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Mental Health and Terrorism Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Objective • Relevant • Rigorous | January 2017 • Volume 10, Issue 1 FEATURE ARTICLE A VIEW FROM THE CT FOXHOLE Mental Health and Peter Edge and Terrorism Wil van Gemert U.S. Immigration and Customs Is there a link between Islamic State terror and mental illness? Enforcement Acting Deputy Director Emily Corner and Paul Gill and Europol Deputy Director FEATURE ARTICLE 1 Is There a Nexus Between Terrorist Involvement and Mental Health in the Editor in Chief Age of the Islamic State? Paul Cruickshank Emily Corner and Paul Gill Managing Editor INTERVIEW Kristina Hummel 11 A View from the CT Foxhole: Peter Edge, ICE Acting Deputy Director, and Wil van Gemert, Europol Deputy Director EDITORIAL BOARD Paul Cruickshank Colonel Suzanne Nielsen, Ph.D. Department Head ANALYSIS Dept. of Social Sciences (West Point) 17 Fighting the Long War: The Evolution of al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula Michael Horton Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Price, Ph.D. Director, CTC 23 Drone, Counter Drone: Observations on the Contest Between the United States and Jihadis Brian Dodwell Don Rassler Deputy Director, CTC 28 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Three “New” Islamic State Afliates Jason Warner CONTACT Combating Terrorism Center U.S. Military Academy The deadly attack at Fort Lauderdale airport earlier this month by an indi- 607 Cullum Road, Lincoln Hall vidual claiming to have been influenced by voices he heard and to have acted on behalf of the Islamic State has renewed attention on the nexus West Point, NY 10996 between terrorism and mental health. In our cover article, Emily Corner and Paul Gill explore what Phone: (845) 938-8495 they argue are complex and often misunderstood links. Their preliminary findings show that the proportion of attackers in the West possibly influenced by the Islamic State with a history of psycho- Email: [email protected] logical instability is about the same as the rate of such instability in the general population, though Web: www.ctc.usma.edu/sentinel/ the rate is higher than in the general population if Islamic State-directed attacks are excluded. This is in line with their previous findings that group-based terrorists are much less likely to have mental disorders than lone-actor terrorists. They also question the degree to which lone-actor terrorists with SUBSMISSIONS mental disorders are symptomatic at the time of attacks. Lone-actor terrorists with mental disorders, The CTC Sentinel welcomes submissions. they have found, are just as likely to engage in rational planning prior to attacks as those without. Their research has also found a significantly higher rate of schizophrenia among lone-actor terrorists Please contact us at [email protected]. than in the general population. There is a long-running debate about whether this condition could make individuals of all ideological persuasions less inhibited in moving from radical thought to rad- The views expressed in this report are ical action. In a joint interview, Peter Edge, Acting Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs En- those of the authors and not of the U.S. forcement, and Wil van Gemert, Deputy Director of Europol, focus on the challenges of identifying, Military Academy, the Department of the tracking, and interdicting foreign terrorist fighters and steps being taken to deepen transatlantic Army, or any other agency of the U.S. cooperation. Michael Horton argues that AQAP’s deepening ties to anti-Houthi forces in Yemen’s civil war is making the terrorist group even more resilient and difcult to combat. Don Rassler exam- Government. ines the contest between the United States and jihadis on drones and drone countermeasures. Jason Warner looks at the three newly self-declared afliates of the Islamic State in sub-Saharan Africa. Cover: Police ofcers stand near the truck Paul Cruickshank, Editor in Chief Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel used to kill pedestrians in Nice, France, on July 14, 2016. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images) JANUARY 2017 CTC SENTINEL 1 Is Tere a Nexus Between Terrorist Involvement and Mental Health in the Age of the Islamic State? By Emily Corner and Paul Gill rigorous evidence base for these debates. These questions include: The wave of Islamic State-linked terrorism experienced in What is the existing evidence base regarding psychopathology and the West over the past couple of years has rekindled debates terrorist involvement? How prevalent are mental disorders among surrounding mental disorders and terrorist engagement. Islamic State-directed and -inspired ofenders in the West? What A very preliminary survey by the authors found that out of is the content of these diagnoses? When present, what relationship 55 attacks in the West where the 76 individuals involved did the disorder have with radicalization? were possibly influenced by the Islamic State, according The Evidence Base to media reports, 27.6% had a history of apparent Very few scientific analyses have focused upon the relationship psychological instability, a percentage comparable to that between mental health and terrorist involvement. The following found in the general population. This figure is driven largely outlines the headline results from the sum total of these scientific by individuals inspired by the Islamic State, as opposed endeavors.3 Some recent studies analyzed the prevalence rates of to those directed by it, however. The percentage is likely diferent disorders within very diferent samples of terrorist ofend- overinflated for several noteworthy reasons, including ers. Based on police files, 6% of Anton Weenink’s sample of 140 poor reporting, low benchmarks, and the tendency Dutch individuals who either became foreign fighters or sought to to overuse mental health problems as a ‘silver-bullet’ travel abroad for the purpose of terrorism had diagnosed disorders.4 explanation for terrorist involvement. The relationship An additional 20% displayed signs of undiagnosed mental health is, in fact, far more complex than typically presented. problems. The diagnoses included ADD, AD/HD, autism spectrum, narcissistic, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, and psychotic dis- orders. The prevalence of schizophrenia (2%) in the sample was he Islamic State-linked terrorism experienced in the higher than what would be expected in the general population, West recently has reignited debates about the con- which is currently estimated at between 0.87% and 1%.5 nection between mental disorders in terrorist activ- A study of lone-actor terrorists co-authored by the authors of ity. Indeed, the assistant commissioner for specialist this article also found higher rates of schizophrenia than in the gen- operations in London’s Metropolitan Police Service eral population, as well as certain other disorders. Based on open acknowledges the Islamic State is actively trying to recruit, among source information, over 40% of Emily Corner, Paul Gill, and Oliver T 1 6 a others, “those with mental health issues.” Similarly, Australia’s na- Mason’s study of 153 lone-actor, solo-actor, and dyad terrorists tional counterterrorism coordinator, Greg Moriarty, has outlined had a diagnosed disorder, much higher than in the general pop- that many cases involve individuals “not necessarily deeply com- mitted to and engaged with the Islamist ideology but are none- theless, due to a range of reasons, including mental health issues, susceptible to being motivated and lured rapidly down a dangerous path by the terrorist narrative.”2 The debates became particularly salient through the summer of 2016 when lone actors inspired and encouraged by the Islamic State killed 135 civilians in separate at- tacks in Orlando and Nice. More recently, the fatal shooting of five individuals at Fort Lauderdale airport added complexity to these a A lone-actor terrorist is defined by John Horgan, Paul Gill, Noemie debates. All perpetrators had reported histories of mental disorder. Bouhana, James Silver, and Emily Corner as “an individual lacking any This article seeks to answer several questions to provide a more ties to a terrorist/violent extremist group … These individuals typically engage in violence in support of a group and/or ideology.” Lone actors within the sample included those inspired by Islamist, right-wing, left- wing, nationalist, and single issue ideologies. John Horgan, Paul Gill, Emily Corner is a research associate at the University College Noemie Bouhana, James Silver, and Emily Corner, “Across the universe? A London’s Department of Security and Crime Science. She is cur- comparative analysis of violent radicalization across three offender types with implications for criminal justice training and education,” National rently working on a European Union-funded project on lone-actor Institute of Justice, June 2016. A “solo-actor terrorist” is defined as “an terrorists. individual who either (a) carried out the act of terror alone, but under instruction or (b) carries out the act through his/her own volition, but has Paul Gill is a senior lecturer at the University College London’s had previous contact with terrorist/violent extremist groups and/or radical environments to receive planning and support.” John Horgan et al. A dyad Department of Security and Crime Science. He is currently work- in this context refers to two individuals who conceive, plan, and carry out ing on projects on decision-making and lone-actor terrorism that an attack on their own. One or both individuals may have previously been are funded by CREST, the European Union, and Minerva. attached to a terrorist group. 2 CTC SENTINEL JANUARY 2017 CORNER / GILL ulation (25-27%).b The diagnoses included schizophrenia (8.5%), group-based terrorists.10 This result was in line with Christopher depression (7.2%), unspecified personality disorder (6.5%), bipolar Hewitt’s analysis of U.S.-based terrorists who espoused a range of disorder (3.9%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, 3.3%), au- ideologies (22% vs. 8.1%),11 and that of Jef Gruenewald, Steven tism spectrum disorder (3.3%), delusional disorder (2.0%), unspec- Chermak, and Joshua Freilich, who examined U.S.-based, far-right ified anxiety disorder (1.3%), traumatic brain injury (TBI, 1.3%), ofenders (40.4% vs.
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