Terrorism 'Hot Spots' In United States Pinpointed In New Report

A study of nearly 40 years of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil reveals that nearly a third took place in just five major urban "hot spots": New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The new report by researchers for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism found those cities, along with Chicago and Seattle, experienced the most attacks motivated by causes, ranging from left-wing and right-wing agendas to religious and nationalist ones, as well as some single-issue rationales. Their findings were based on information in the consortium's Global Terrorism Database.

Manhattan saw the most attacks, with 343. Los Angeles was next with 156, Miami-Dade County had 103, San Francisco had 99 and Washington had 79, according to the report. In all, the researchers identified 65 of 3,143 U.S. counties as hot spots.

Although big cities have remained the most frequent targets of terrorist activities over the decades, smaller, more rural counties such as Arizona's Maricopa County -- which includes Phoenix -- have emerged as hot spots in recent years as domestic terrorism in those areas has increased.

"Mainly, terror attacks have been a problem in the bigger cities, but rural areas are not exempt," said Gary LaFree, director of the consortium and lead author of the new report. "The main attacks driving Maricopa into recent hot spot status are the actions of radical environmental groups, especially the Coalition to Save the Preserves. So, despite the clustering of attacks in certain regions, it is also clear that hot spots are dispersed throughout the country and include places as geographically diverse as counties in Arizona, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Texas."

Certain counties experienced more terrorist attacks fueled by a specific type of motivation, the researchers found. For instance, Texas' Lubbock County has seen only extreme right-wing terrorism, whereas extreme left-wing terrorism has cropped up in the New York City borough of the Bronx, among other places.

"The 1970s were dominated by extreme left-wing terrorist attacks," said co-author Bianca Bersani, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. "Far left-wing terrorism in the U.S. is almost entirely limited to the 1970s with few events in the 1980s and virtually no events after that."

Researchers defined a "hot spot" as any county hit by terrorism more than six times from 1970 to 2008, the most recent year studied. Read the whole report here.

CORRECTION: This story previously stated there were 343 attacks in New York City, when there were in fact that many attacks in Manhattan alone. The error has been corrected.

Comments

[bigjakeIII]

06:22 PM on 01/31/2012

the threatened or actual use of illegal force, directed against civilian targets, by non-state actors, in order to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal,through fear, coercion or intimidation
their definition of terrorist actions.

[The Canadian]

06:03 PM on 01/31/2012

In case you haven't heard, in both the USA and Canada, the governments want to define environmental groups, animal rights groups and protesters like the Occupy Wall Street groups as terrorists. If you add them in, then the 'threat' seems to multiply to make it appear that we are under siege. Of course, that's just a lie.

So what is a terrorist nowadays? Apparently anyone who inconveniences the authorities or upsets the status quo.

Notice, I am not saying that the groups I mentioned don't do illegal things on occasion. Sure, sometimes the animal rights people break into labs and release the animals, or environmental groups trespass on corporate property to make their point, but this is NOT TERRORISM.

Terrorists seek to kill citizens or destroy strategic assets to provoke fear, hoping it that will cause the targeted country to distort their laws and do away with personal freedoms in order to cause internal decay that the terrorists hope will destroy the country. By that definition, none of the groups I mentioned are even remotely terrorist-like in their intentions.

So be careful what you do lately. Get too loud in protesting for your cause, and if it looks like a threat to the ultra-rich, you too will end up on a terrorist list.

[CindySanFrancisco]

04:34 PM on 01/31/2012

So federal anti-terrorism dollars should be given accordingly to those states that are considered high terror risks, correct? For example, Montana, the Dakotas, Iowa, etc. should not get as much federal anti-terrorism dollars as would California or New York?

[Yellowbird]

03:46 PM on 01/31/2012

Boogity Boogity. Keep them scared to death. Keep that prison/courthouse/police shop/national guard protection racket going. It's the prison industrial complex coupling with the military industrial complex. Boogity Boogity.

[b-dob]

05:25 PM on 01/31/2012

So in your world, there is no such thing as terrorism? Gotcha!

[The Canadian]

06:09 PM on 01/31/2012

Nobody said that. It's just that if you want people be politically pliable, you have to keep them in fear.

Now if you want to really talk about what threatens the lives of people, you should talk about car accidents and bad diets, which kill far, far more Americans every year than even the most wildly successful terrorist attack ever would.

If you could re-direct even a fraction of the vast amounts of money being spent on anti-terrorism initiatives to programs to deal with making driving safer or educating people about nutrition, you'd be doing a lot more towards protecting the public than the endless hazy and dire warnings about terrorists.

[theJLI]

11:28 AM on 02/07/2012

As far as the terrorists are concerned, american and israeli planes bombing buildings and collateral damage is terrorism.

The definition sounds like Shock and Awe to me

[freddyb]

02:49 PM on 01/31/2012

Protect Miami, NY amd LA. Let Sodum & Gomora go.

[brklynivn]

11:41 PM on 01/31/2012

Look there's a right wing terrorist right here!

[freddyb]

11:32 AM on 02/01/2012

Yes I am a right wing American. As John Kennedy once said ask not what your country can do for, but what can you do for your country. So have you done anything other than take lately? And I am not a terrorist. B tch.

[highlyqualified]

01:05 PM on 01/31/2012

It this database was funded by a federal program, congress needs to cut it off.

[Chubbster]

01:01 PM on 01/31/2012

Ohhhh terrorist hotspots. I feel my fear rising. But if they are hot spots where are the attacks, where are the terrorists? But what is a terrorist attack anyway? World Trade Center, sure, but this article is reporting 342 attacks in Manhattan, 156 in LA. Odd that these terrorist attacks never made the news. Who benefit from publishing the overwrought garbage in this report? Is terrorism now defined down to a 5 year old throwing a tantrum at a grocery store and blocking an aisle for 30 seconds?

[RegLib2]

02:56 PM on 01/31/2012

Perhaps you should read the article again or, heaven forbid, the actual report. It spans 40 years, including the early 70s which were rife with left-wing attacks.

Very, very few of the attacks involved Muslims.

[kathy smelser]

12:22 PM on 01/31/2012

i thought for sure FL. would make the list

[GraphicMatt]

12:29 PM on 01/31/2012

It did.

[Rodger leMonde]

12:35 PM on 01/31/2012

Where do you think Miami is?

[skraeling]

04:14 PM on 01/31/2012

Ohio?Oklahoma?

[soONErBorn37]

12:17 PM on 01/31/2012

So.....San Francisco had 99 "terrorist attacks". This is strange. I live here. I don't recall a single attack by terrorists. Some very patriotic folks have been occupying banks and plazas exercising their constitutional right to protest. But I don't recall a single terror attack. That would be bombing a bus stop or Muni station for example. I.e. acts that actually introduce terror into our lives.

[The Canadian]

05:49 PM on 01/31/2012

The 'terror' attacks are what the police and FBI call the Occupy Wall Street protests.

[loki]

11:51 AM on 01/31/2012

wall street, banks, corporate board rooms. biggest anti American terrorist groups in the US.

[Chubbster]

01:17 PM on 01/31/2012

Don't forget those that coverup for them.

[marind]

11:39 AM on 01/31/2012

Nowhere does this article define "terrorism." Frankly, this is the kind of reporting that lowers the IQ in the US. Politicos rail about "socialism" or " liberty" without anyone ever demanding a definition of exactly what they mean. This article follows the same mucky thinking. It's really a bit insulting.

[The Mask]

12:27 PM on 01/31/2012

Agreed. Without a definition, and without details as to what types of activity were involved, this story could mean anything to anyone.

So is the reaction to eating bad tacos in Maricopa County, AZ being counted as terrorism? Could it be Montezuma's revenge? :-)

[leahsmom99]

04:00 PM on 01/31/2012

have you considered actually reading the report before commenting? The entire report is not included in a 4 paragraph news article.

[Lisa Shields]

11:36 AM on 01/31/2012

I know this is very serious...but is anyone else amused that DC came in dead last?
I mean...MIAMI scored higher.

[goijra]

02:17 PM on 01/31/2012

Terrorists draw the line at cesspools.

[HialeahJDM]

04:59 PM on 01/31/2012

Miami went through a lot of terrorism in the 70's and well into the 90's with anti-Castro guerrillas attacking supposed appeasers and supporters of Castro.

[1776 or 1984]

11:36 AM on 01/31/2012

Oklahoma bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terri Nichols were both ex-military. They built duds until Terri Nichols was trained in the Philippines by the 1993 WTC bomber (after the WTC bomber escaped the US). The 911 "mastermind" KSM is the 1993 WTC bomber's uncle -- they plotted 911 in the Philippines, including which US flight schools to use.

Source: Peter Lance (Huffington Post blogger, reported for ABC News and PBS, and won 5 Emmy Awards for investigative reporting)

Question: How can a US based right-wing wanna-be terrorist ever find the most wanted terrorist in the world? Phone book? I would like this article's researchers to investigate that question.

[woodsjs]

11:34 AM on 01/31/2012

What is this based on population and political affiliation?

[Stephen Thorpe]

11:30 AM on 01/31/2012

I still think Hollywood's had a hand in glorifying the idea of terrorism and bringing some of this to reality. Monkey see monkey do.

[wishescometrue]

12:38 PM on 01/31/2012

I agree. When you include the hit Fox series, "24" you can see why your take is based on fact. Thanks, M