Geographic Context

The geography of lone-actor jihadist attacks and target preferences in the United States have changed since 2013, in step with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) through 2019. From 1980 through 2012, the target geography of jihadist attacks (by all cell types) in and against the US homeland was largely consistent in terms of locale and target spaces and types. This chapter indicates that there was a shift to attacks on non-symbolic, everyday target spaces and places in which the attacker could use expedient methods. In order to examine which elements may be place-specific or ideology-specific, the geography of US lone-jihadist operations is compared and contrasted with those of European lone-actor jihadists and US right-wing lone-actor extremists.