Tag Archives: gary lafree

Five U.S. Urban Counties Lead ‘Terror Hot Spots’ List, but Rural Areas Not Exempt: Research

*N.Y., L.A., Miami, San Francisco, D.C. Top List; Maricopa, Ariz. Rising*

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Nearly a third of all terrorist attacks from 1970 to 2008 occurred in just five metropolitan U.S. counties, but events continue to occur in rural areas, spurred on by domestic actors, according to a report published today by researchers in the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence based at the University of Maryland.

The research was conducted at Maryland and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. (more…)

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Growing U.S. Violent Extremism – Facts on the Ground: UMD Database

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Over the past decade, attacks and plots by homegrown terrorists in the United States have increased, the work of extremists from across the political spectrum – roughly 40 percent of it by so-called ‘lone wolf,’ non-aligned actors – says an analysis by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland.

The statistics underscore the threat addressed in a White House plan released Thursday: Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States – a blueprint for “building community resilience against violent extremism.” (more…)

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Bin Laden’s Attacks Among the Most Lethal: UMD Study

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Under Osama bin Laden’s leadership, al Qa’ida has been one of the most lethal terrorist organization in the world, responsible for more than 10,000 deaths and injuries in a dozen years – finds a new analysis by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland (START).

“Al-Qa’ida, the terrorist organization Osama bin Laden founded, was responsible for fomenting more mass casualty attacks than any other group in recent history,” says START Director Gary LaFree, a University of Maryland professor responsible for assembling the world’s most comprehensive unclassified terrorism database. (more…)

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Report: Discovery Networks Hostage-Taking a Rare Terror Event

*U.S. Violent Terror Rarely Against Media, Capital; Rare for Environmentalists* 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A new report by terrorism researchers at the University of Maryland concludes that the deadly hostage-taking incident at the Discovery Communications headquarters in suburban Washington, D.C. meets the criteria of a terrorist act – a rare one for media organizations and the nation’s capital region. Hostage-taking, though, is a familiar pattern in capital-region terror, the researchers add.

(more…)

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