A Post-Terrorist?

Susan Mohammad studies how to deprogram a jihadist. It helps to figure out how they were programmed in the first place:

In the aftermath of 9/11, when the West became captivated by the psychology of suicide attackers, [Andrew Silke, a forensic science expert] says a good portion of terror research funding was directed at defining the personality profile of a terrorist. “A profile is something governments want as a simple solution to the complex problem,” he says. The problem is, there’s no indication one exists. Instead, current research examines how environmental and psychological factors combine to radicalize people in the first place. “It’s a gradual process,” says Silke. “For most, radicalization takes two or three years.” Undoing that process should also be a matter of social and environmental factors. And there is evidence, Silke says, that rehabilitation is possible for soft-core members.