That latest terrorist threat assessment carried out by the Center for Terrorism Analysis (CAT) for the PET intelligence service again designates militant Islamists as the most likely perpetrators of terror within Denmark’s borders.
While the leadership of major organizations such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda have recently weakened, their influence remains strong โ in June, two IS sympathizers were each sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for planning to make bombs for an attack.
Furthermore, a 35-year-old man also received a longer prison term after being convicted of planning and financing terrorism in December – the kind of offender PET claims is driven by a “cocktail of hate”.
Overall, the threat level remains ‘serious’, so on a scale of one to five, a four, which is unchanged from last year, or indeed 2010. The report has been around since 2007.
Hybridization can involve several triggers
In its latest report, the CTA identifies a new form of terrorism that is growing: hybridization.
The perpetrators are no longer driven by one ideology, but instead by many narratives. This could be a preoccupation with conspiracy theories, disinformation on social media, digitization, the climate crisis, the pandemic, or triggering events such as the attack on Capitol Hill, the downing of the mink, or the war in Ukraine. They may have a fascination with violence or a mental disorder.
“We can see that it is a growing trend in the West and in Denmark that individuals are increasingly putting together a cocktail of their own world and enemy images, which are characterized by ideological and religious ideas,” explains CTA head Michael Hamann.
PET warns that the new form of terrorism may end up involving perpetrators who have not been extreme before – and that their targets are often the authorities, such as “elected officials or certain professionals”. PET therefore monitors “the derivative effects of increased rhetoric that may influence the threat image”.
Source: The Nordic Page