Challenging the 'Lone Wolf' Phenomenon in an Era of Information Overload

摘要

The phenomenon of individual Islamic terrorist attacks ("Lone Wolf) taking place in Europe, the United States, and Israel raises questions about the ability of intelligence agencies to prevent such deadly assaults. Dealing with unexpected attacks by "lone wolves" has been made even more problematic by the return to Europe and the U.S. of extremists who have received training in terrorism from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and from other terrorist organizations based in Syria and Iraq. The general public's fear of terrorism remains high, while attempts have been made, primarily by extreme right-wing politicians, to exploit that fear for their own political advantage.1 This factor may, in turn, be giving terrorists greater incentives to act. Western intelligence services claim that they have significantly upgraded their knowledge and systems for discovering and countering security threats, and have improved their coverage of ISIS.2 Yet, the concern is whether individual terrorists, operating in the digital age of information overload, are identifying weaknesses in intelligence organizations and taking advantage of them. Is this then a new phenomenon-of the Lone Wolf, a Black Swan-whose attacks are almost impossible to predict and prevent?