Jim Feldkamp News Updates

When you specialize in the field of counterterrorism, it’s always important to keep up to date of relevant news, both domestic and international. Jim FeldKamp keeps an eye on relevant current events that may provide insights into what preventative measures to take, and how to advise clients regarding the latest modus operandi.

Individual news items as well as larger overarching trends in the news can be important points of discussion for the preparedness of individuals, families, and large corporations alike. For instance, it seems that Europe has been seeing a sharp increase in both the number of terror attacks and number of victims affected in the past three years.

Although Europe has experienced waves of terror activities in its recent history, these tended to stem from secular Marxist groups in the 1970s and 1980s. The more recent attacks like those in London, Barcelona, Manchester, and Paris are mostly being linked to radicalized religious groups, whether born in Europe or having immigrated fairly recently.

Analysts point not only to Europe’s proximity to neighboring developing countries, but also the poor integration of immigrants into their society leading to a large population of poor and unsatisfied young people.

It has also become apparent that recent attacks have become less sophisticated and less expensive. While al-Qaeda 15 years ago preferred well-planned, complex attacks like those on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and airliners over the Atlantic Ocean, terrorist attacks linked to IS seem decentralized, indiscriminate, and almost random. This also makes them more difficult to prepare for, notes Jim Feldkamp.

According to Europol head Rob Wainwright, between 3,000 5,000 Europeans left to wage jihad in Iraq and Syria since 2001, far more than the number of Americans who joined IS and other terrorist groups.

Wainwright points to aggressive use of the internet as a major contributing factor to successful recruitment.