Recent attacks mark DIY terrorism as new norm: former CIA analyst
The terrorism threat has changed in nature with DIY as the new norm, according to former CIA counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz. Whereas the previous era of terrorism involved large-scale and carefully-planned attacks, the emphasis has now shifted towards low-tech, low-impact incidents committed by lone actors who claim to be inspired by international terrorist groups such as Islamic State. This shift indicates an increase in the likelihood of such crimes occurring, Peritz argues.
The weekend’s seemingly disjointed events – a bombing in New York City, several unexploded bombs discovered in New Jersey, multiple stabbings in a mall in Minnesota – has set Americans on edge again.



It remains unclear if these acts were part of a grand international conspiracy, or whether a cell or single individuals are behind them. Yet what we do know is that we now inhabit an age in which it’s logistically straightforward to commit attacks designed to kill and create mayhem, and there are clear ideological rationales for doing so. This toxic combination, along with an occasional willingness to die while carrying out the “operation”, makes this new foe – call him a terrorist or a disturbed individual – particularly difficult to thwart.

It used to take some degree of preparation to carry off a successful attack, especially in the west. The fact that some bombs in New Jersey and one in Manhattan failed to explode is a reminder that building explosives takes some degree of skill if you’re to be successful. Also, convincing your radical comrades to engage in a conspiracy opens you up to penetration by the cops or intelligence services. That is an additional challenge.

But stabbing people in a mall or shooting people in a club requires little preparation. You don’t need any particular specialized training anymore except to pull a trigger, drive a car, be willing to kill and desire to be killed.

We’ve seen this DIY violence elsewhere. For example, the atrocity in Nice, France, killed over 80 people, and while multiple suspects were arrested following the attack only one person carried out the operation. In this instance the assailant, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, drove a large truck into a crowd, crushing scores of people. The carnage only stopped after police shot him dead.

Soft, crowded targets are plentiful in our free, open societies. There is little the authorities can do to keep a determined attacker from striking pedestrians enjoying a balmy Saturday night in New York City. Guns, gates and guards can only provide so much protection against a wily, creative adversary who is willing to risk oblivion.

What makes confronting these DIY terrorists even more difficult is that there’s an organization actively and successfully disseminating a death-cult message: the Islamic State. Through its slick social media messaging and global network of personal connections, this organization has been convincing the misguided – some of whom are lone wolves – to cause havoc in their home countries. This is no accident, but a long-held plan; terror operations outside Iraq and Syria have and will always be part and parcel of the Islamic State’s DNA.

For those who wanted to kill people more generally for their own reasons, Islamic State provides them a rationale by which to do so. For example, the San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook bought his weapons years before he killed 14 people at a holiday party. Why didn’t he commit his crime earlier? We won’t ever know, since he (along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik) is dead, but perhaps Islamic State appears to have given him a reason and a mission to finally take the plunge and destroy himself.

As long as Islamic State steadfastly pursues its “victory” narrative, so long as it survives in one physical form or another, people will use its existence as a warped rationale for murderous behavior. Destroying Islamic State and draining the swamp will go a long way to denting the ideological allure of attacking civilians.

At the time of writing, we still don’t quite know the motivations of the NYC bomber or the Minnesota stabber. But we do know that if they were motivated by a jihadist ideology, crushing Islamic State will go a long way to reducing the rationale for this kind of behavior, making our streets safer.

This will require sacrifice and great political capital to see it through to the end. Islamic State is fully committed to this conflict, will give no quarter, and will continue to use its power to cause havoc on our streets.

Western nations must be committed to defeating Isis. In the meantime, our societies must be resilient enough to absorb “inspired” or “directed” attacks from the Islamic state and its DIY acolytes for the foreseeable future.

