Homeland Security Today – preparedness and security news – Researchers Examine Radical Rhetoric

A privacy assessment filed by researchers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has thrown some light on a project to study “radical rhetoric” and how extreme language relates to violent activities in acts of terrorism.

The research effort, formally titled Comparative Case Studies of Radical Rhetoric, aims to examine whether characteristics of rhetoric used by extremists have a relationship with how likely they are to engage in violence.

The Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division (HFD) of the DHS Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) undertook the project to see if it could determine whether analyzing rhetoric could distinguish between groups that do and do not engage in violent attacks or could assist in predicting upcoming violent attacks by specific groups, HFD said in a privacy report made public Wednesday.