Violent Extremist Activity and the COVID-19 Pandemic

A recent article in Homeland Security Today examines the connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on violent extremist activity and their targeted attacks. The article utilizes the 2020 Annex of Statistical Information, which is part of the State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2020, to compare the number of terrorist attacks in 2019 and 2020. The author concludes that despite pandemic lockdowns, terrorist attacks increased 13 percent worldwide in 2020.

The article divides violent extremists/terrorists into three main groupings: revolutionary terrorism, Right-wing extremism, and Jihadist terrorism. Revolutionary terrorism refers to movements that seek to overthrow and replace a political system. In addition, the article classifies racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, anti-government extremists, and other single-issue extremists under the category of right-wing extremism. According to the author’s data, lone wolf right-wing extremists’ attacks rose from 15 in 2019 to 27 in 2020. Finally, Jihadi terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State and al Qa’ida, used the pandemic to recruit more followers, spread propaganda on the origins of the virus, and increase their operational capacity. Ultimately, societal disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic did not correlate with a decrease in violent terrorist attacks, but instead an increase. Read the full article at Homeland Security Today.