The Terrorist Model – Interpretation and Investigations

By

Professor Stephen F. Myler PhD

Abstract:

Law enforcement and investigation services try to use the typology of terrorists and their psychopathology to interview suspects, but are hampered by long dissertations and protocols that are not convenient when you have a subject in custody, as they are hard to follow for the majority of government enforcers such as the secret service, police and national crime forces. This is because they are written in long protocols needing experts to interpret them constantly, when in fact time, is the biggest enemy for fighting terror in the gathering of actionable information from interrogations. In this article the typology has been visualised using power point slides that can be printed and posted for investigators to follow simple approaches to speed up interrogation times.

Introduction:

Much of the slides are referenced to two paper reviews explaining the detailed overview of how to identify your target and the best method of approach – it is not all consuming. The first paper is: (1) The Terrorist’s Mind by Laurence Miller (June 2005) and the second an unpublished short paper: (2) What to do in a Paris style terrorist attack by Daniel Freest (November 2015). These two papers helped to build the visual model in our power point posters. All other comments are the authors own.

Each slide is followed by a brief description to help understand the content.

The Slides:

Slide 1

Slide 2

Slide 3

The usual public view of what a terrorist is mostly fuelled by the ignorance of the media.

Slide 4

The different roles that terrorists may hold according to their motivation.

Slide 5

The type of leaders most commonly seen or perceived.

Slide 6

The breakdown of the way the Secret Service looks at terrorist’s motivations and types.

Slide 7

Cults as domestic terror where a leader may change from benign to dangerous.

Slide 8

Psychopathology of the terrorists – how their cognition may affect how they lead of follow the cause.

Slide 9

Three types of leaders and their mental states that can be a cause to their actions.

Slide 10

Psychopathology of followers who often act as the enforcers.

Slide 11

Psychopathology of followers who often act as support or sacrificed.

Slide 12

Psychopathology of the most dangerous of the followers.

Slide 13

Interrogation suggestions to match typology 1

Slide 14

Interrogation suggestions to match typology 2

Slide 15

Comment on caution of information revived under interrogations

Slide 16

Slide 17

Slide 18

(3) Terrorists Model in Power Point and poster printing.

Conclusion:

These power point slides are meant to teach typology and interrogation insights for a quick analysis without expert help of long lengthy documentation to follow. Law enforcement can print and create posters in order to have a quick guide and reference for speedy identification of subjects who are in custody for interviews.

References:

(1) Laurence Miller (June 2005) The Terrorist’s Mind - International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology(2) Daniel Freest (November 2015). What to do in a Paris style terrorist attack. DFA Publishing(3) Myler S F (2015) Power point model of terrorist typologies. (Unpublished) Obtainable via email request to: drmyler@hotmail.com