(TLP:CLEAR) Research Reports Examine Multiple Aspects of the Terrorist and Violent Extremist Threat Landscape

Summary: Three recent research reports analyze various aspects of the terrorist and violent extremist threat landscape, highlighting emerging trends that could offer public safety officials the opportunity to detect and prevent future acts of extremist targeted violence.

Analyst Note: The first report, “Assessment of the Global Terrorism Threat Landscape in Mid-2025,” offers a mid-year assessment of the current terrorist threat landscape. The report states that terrorist groups like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) benefit from leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate their propaganda, thus freeing up more bandwidth for terrorists to plan external operations. Notably, the report assesses that it will soon be the rule, not the exception, that terrorists use emerging technologies in one or multiple aspects of the attack planning cycle. Moreover, the report notes that the threat posed by transnational racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (REMVEs) remains pernicious. And there has been an uptick in left-wing violence and the use of social media platforms like TikTok to push young people to commit acts of terrorism.

The second report, “Online radicalization and the nexus to violence in the US: 2024 year in review,” is an analysis of 58 violent attacks or disrupted plans for U.S.-based attacks in 2024 that were linked to extremism. The data revealed that individuals associated with communities that promote nihilistic worldviews accounted for two-thirds of all deaths and nearly two-thirds of all injuries in attacks and attack plots in 2024. It is also of note that many perpetrators and suspects in the category were juveniles: historically not a demographic for extremist-motivated violence.

The third report, “Combatting new forms of extremism,” discusses the impact of the internet and social media on violent extremists’ ability to recruit, radicalize, and engage audiences. It also details the impact that new technologies, including AI, LLMs and deepfakes have had on violent extremist activities and on preventing violent extremism. The report notes that the internet has transformed the violent extremist landscape, allowing extremists to exploit a range of online environments, from mainstream platforms to encrypted messaging apps and gaming servers. These online environments are used to recruit, radicalize, and interact with like-minded individuals.  

Original Sources:

• https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2025-july-11/
• https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/online-radicalization-and-the-nexus-to-violence-in-the-us-2024-year-in-review/
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/CTA4128-1.html

Additional Reading:

• (TLP:AMBER) Government Reports Analyze Recent Developments Amongst Foreign Terrorist Organizations and the Threat to the U.S. Homeland
• (TLP:AMBER) DHS Report: Individuals Inspired by Foreign Terrorist Organizations Pose Elevated Threat to the Homeland
• THREAT SNAPSHOT: House Homeland Releases Updated “Terror Threat Snapshot” Assessment in Wake of Boulder, DC Terrorist Attacks

Mitigation Recommendations:

• US Violent Extremist Mobilization Indicators 2021 Edition
• CISA – Personal Security Considerations Action Guide
• FBI Guidance on Keeping Potential Attackers off the ‘Pathway to Violence’

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 1 & 2