Killing Americans: Insurgent Motivations, Risk Factors, and Implications

This book explores the risk factors that render an insurgent organization more likely to attack Americans. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the authors identify several competing incentives, including the group's ideology, local US military presence, and potential consequences for the insurgent group. They find that insurgent groups can gain a credibility boost among sympathizers and recruits after attacking Americans, making them deadlier and more likely to survive.

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.