Lone wolf terrorism is not a recent phenomenon. Decades of incidents indicate that it is an ever-present threat which society and governments must mitigate. The cases of Timothy McVeigh, Omar Mateen, and the recent Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock were some of the more extreme examples of what lone wolves could do. There are many definitions of lone wolf terrorism but this category of terror does have a common premise of sole individuals inflicting politicized attacks upon the public.

The threat of lone wolf terrorism is important to the homeland security enterprise due to its unpredictable nature and the extent of damage it has rendered onto the American society. With the recent events this year (Las Vegas shootings and the New York City truck attack), current methods such as internet monitoring and surveillance that are usually entrusted to federal and state levels of the homeland security enterprise (such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation) seem to be ineffective.

Of course, preventing lone …show more content…
These units are considered to be the frontlines of the homeland security enterprise. Robert R. Friedmann and William J. Cannon argue that law enforcement agencies have the capability to collect large amounts of domestic security threat information and deter early terrorist preparations. When thinking of your local police department, they are the first responders to any emergencies or disturbances that occur in a neighborhood. Their close-knit relationships with the community allow for detection of unusual patterns of activities or behaviors of individuals. Delegating the task of mitigating and preventing lone wolf threats to federal and state level agencies only puts resources into the hands of members of the HSE who are alien to the