Shift in tactics

The al Qaeda model was to use elaborate terror plots, many were foiled before being carried out.

In the ISIS era, a new model emerges: Grab whatever weapon is available and get to work.

We seem to have seen the ISIS era model at work in New York yesterday. And twice in Canada earlier in the week.

At Sipsey Street, Mike Vanderboegh notes:

Much has been been speculated upon in what passes for the cable news "press" about the precise links between the Parliament shooter and the other Canadian jihadi who plowed into soldiers with his car the day before (killing one) and their links to ISIS -- as if that matters. They are missing the whole point of 4th Generation Warfare. No orders need be given, no money needs to change hands. In 4GW, the targets are known and understood by all, the individual actions are targeted to specific enemy vulnerabilities. It is the IDEA that is weaponized. This makes defending against such attacks almost impossible, since you cannot kill an idea, nor can you trace a command structure that doesn't exist, nor "decapitate" it if you could find it.

In New York yesterday, a man said to be Muslim and a supporter of ISIS, grabbed an hatchet and took on four city cops before being shot dead. Not too many weeks ago, a Muslim in Oklahoma beheaded a coworker. One of two terrorists in Canada this week used a gun to attack Parliament, but the other only needed a car to run down two soldiers.

Remains to be seen how far and how fast this new, more expedient method of Islamic terror catches on in North America. But with at least three such attacks in just one week, a new trend seems to be emerging.

We've seen it before. Lone wolves launching personal Islamic holy war. Think Fort Hood. But because it could be billed as "isolated", authorities in the past were somewhat successful in minimizing the Jihad angle.

Going forward, when authorities assure us an attacker acted alone, that it was an "isolated" incident, it may be cause for deeper concern, as opposed to being a reason to sigh with relief.