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Leaking as a Warning Sign for Islamist Terrorist Attacks

Rebecca Bondü, Psychologische Hochschule Berlin

Leaking comprises all announcements of an offense or signals of the interest in such offenses. It was shown to be an important warning sign prior to school shootings, but much less is known about leaking prior to Islamist terrorist attacks regarding frequencies, important contents, development, and criteria for the assessment of its seriousness. The present study, therefore, examined leaking in German Islamist terrorist offenders and compared them to a group of individuals who announced, but did not execute an offense. Almost all offenders showed leaking and/or other warning signs prior to the attacks, making leaking a valuable starting point for preventive approaches also with regard to Islamist terrorist attacks. Furthermore, there were significant differences between leaking by later offenders and individuals who had announced, but not executed an attack. Associated criteria may, therefore, be used for threat assessment purposes and were integrated into the assessment tool LATERAN-IT. This may further aid the adequate assessment of leaking for example by law enforcement authorities.

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