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

September News: New data on radicalization in the US; Profiles of chem/bio adversaries; Risk communication during tornadoes

FEATURED RESEARCH
 
New data: Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States
A new research brief summarizes findings from START’s Profiles of Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) database, which now includes information on 1,867 Islamist, far-left, far-right, and single-issue extremists who have radicalized to violent and non-violent extremism in the United States from 1948 through 2016. Read more and download the data.
 
Profiling the CB adversary: Motivation, psychology and decision
Using START’s newly developed Chemical and Biological Non-State Adversaries Database (CABNSAD), a new study recently examined the influence of personal, ideological and situational factors on the likelihood of a perpetrator choosing to pursue the use of chemical or biological weapons. Read more
 
Advancing understanding of tornado warnings, false alarms and complacency 
In light of National Preparedness Month, START recently published this infographic highlighting findings from a study of tornado warnings, which was designed to help improve risk communication practices in severe weather events. Read more
 

PUBLICATIONS

Addicted to hate: Identity residual among former white supremacists
American Sociological Review
Simi, Pete, and Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, Steven Windisch
 
Using open source data to track worldwide terrorism patterns
Pathways to Peace and Security
LaFree, Gary
 
The impact of the Orlando mass shooting on fear and victimization and gun-purchasing intentions: Not what one might expect
PLoS One
Stroebe, Wolfgang, and N. Pontus Leander, Arie W. Kruglanski
 
Introducing the AMAR (All Minorities at Risk) data
Journal of Conflict Resolution
Birnir, Johanna K., and David D. Laitin, Jonathan Wilkenfeld, David M. Waguespack, Agatha S. Hultquist, Ted R. Gurr​


START NEWS

TEVUS portal updated to include 2016 data
START’s Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) database and portal were updated to include terrorism data for 2016. The TEVUS portal compiles behavioral, geographic and temporal information about violent extremist crime in the United States from four databases. Read more and access the portal.
 
START interns witness explosive FBI demonstration
START interns recently spent an afternoon with the FBI in Quantico, Virginia at a demonstration by the FBI Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center. Read more.
 
Your favorite START videos, all in one place
START has launched its new “Multimedia Page” to catalogue video content ranging from START soundbites to training lectures. The new section of the website organizes videos by content type including: Training, News, Events and Program Overviews. Read more.​


STUDENT BLOG
 
START Intern Fatima Mahmood writes “Richard and Nabra, this is for you.”
 
START Intern Betzalel Newman writes “GTD internship sparked my interested in GIS.”


EVENTS

 Best Practices in Preparing for and Responding to Domestic Terrorism & Mass Casualty Incidents” hosted by the Insight Exchange Network, in partnership with START
November 15-16 at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center, Washington, D.C.
 
Information Sessions: Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Analysis
6:00 p.m., October 5, November 2, December 7


OPPORTUNITIES

Global Terrorism Minor Program Apply by September 29.
 
Call for Proposals: Causes, Conduct and Consequences of Terrorism book series Submissions accepted on rolling basis.



TRAINING

Community-led Action in Response to Violent Extremism (CARVE) online training. Learn more and register here.
 
Using the Global Terrorism Database online training. Learn more and register here
 
The Terror-Crime Nexus & Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Threats online course. Register now.
 
Understanding Terrorism and the Terrorist Threat online open course is now on demand. Participate 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 IN THE NEWS

 

New York Times: Trump asks, ‘what about the alt-left?’ Here’s an answer
Gary LaFree and Brent Smith are quoted in this article from the New York Times about recent violence in Charlottesville. Read more.
 
Huffington Post: This is how white supremacists get radicalized
Alejandro Beutel and Peter Weinberger are quoted in this article from the Huffington Post about recent violence in Charlottesville. Peter Simi is also featured in the accompanying video. Read more.
 
NBC News: Vehicles are becoming the weapons of choice for terrorists
Erin Miller is quoted in this article from NBC News about vehicles as a weapon used by terrorists. Read more.
 
New Scientist: What makes normal people become extremists?
Martha Crenshaw is quoted, and Vera Mironova featured, in this article from New Scientist about radicalization. Read more.
 
Bloomberg: Terror in Spain shows Islamic State is down not out
The GTD is mentioned in this article form Bloomberg News about the recent terrorist attack in Barcelona. Read more.
 
Washington Post: Almost all news coverage of the Barcelona attack mentioned terrorism. Very little coverage of Charlottesville did.
Bryan Arva co-authored this blog post from the Washington Post comparing news coverage of the recent Barcelona and Charlottesville terror attacks. 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.