New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, right, speaks at a news conference about alleged 'lone wolf' terrorist Jose Pimentelon on November 20, 2011 as Mayor Michael Bloomberg looks on. Police say Pimentelon planned to detonate pipe bombs at post offices and police stations, as well as against U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Tom Sanderson of the prestigous Center for Strategic & International Studies told LIGNET this week that he considers “lone wolves” — individuals working alone to commit acts of terror — a very serious threat to the West, and one that’s not easily addressed.
“They have very small signatures. They’re not easy to spot like you can with a satellite training group in Yemen, or in northern Mali. They’re individuals whose safe haven could simply be their bedroom at their home in Connecticut.”
Sanderson, co-director of the Transnational Threats Project at CSIS with Arnaud de Borchgrave, met with LIGNET this week to give a wide-ranging assessment of threats facing the United States.
Al Qaeda’s leadership, he says, has been weakened by the American-led offensive, and in particular, by drone strikes that have taken out people like Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, both American citizens and leaders of the Yemen-based affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The problem with lone wolves, says Sanderson, is that because they have had no formal training in Al Qaeda camps and have no communication with the leadership of terrorist groups, they are “hard to detect.”
Click here to real the full story and watch the interview with Sanderson at LIGNET.com.
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