A Decade of Terrorism in the United States and the Emergence of Counter-Terrorism Medicine

Author(s):  
Derrick Tin ◽  
Alexander Hart ◽  
Gregory R. Ciottone

Abstract Background: The United States (US) is ranked 22nd on the Global Terrorism Index (2019), a scoring system of terrorist activities. While the global number of deaths from terrorism over the past five years is down, the number of countries affected by terrorism is growing and the health care repercussions remain significant. Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) is rapidly emerging as a necessary sub-specialty, and this study aims to provide the epidemiological context over the past decade supporting this need by detailing the unique injury types responders are likely to encounter and setting the stage for the development of training programs utilizing these data. Methods: The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) was searched for all attacks in the US from 2008-2018. Attacks met inclusion criteria if they fulfilled the three terrorism-related criteria as set by the GTD. Ambiguous events were excluded when there was uncertainty as to whether the incident met all of the criteria for inclusion in the GTD. The grey literature was reviewed, and each event was cross-matched with reputable international and national newspaper sources online to confirm or add details regarding weapon type used and, whenever available, details of victim and perpetrator fatalities and injuries. Results: In total, 304 events were recorded during the period of study. Of the 304 events, 117 (38.5%) used incendiary-only weapons, 80 (26.3%) used firearms as their sole weapon, 55 (18.1%) used explosives, bombs, or dynamite (E/B/D), 23 (7.6%) were melee-only, six (2.0%) used vehicles-only, four (1.3%) were chemicals-only, two (0.7%) used sabotage equipment, two (0.7%) were listed as “others,” and one (0.3%) used biological weapon. There was no recorded nuclear or radiological weapon use. In addition, 14 (4.6%) events used a mix of weapons. Conclusions: In the decade from 2008 through 2018, terrorist attacks on US soil used weapons with well-understood injury-causing modalities. A total of 217 fatal injuries (FI) and 660 non-fatal injuries (NFI) were sustained as a result of these events during that period. Incendiary weapons were the most commonly chosen methodology, followed by firearms and E/B/D attacks. Firearm events contributed to a disproportionality high fatality count while E/B/D events contributed to a disproportionally high NFI count.

Author(s):  
Derrick Tin ◽  
Alexander Hart ◽  
Attila J. Hertelendy ◽  
Gregory R. Ciottone

Abstract Background: Australia is ranked 71st on the Global Terrorism Index (GTI; 2019), a scoring system of terrorist activities. While it has a relatively low terrorist risk, events globally have wide-ranging repercussions putting first responders and emergency health workers at risk. Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) is rapidly emerging as a sub-specialty needed to address these threats on the front line. This study aims to provide the epidemiological context for the past decade, detailing the unique injury types responders are likely to encounter, and to develop training programs utilizing these data. Methods: The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) was searched for all attacks in Australia from the years 2009-2019. Attacks met inclusion criteria if they fulfilled the following terrorism-related criteria as set by the GTD. Ambiguous events were excluded when there was uncertainty as to whether the incident met all of the criteria for inclusion as a GTD terrorist incident. The grey literature was reviewed, and each event was cross-matched with reputable international and national newspaper sources online to confirm or add details regarding weapon type used, and whenever available, details of victim and perpetrator fatalities and injuries. Results: Thirty-seven terrorist events occurred in the study time period. Of the thirty-seven incidents, twenty-six (70.2%) involved incendiary weapons, five (13.5%) involved firearms, four (10.8%) involved melee (bladed weapon/knife) attacks, two (5.4%) were explosive/bombing/dynamite attacks, and one (2.7%) was a mixed attack using both incendiary and melee weapons. All except one firearms-related incident (four out of five) resulted in either a fatality or injury or both. Every melee incident resulted in either a fatality or injury or both. Conclusions: In the decade from 2009 to 2019, terrorist attacks on Australian soil have been manageable, small-scale incidents with well-understood modalities. Eleven fatalities and fourteen injuries were sustained as a result of terrorist events during that period. Incendiary weapons were the most commonly chosen methodology, followed by firearms, bladed weapons, and explosive/bombings/dynamite attacks.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo

By identifying two general issues in recent history textbook controversies worldwide (oblivion and inclusion), this article examines understandings of the United States in Mexico's history textbooks (especially those of 1992) as a means to test the limits of historical imagining between U. S. and Mexican historiographies. Drawing lessons from recent European and Indian historiographical debates, the article argues that many of the historical clashes between the nationalist historiographies of Mexico and the United States could be taught as series of unsolved enigmas, ironies, and contradictions in the midst of a central enigma: the persistence of two nationalist historiographies incapable of contemplating their common ground. The article maintains that lo mexicano has been a constant part of the past and present of the US, and lo gringo an intrinsic component of Mexico's history. The di erences in their historical tracks have been made into monumental ontological oppositions, which are in fact two tracks—often overlapping—of the same and shared con ictual and complex experience.


Plant Disease ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Saville ◽  
Kim Graham ◽  
Niklaus J. Grünwald ◽  
Kevin Myers ◽  
William E. Fry ◽  
...  

Phytophthora infestans causes potato late blight, an important and costly disease of potato and tomato crops. Seven clonal lineages of P. infestans identified recently in the United States were tested for baseline sensitivity to six oomycete-targeted fungicides. A subset of the dominant lineages (n = 45) collected between 2004 and 2012 was tested in vitro on media amended with a range of concentrations of either azoxystrobin, cyazofamid, cymoxanil, fluopicolide, mandipropamid, or mefenoxam. Dose-response curves and values for the effective concentration at which 50% of growth was suppressed were calculated for each isolate. The US-8 and US-11 clonal lineages were insensitive to mefenoxam while the US-20, US-21, US-22, US-23, and US-24 clonal lineages were sensitive to mefenoxam. Insensitivity to azoxystrobin, cyazofamid, cymoxanil, fluopicolide, or mandipropamid was not detected within any lineage. Thus, current U.S. populations of P. infestans remained sensitive to mefenoxam during the displacement of the US-22 lineage by US-23 over the past 5 years.


Author(s):  
Rickie Solinger

What is the state of population growth in the United States today, and how is it affected by immigration? According to the 2010 census, the US population has grown 9.7 percent (adding about 27 million people, including about 13 million immigrants) during the past...


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Fang ◽  
Cara McDaniel

AbstractUsing data from the Multinational Time Use Study, this paper documents the trend and level of time allocation, with a focus on home hours, for the US and European countries. Three patterns emerge. First, home hours per person have declined in both the US and European countries over the past 50 years. Second, female time allocation contributes more to the difference in time allocation per person between the US and European countries than does male time allocation. Third, the time allocation between the US and European countries is more similar for prime-age individuals than for young and old individuals.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Sai Polineni

President Obama's and President Xi Jinping's visits to Tanzania — and the associated jubliation and fanfare accompanying them — seem to validate much of what has been written in the past few years of the supposed competition between the United States and China for influence and resources in Africa, with many authors proclaiming that the U.S. was losing this competition. Aside from propagating the idea that Africa is some sort of homogenous collection of people, ideas, and cultures, many of these authors view the role of Africa as primarily an economic battleground in which the U.S and China must battle to determine control while ignoring the fact that the differing strengths and focuses of the American and Chinese economies do not lend themselves to any sort of outright competition in Africa. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Radoslav Yordanov

This paper offers a broad historical overview of US economic sanctions against Cuba, starting with the imposition of the partial trade embargo on 19 October 1960, taking the story up to the present day. Additionally, it develops a comprehensive survey of the numerous scholarly and policy debates which closely follow the changes in United States’ post-Cold War attitudes and actions towards its southern neighbor and which demonstrate the thinking behind centers of power in Washington and Miami related to US’ Cuba policies. The paper also glances over the latest developments under Cuba’s new President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the notable return to the harsh Cold War rhetoric, which transcends the boundaries of the localized Washington-Miami-Havana axis of the past thirty years. Referring to historic patterns, the paper concludes that the conjecture between the recent complication in the US-Cuba relations and Moscow’s ambition to reinstate its erstwhile position as an unavoidable international factor would afford Havana with the opportunity to reclaim once again the dubious honor of becoming one of the focal points in the renewed competitive coexistence between the United States and Russia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-275
Author(s):  
Jonathon L. Wiggins ◽  
Mary L. Gautier ◽  
Thomas P. Gaunt

The official, parish-identified, Catholic population in the United States over the past forty years (1980 to 2019) has grown 40 percent, from about 48 million to over 67 million. Such a hearty rate of growth might lead one to assume that the Catholic population is increasing across all parts of the country. This growth, however, has been anything but uniform. From 1980 to the present, the Catholic population in some US Census regions—mostly in the South and in the West of the country—has experienced a boom, while in others—mostly in the Northeast and Midwest—it has experienced a bust. In this article, the growth or decline in the number of Catholics in each of the four US Census regions is explored, using data from the 2020 Faith Communities Today survey as well as data submitted by Catholic dioceses. These analyses give a more nuanced portrait of the Catholic Church in the United States, shedding light on both the challenges and opportunities the US Catholic Church is experiencing in 2021.


Author(s):  
John A. Bonin

This chapter discusses how the US Army since 11 September 2001 has had to face the harsh reality that the complexities of the employment of landpower in modern warfare, especially with allies, require large staffs in its headquarters. However, the leaders of the Department of Defense and the Army are often at odds with that reality, as the United States frequently seeks to focus on combat units at the expense of "unnecessary overhead," especially in its theater army headquarters. In addition, the Army found itself wholly unpreparedforthese headquarters to provide contractors for the unprecedented level and complexity of support utilized in recent military operations. As the Army continues adapting to the current environment, it must heed insights from the past sixteen years of conflict. The Army must ensure that it is not exacerbating the problem of employing landpower by eliminating the brains of an army, its essential land component command headquarters capabilities.


2021 ◽  
pp. jrheum.210082
Author(s):  
Grace C. Wright

Population shifts in the workforce have been noted for the past few decades. In the United States, the number of people aged 65 and older is expected to double, reaching almost a quarter of the population.1 By 2045, the US is expected to experience a demographic shift, with an increase in the percentage of minority populations to greater than 50%.


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