A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

Terrorist planning and success rates; Case study in radicalization; Strategies to limit groups’ lethality

FEATURED RESEARCH

More plot participants, greater rate of attack success
A new START study examines how the planning process affects the outcome of a terrorist plot and finds that the more people that were involved in planning a terrorist attack in the United States, the more likely it was to be successful. Read more.
 
A case study of radicalization offers implications for CVE
Research from START offers new insight into the psychological motives and mechanisms that radicalize a person to commit violence. The new study takes a detailed look at Momin Khawaja, a convicted terrorist who was arrested in 2004 in connection to a U.K. bomb plot, and offers some possible implications for countering violent extremism (CVE). Read more.
 
Mixed counterterrorism strategies correlate with more civilian deaths
New data reveals that violent nonstate actors in the Middle East are most likely to kill a greater number of civilians when governments pursue counterterrorism strategies that combine violence and negotiation, according to data from the Big, Allied And Dangerous project. Read more.

 


PUBLICATIONS

Repression, Education, and Politically Motivated Cyberattacks
Journal of Global Security Studies
Asal, Victor, and Jacob Mauslein, Amanda Murdie, Joseph Young, Jen Cousins, Chris Bronk
 
Dynamic Forecasting Conditional Probability of Bombing Attacks Based on Time-Series and Intervention Analysis
Risk Analysis
Li, Shuying, and Jun Zhuang, Shifei Shen
 
Exploring Conflict Dynamics
Journal of Global Security Studies
Avant, Deborah, and Felix Berenskoetter, Erica Chenoweth, Stuart Kaufman, Kimberly Marten
 


START NEWS

UMD and UMB presidents to announce strategic national security partnership
START will join the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, to announce a strategic national security partnership between the two universities during a press conference at 9:30 a.m., Sept. 13, at the Greenbelt Metro Station. Read more.
 
Center of Excellence collaboration examines critical infrastructure
Two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Centers of Excellence recently teamed up with DHS for a workshop to examine terrorist threats to critical infrastructure, as well as potential responses to those threats. START hosted researchers from the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) and practitioners in a daylong effort to identify the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and discuss research that can assist decision makers as they build protection and recovery plans. Read more.
 
Focus groups yield insight into complacency in emergency situations
To better understand the actions people take – or choose not to take – in emergency situations, START’s Risk Communication and Resilience team recently conducted interviews across the southeastern United States. The research team turned to focus groups to evaluate how tornado warnings and false alarms factor into complacency and how emergency managers might better work with the public and communicate more effectively. Read more.
 
Advancing machine learning algorithms that could predict terrorist threats
Utilizing his background as a physicist, Howard University Professor Prabhakar Misra spent the summer at START furthering his research on machine learning algorithms that could one day predict terrorist threats. His findings are summarized in a new report. Read more.
 
START seeks students to participate in DOD research
START is seeking 50 student research coordinators to participate in an all-day event on Oct. 23 as part of its project, “Mobile Radiation Detectors: Threat Perception and Device Acceptance.” Read more.
 


START OPPORTUNITIES

Student Participation for Department of Defense Research. Apply by Sept. 19.
 
The Terror-Crime Nexus & Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Threats online course. Register now.
 
Free online short series of video lectures on “Core Capabilities and Potential Durability of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).” View now.
 
START Education Blog featuring opportunities and local events. View now.
 


OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

OSCE: Lead Consultant for Development of Live training courses for community leaders Apply by Sept. 19.
 
OSCE: Counter-Terrorism and Police Issues Adviser Apply by Sept. 27.

Call for Papers: Journal of International Relations Research (JIRR) Submit by Oct. 1.
 
Job Opportunity: Assistant Professor, MSU Criminal Justice and Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Apply by Oct. 14.
 
Ocean City Police Department Testing Apply Now.
 


STUDENT BLOG

Same START, New Experience, by Justin Mckillop

Hospital Disaster Risk Mitigation in 2016, by Sachin Kumar
 


START IN THE NEWS

New York Times (The Upshot): Is Terrorism Getting Worse? In the West, Yes. In the World, No.
Data from START’s Global Terrorism Database is mentioned in this New York Times blog post, which ran in the front section of the print edition. Read more.
 
Washington Post: ISIS and its allies were responsible for 26 percent of terrorism deaths in 13 years
The Washington Post covered the release of START’s latest background report on ISIL in this article. Read more.
 
BBC World Service: Counting Terror Deaths
Erin Miller was interviewed, and the Global Terrorism Database mentioned, in this radio piece from the BBC World Service. Listen here.
 
Voice of America: Most Terrorism Victims Are in Muslim Majority Countries
Michael Jensen was quoted, and the Global Terrorism Database mentioned, in this piece from Voice of America. Read more.
 

This is a selection of news clips from the past month.
A complete list of START’s media coverage can be found here.

 


SUPPORTING START

Help Support START Research and Education
The START Consortium is dedicated to generating knowledge of the human causes and consequences of terrorism. Applying rigorous standards to both research and education, START seeks to illuminate one of the most highly politicized and understudied phenomena in the social sciences for students, practitioners and policy-makers. Funded primarily through research grants to date, START is seeking to generate an endowment that will provide the flexibility and autonomy to ensure that it can continue to serve as an objective source of data and empirically based analysis into the future.  To donate, or for more information, please click here.