Terrorist Behavior A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They Prepare, Where They Strike Name Class Date Professor A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They Prepare, Where They Strike The article “A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They Prepare, Where They Strike” looks at the trends of the domestic and foreign terrorist. The author Brent Smith conducted one of a series of studies for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in order to develop a better understanding of terroristic behaviors and patterns. In this study a panel of experts is tasked with examining terrorist attacks that have occurred in the last quarter century and committed by left wing, right wing, single issue, and international terrorist. The panel examined where the terrorists made their homes, location where the terrorist planned the terrorist event, and the sites of the terrorist incidents. In a study of the sixty terrorist events it was discovered in a majority of the cases the terrorist lived no more than thirty miles from the site of the attacks. In the case of Timothy McVeigh he traveled 250 miles in order to blow up the Oklahoma federal building and the case of Rudolph who drove 300 miles to blow up an abortion clinic the distances they traveled were rare and only occurs in 12% of terrorist attacks. It was also discovered that in the case of the international terrorist group in a majority of cases committed attacks that are close to their homes. On the other hand the right wing terrorist that lives in rural areas will travel distances in order to conduct an attacks on a large urban target. The research conducted by the NIJ also discovered that the majority of terrorist go through a great deal of planning and preparation before committing their terrorist attacks. In the majority of cases the terrorist groups engaged in an extensive planning process that took months and sometime years. It was later discovered that AL Qaeda was planning the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 for five years. The types of methods used by the terrorist to prepare included gathering intelligence on their targets and conducting surveillance as well as creating the bombs they will need and gathering the necessary weapons. Terrorists groups will conduct illegal missions, such as robberies and theft; in order to get the money together they will need to commit the terrorist attack. It was also discovered that the majority of planning and preparation that occurs, occurs near the home of the terrorists. The reason for this is so the terrorist has better access to the target and because many international terrorists are new immigrants in the country. The terrorist also selects targets close to their home due to transportation needs and feeling more secure in an area where they are familiar. Among single-issue terrorists in particular, 71 percent of the preparatory acts occurred within 12 miles and 92 percent within 28 miles of the target (Smith, 20 ...

1. Terrorist Behavior
A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They Prepare, Where They
Strike
Name
Class
Date
Professor
A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They Prepare, Where They
Strike
The article “A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They
Prepare, Where They Strike” looks at the trends of the domestic
and foreign terrorist. The author Brent Smith conducted one of a
series of studies for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in

2. order to develop a better understanding of terroristic behaviors
and patterns. In this study a panel of experts is tasked with
examining terrorist attacks that have occurred in the last quarter
century and committed by left wing, right wing, single issue,
and international terrorist. The panel examined where the
terrorists made their homes, location where the terrorist planned
the terrorist event, and the sites of the terrorist incidents.
In a study of the sixty terrorist events it was discovered in a
majority of the cases the terrorist lived no more than thirty
miles from the site of the attacks. In the case of Timothy
McVeigh he traveled 250 miles in order to blow up the
Oklahoma federal building and the case of Rudolph who drove
300 miles to blow up an abortion clinic the distances they
traveled were rare and only occurs in 12% of terrorist attacks. It
was also discovered that in the case of the international terrorist
group in a majority of cases committed attacks that are close to
their homes. On the other hand the right wing terrorist that lives
in rural areas will travel distances in order to conduct an attacks
on a large urban target.
The research conducted by the NIJ also discovered that the
majority of terrorist go through a great deal of planning and
preparation before committing their terrorist attacks. In the
majority of cases the terrorist groups engaged in an extensive
planning process that took months and sometime years. It was
later discovered that AL Qaeda was planning the attacks that
occurred on September 11, 2001 for five years. The types of
methods used by the terrorist to prepare included gathering
intelligence on their targets and conducting surveillance as well
as creating the bombs they will need and gathering the
necessary weapons.
Terrorists groups will conduct illegal missions, such as
robberies and theft; in order to get the money together they will
need to commit the terrorist attack. It was also discovered that
the majority of planning and preparation that occurs, occurs
near the home of the terrorists. The reason for this is so the
terrorist has better access to the target and because many

3. international terrorists are new immigrants in the country. The
terrorist also selects targets close to their home due to
transportation needs and feeling more secure in an area where
they are familiar. Among single-issue terrorists in particular, 71
percent of the preparatory acts occurred within 12 miles and 92
percent within 28 miles of the target (Smith, 2007).
The research discovered it was far more likely that the
single incident terrorist would travel good distances from their
homes in order to commit their terrorist act. This is due to the
fact that the domestic terrorist does not want to get detected or
to have the terrorist act ties back to them or their home. In the
domestic and international terroristic attacks in most cases they
distance travelled is similar with 44% of cases occurring within
thirty miles of the target location and nine percent occurring
within forty miles (Smith, 2007). The single incident terrorist
attack is more likely to be conducted further away from the
terrorist home if the act was uncoordinated or an attack from a
domestic extremist group. Usually the lone wolf or the
individual in the extremist group took it upon themselves to
commit the attack.
In a second study conducted by the National Institute of
Justice that looked at the distance of 250 terrorist attacks
committed by terrorist groups and discovered similar patterns in
distance and preparation. The second analysis discovered that
the terrorist will commit many types of major crimes to ensure
they have the funds to commit the attack. But also discovered
that while terrorist are far more likely to commit terrorist
attacks fairly close to their homes they will go through great
pains to ensure that the major crimes they commit to fund their
terrorists attacks are committed a great distance from their
homes.
The implications of the finding about proximity and
preparation time for law enforcement is the more information
the police have on the patterns of terrorism they more
successful they will be in preventing terrorism, detecting
terrorists, stopping terrorist attacks, and responding in the event

4. of an attack. When the police have a better understanding of the
activities of the terrorist hen they are investigating potential
attacks they will have a better understanding of where the
terrorist lives and what steps they will take to prepare to
commit their attacks. When police understand in most cases
planning is methodical and just a day or two before the attacks
the terrorists will engage in a flurry of activity to prepare they
will be better prepared to identify suspicious preparation
behavior.
Because a majority of terrorist attacks first require
reparation research can provide law enforcement to what actions
or behaviors would alert to potential terrorist behavior. Being
prepared to recognize the threat of terrorism includes
understanding how long it takes a terrorist to prepare for their
attacks and the types of steps they take to prepare. By
understanding that most terrorist attacks occur locally it alerts
federal police to better prepare local police to identify and to
prevent potential terrorist behavior and how to properly alert
the appropriate agencies and apply the appropriate response.
The more information law enforcement has the more successful
they will be in stopping terroristic threats.
References
Smith, B. (2007). A Look at Terrorist Behavior: How They
Prepare, Where They Strike.
Retrieved July 7, 212 from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/222900.pdf