Killing Americans: Insurgent Motivations, Risk Factors, and Implications

Why do some insurgent groups target American nationals? At first glance, it appears to be a risky strategy, inviting retaliation from the world’s foremost military power. But a number of incentives make anti-American violence an attractive option for certain insurgent organizations.

Killing Americans explores the risk factors involved in insurgent groups’ decisions to plan and conduct attacks on Americans. If, for example, American culture is prevalent in a given country, this tends to lessen the likelihood of attacks. On the other hand, extremist ideology and the deployment of American military forces in the area encourages them. And the consequences for an insurgent group that carries out violence against American citizens can be beneficial: they can raise their profile among sympathizers and gain credibility with would-be recruits. Drawing on quantitative analysis and case studies from around the world, this book shows that insurgents tend to become more lethal and more likely to survive after having made their first attacks on Americans. By considering American involvement abroad, organizational traits of insurgent groups, and potential consequences of attacks, Killing Americans provides a comprehensive account of variation in insurgent anti-American violence.

Christopher Linebarger is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. His research focuses on aspects of national and international security, specifically insurgency, terrorism, and civil conflict. He has published widely on the dynamics of insurgent organizations and counter-insurgency policy tools, including military intervention and border wall construction. He has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Journal of Peace Research, among others.

Amira Jadoon is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Clemson University, prior to which, she worked at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, jointly appointed in the Department of Social Sciences and the Combating Terrorism Center (2017-2022). Her research explores the multifaceted consequences of international security tools and counterterrorism strategies, examining their interlinkages with political violence, extremism, and the strategic dissemination of disinformation. Jadoon is also a nonresident fellow at the Stimson Center and an Associate Editor at the European Journal of International Security.

Suzanne Weedon Levy serves as the Director of Grants for a non-profit in New York’s Capital Region. Prior to transitioning to the non-profit sector, she spent almost a decade as the Research Director of the Project on Violent Conflict (PVC) at the University at Albany, where she focused on the behavior of terrorist and insurgent non-state actors. Her previous work has centered on extremism in the United States and the relationships between proxy militias and state actors in the Middle East.

Victor Asal is Director of the Center for Policy Research and a Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany. His research focuses on nonstate actor violence and the causes of political discrimination, particularly related to ethnicity, sexuality and gender. He also researches nuclear crisis behavior and pedagogy with a focus on interactive games. Asal has been involved in research projects funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, The National Science Foundation, The Office of Naval Research, and the Department of Homeland Security.