Military relations of The man who attacked New Orleans on New Year's Eve. And another who died An explosion in Las Vegas on the same day Highlight the increasing role of people with military experience in ideologically driven attacks, especially those seeking mass casualties.
In New Orleans, Shamsuddin Jabbar, a US Army veteran, was killed by police. Deadly rampage In a pickup truck that resulted in the death of 14 people and dozens of injuries.
It is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group.
Officials in Las Vegas say. Matthew LevelsbergerAn active-duty member of the U.S. Army Special Forces shot himself in the head in a Tesla Cybertruck filled with firework mortars and canisters of camp fuel shortly before it exploded outside the entrance to the Trump International Hotel, killing seven people. People were injured.
On Friday, investigators said Levelsberger wrote that the explosion was intended to serve as a “wake-up call” and that the country was “generally sick and headed for disaster.”
Radicalization is on the rise among ex-servicemen, active military members.
Service members and veterans who radicalize make up a tiny fraction of a percentage point of the millions and millions who have served their country with honor.
But An Associated Press investigation was published last year. found that radicalization among both veterans and active-duty service members is on the rise, and since 2017, hundreds of people with military backgrounds have been arrested for extremist crimes. 100 people
The AP also found a number of problems with the Pentagon's efforts to combat extremism in the ranks, including that there is still no force system in place to detect it, and that a A cornerstone report on the issue Outdated data, misleading analysis and evidence of the problem were ignored.
According to data from terrorism researchers at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland, since 2017, both veterans and active duty service members without a military background have Radicalized faster than people.
Less than one percent of the adult population currently serves in the U.S. military, but active-duty military members account for a disproportionate 3.2 percent of all terrorist incidents initiated between 2017 and 2022.
Although the number of people with a military background involved in violent extremist plots is small, according to data collected and analyzed by AP and START, the participation of active-duty military and veterans accounts for the largest number of injuries or deaths to extremists. provided a greater possibility of
From 2017 to 2023, more than 480 people with a military background were charged with ideologically motivated extremist crimes, of which more than 230 were arrested. January 6, 2021, Rebellion According to START, 18 percent of those arrested for assault by the end of last year.
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The data tracked individuals with a military background, most of whom were ex-servicemen, who were involved in plots to kill, injure or harm for political, social, economic or religious purposes.
AP analysis found that plots involving people with a military background were more likely to involve mass casualties, weapons training, or firearms than plots that did not involve a person with a military background.
This was true whether the plots were executed or not.
The jihadist ideology of the Islamic State group, which appears to be linked to the New Orleans attack, would make it clear to include those with military backgrounds in the motivations for previous attacks.
START researchers found that among such extremists with a military background, only nine percent espoused jihadist ideologies. More than 80 percent identified with far-right, anti-government or white supremacist ideologies, with the rest split into far-left or other motivations.
Still, there are several important ones Attacks inspired by Islamic State and jihadist ideology In which the attackers had an American military background.
In 2017, a US Army National Guard veteran killed five people in Iraq. Mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida After committing radicalization and support for the Islamic State through jihadist message boards.
In 2009, An Army psychologist and officer opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas.and 13 people were killed and dozens injured. The shooter was in contact with a known al-Qaeda operative before the shooting.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — led by veterans — law enforcement officials say the threat from domestic violent extremists remains one of the most persistent and pressing terrorist threats to the United States. is one of
The Pentagon has said it is “committed to understanding the root causes of extremism and ensuring that such behavior is promptly and appropriately addressed and reported to the appropriate authorities.”
Christopher Goldsmith, a military veteran and CEO of Task Force Butler Institute, which trains veterans on counter-extremism research and counter-extremism, said military cuts along ideological lines are a problem for violent extremism. . Still, he said, when the Biden administration tried to make efforts to deal with it, Republicans in Congress opposed them for political reasons.
“They, you know, put up everything they could to say that all veterans are being called extremists by the Biden administration,” Goldsmith said.
“And now we're in a situation where we're four years behind where we could be.”
During their long military careers, both Jabbar and Levelsburger spent time at the U.S. Army base formerly known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, one of the largest military bases in the country. One of the officials who spoke to the AP said there was no overlap in their assignments at the base, now known as Fort Liberty.
Goldsmith said he is concerned that the incoming Trump administration will focus on the New Orleans attack and ISIS and ignore that the deadliest attacks in the United States in recent history have come from the far right. There have been, especially if Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pat Hegseth, is confirmed.
Hegseth has. Justified the Crusades of the Middle Ages. who pitted Christians against Muslims, criticized efforts to combat extremism within the Pentagon's ranks and himself in the weeks following the Jan. 6 attack before Joe Biden's inauguration. A fellow member of the National Guard flagged it as a possible “insider threat.”
With files from AP reporter Tara Cope in Washington, D.C
Contact AP's global investigative team. investigative@ap.org