Trends in Terrorism for 2022: Violent Anarchists and Terrorists Using Emerging Technologies for Attacks

A new article from the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) seeks to forecast the terror trends of 2022. The analysis contends that the terrorist threat environment is now more diverse than ever before, and current terror threats are likely to intensify in 2022. The article, written by Colin Clarke, Senior Fellow in the National Security Program at FPRI and the Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group assesses that Islamic extremism and far-right extremism will likely remain the most lethal terror threats in 2022. Still, Clarke writes, “a growing roster of political and socio-cultural motivations, including ‘technophobia’ or neo-Luddite terrorism, violent anarchists, and extreme misogynists” also pose threats.

The article predicts that terrorists will continue seeking to utilize emerging technologies, such as drones, to increase the lethality of their attacks. “2022 could be the year the world witnesses the first assassination of a head of state by terrorists using drones, emboldened by the previous attacks and enabled by the continued lowering of entry barriers in mastering commercial off-the-shelf technologies purposed toward nefarious ends,” according to Clarke. Ultimately, despite the U.S. and its allies looking to focus on great-power competition with nation-states, terrorists will continue to pose a significant threat to the U.S. and its national interests for the foreseeable future. Read more at FPRI.