The mass shooting left 10 people dead and more injured. When the FBI discusses the threat of domestic extremism, they often refer to “lone actors,” known alternatively as “lone wolves.” In fact, just days before a gunman opened fire in Buffalo, New York and killed 10 Black people, FBI director Chris Wray called lone actors “the greatest terrorist threat we face.” “Because they act alone and move quickly from radicalization to action—often using easily obtainable weapons against soft targets—these attackers don’t leave a lot of “dots” for investigators to connect, and not a lot of time in which to connect them,” (…) Growing threat Policy research organization Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that alleged right-wing attacks and plots have accounted for the majority of all U.S. terrorist incidents since 1994. CSIS found that right-wing extremists were responsible for more than 500 of the 893 terrorist attacks and plots between 1994 and 2020. Kathleen Belew, a historian who studies the white power movement, testified before Congress in another 2019 hearing about the tactics that have allowed such extremism to remain primarily in the shadows. “This movement connected neo-Nazis, Klansmen, Skinheads, radical tax protesters, militia members, and others,” testified Belew. “It brought together people in every region of the country. It joined people in suburbs and cities and on mountain tops. It joined men, women, and children; felons and religious leaders; high school dropouts and aerospace engineers, civilians and veterans and active-duty troops.” She said two effective strategies that the movement still employs started in the 80s: the use of computer-based social network activism and the implementation of leaderless resistance. Online forums and social media have continued to serve as vital tools for spreading racist ideologies, misinformation, conspiracies and hate. It’s led to the rapid radicalization of people like the alleged Buffalo shooter, Payton Gendron, according to an ABC News analysis of what authorities have identified as Gendron’s writing. (…) There are many individuals like Gendron, as well as small networks of activists, working toward the common goal of white supremacy without being tied to one specific movement, organization or effort — the tactic of leaderless resistance, Byman said. Matt Rourke/AP Shannon Waedell-Collins pays her respects at the scene of Saturday’s shooting at a supe…Read More According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Louis Beam, a well-known white nationalist, wrote a widely circulated essay popularizing the concept. “Leaderless resistance has had a much more catastrophic impact in clouding public understanding of white power as a social movement,” Belew said.
via abcnews: Why some say the ‘lone wolf’ label is dangerous when describing white supremacists