Terrorism and Asylum, edited by James C. Simeon, thoroughly analyses terrorism’s use in forced displacement, to limit access to asylum, and to exclude persons from refugee protection, while offering practical alternative solutions for advancing human rights and dignity for everyone.

A key concern of the United States and Europe for accepting refugees is the perceived threat of increased vulnerability to terrorist attacks, especially concerning refugees from origin countries with a known presence of terrorist organizations. While studies have focused on refugee flows to specific countries, research is needed to identify and compare any correlation between refugees and an increased number of terrorist attacks in the receiving country. This thesis aims to analyze any correlation to determine if there is a positive relationship between receiving refugees and an increase in terrorist attacks, and evaluate conditions that may exacerbate or mitigate the likelihood of attacks as a result of accepting refugees.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.Nation-states have different policies toward accepting refugees as leaders struggle with balancing those policies and assuring their constituents. In recent years we have seen world leaders such as the United States strictly limit the amount of refugees it is willing to accept, while others such as Germany have opened their doors to accommodate vast amounts of refugees. A common concern highlighted in political rhetoric is that increasing the amount of refugees accepted increases the threat to security. For example, the 2018 National Strategy for Counterterrorism argues that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as Daesh) "has exploited weaknesses in European border security to great effect by capitalizing on the migrant crisis to seed attack operatives into the region," stating that "two of the perpetrators of the 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris, France, infiltrated the country by posing as migrants." Others argue that more open-door or humanitarian policies, such as that shown by Germany's Angela Merkel, actually "reduces the risk of her citizens being targeted by Middle East terror groups," whether it be by fostering a sense of inclusiveness or a result of direct actions taken by legitimate refugees against terrorists, as was done by Syrian refugees in Germany in 2016. The question, however, remains: does accepting an increased volume of refugees result in an increased number of terrorist attacks in the host country? If so, what are the conditions that may result in an increased amount of attacks or mitigate the incidence of attacks? This study strives to answer these questions.

Exclusion from refugee status for the suspected commission of serious crimes is a topic fraught with political and legal controversy. This is an area which sees the intersection of refugee law with international criminal and humanitarian law and, increasingly, measures taken in the fight against terrorism. In Terrorism and Exclusion from Refugee Status in the UK, Sarah Singer examines whether and how ‘terrorism’ has featured in the UK’s interpretation and application of the Refugee Convention’s ‘exclusion clause’. A number of sources are drawn on including questionnaires and interviews conducted with immigration judges, the Home Office’s exclusion unit and legal practitioners. She therefore provides an unprecedented and thorough analysis of the UK’s approach to asylum seekers suspected of serious criminality.

The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

Only a minority of refugees and asylum seekers become terrorists, but some have committed major attacks, raising concern among host country governments and publics. This chapter identifies factors that contributed to or deterred the rise of violent militant groups and terrorists among refugees confined to camps during major historical migration crises. It then examines current efforts to mitigate the same risks among today’s refugees in camp situations. However, more than half of refugees are not in camps, but are housed either among host country populations near the countries they fled from or in third countries, where many transition through asylum reception facilities before beginning to rebuild their lives. The main factors identified in the historical cases remain relevant to more recent situations: host government policies, security and radicalizer access, living conditions, opportunities for youth, and local economic conditions and resilience. Lessons drawn from programs by the United Nations and other stakeholders to address these factors also are relevant to third countries struggling to integrate refugees. As refugees become part of the wider society in new countries, other individual risk factors for radicalization to terrorism become key to prevention efforts. These factors are essentially the same as for non-refugees. Not all have been empirically validated, but to the extent that these are useful indicators, this chapter will examine how much they apply to refugees specifically and identify promising methods drawn from mental health, criminal justice, youth, and community programs to mitigate individuals’ susceptibility to radicalization before they commit violence.