification and linguistic analysis of extremist online material. International Conference on Multimedia Modeling.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webster Commission. (2012). Final Report of the William H. Webster Commission on Federal Bureau of Investigation, Counterterrorism Intelligence, and the Events at Ford Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. Online at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=717443

  • Weimann, G. (2004). www.terror.net: How modern terrorism uses the internet. Special Report: United States Institute of Peace, 116, 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weimann, G. (2006). Terror on the internet: The new arena, the new challenges. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarkoni, T. (2010). Personality in 100,000 words: A large-scale analysis of personality and word use among bloggers. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 363–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order versus deindividuation, impulse, and chaos. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 17, 237–307.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

    Neil Shortland & James J. F. Forest

Authors
  1. Neil Shortland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James J. F. Forest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James J. F. Forest .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Bryanna Fox

  2. Department of Criminology, University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Joan A. Reid

  3. College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Anthony J. Masys

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Shortland, N., Forest, J.J.F. (2020). Tracking Terrorism: The Role of Technology in Risk Assessment and Monitoring of Terrorist Offenders. In: Fox, B., Reid, J., Masys, A. (eds) Science Informed Policing. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41287-6_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41287-6_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41286-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41287-6

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation