Sunday, July 24, 2016

Western Spy Agencies Cannot Track 'Lone-Wolf' Terror Attacks

People light candles beside flowers laid in front of the Olympia shopping mall, where yesterday's shooting rampage started, in Munich, Germany July 23, 2016. REUTERS/ARND WIEGMANN

Reuters: Spy agencies struggle to spot threats from lone, mentally ill attackers

Recent attacks on civilians in the U.S. and Europe have exposed a gap in the intelligence community’s efforts to track suspected extremists and prevent mass killings, a half dozen American, British and French counterterrorism officials told Reuters.

The attacks have a common theme of being carried out by actors with an apparent history of mental illness - but few if any direct links to extremist groups, the officials told Reuters.

From both a legal and a strategic perspective, counterterrorism investigators globally are focused on plots by established violent groups with known ideologies, such as Islamic State. In the U.S., laws designed to protect citizens from intrusive government spying can limit investigations of individuals unless they have provable ties to foreign terror groups.

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WNU Editor: I have lost count on how many times I have heard family members say that they knew something was wrong ... but they never assumed that their loved one would go on a mass shooting spree. If family members cannot figure this out ....that their "loved one" wants to commit a  horrendous crime ....  the best run intelligence unit would not be able to find out either.

4 comments:

Jay Farquharson said...

WNU Editor,

There are actual profiles for "lone wolf mass shooters", unfortunately, while the Orlando Shooter fit ( in 9 ways) the profile for a potential "domestic mass shooter", apparently the FBI only profiled him as a potential "Islamic Terrorist", and that profile apparently doen't include the same potential markers as "domestic mass shooter".

War News Updates Editor said...

I agree Jay. The profiles are out there .... how they are used is another story.

Unknown said...

Putting on my liberal think cap ...

Let's see ... If we cannot track the ones we have now ...let's double down and bring in another million refugees.

GENIUS!

Jay Farquharson said...

Most "lone wolf mass shooters" in the US arn't immigrants.

Most ISIS copycat's in the US arn't immigrants.

Most Police Shooter's arn't immigrants or minorities.

The most common mass shooter/Police shooter profile is white, male, 16-36, loner, Soverign Citizen or other isolationizing beliefs or experiences.