A quarter-century after 9/11, the picture of terrorism no longer resembles that of the years when the threat was identified with large organizations, clear hierarchies and training camps. According to an RFE/RL analysis, the risk has shifted toward individuals radicalized on the internet, dispersed groups and the use of technologies that make prevention more difficult.
From centralized structures to individual attacks
The analysis notes that one of the strongest changes after 9/11 is the shift from large terrorist organizations to perpetrators who act alone or outside the classic chains of command.
Instead of a model centered on clear leadership, today the threat is increasingly linked to individuals radicalized online, who can carry out attacks without having direct ties to a known terrorist organization.
The case in Germany as an example of the transformation
RFE/RL illustrates this change with the case of a 25-year-old Afghan, identified as Farhad N., who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany after driving a vehicle into a crowd of people in Munich.
Two people were killed in the attack and dozens of others were injured. According to the information cited in the analysis, he did not appear to have direct ties to any terrorist organization, but had been radicalized online and acted on his own initiative.
The blow to Al-Qaeda did not eliminate the threat
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States toppled the Taliban regime and struck Al-Qaeda’s leadership structure hard. However, according to the analysis, the organization did not disappear, but changed the way it operated.
Instead of a rigid and centralized structure, it built a more decentralized network, with branches in different countries around the world. This move is seen as part of terrorism’s adaptation to military pressure and the security measures of the years after 9/11.
The internet, artificial intelligence and a new terrain of risk
According to a former American diplomat cited in the analysis, what was once described as the phenomenon of “lone actors” or “lone wolves” is becoming an increasingly visible model.
The same assessment raises alarm about the impact of propaganda circulating online and the role of technologies that did not exist 25 years ago. Drones, artificial intelligence and social media, according to this view, are creating a new and more complicated security environment.
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the debate is no longer only about how to strike major terrorist structures, but how to confront a threat that is more dispersed, less visible and more connected to the digital space.
This makes the challenge less easy to read than it once was: not necessarily with camps, leaders and chains of command, but with online radicalization, new technologies and perpetrators who can act outside any classic framework.