The Lone Wolf’s Pack: Strategic Disaggregation in White Supremacist Terror

This paper challenges the persistent characterization of white supremacist terrorism (WST) in the United States as disorganized “lone wolf” violence, introducing the concept of strategic disaggregation. Drawing on terrorist organizational theory and an original content analysis of nine WST shooter manifestos (2011–2023), it demonstrates that these perpetrators exhibit ideological and organizational linkages and deliberately use attacks to recruit and instruct others. Manifestos reveal shared conspiracy narratives (e.g., the “Great Replacement”), references to prior attackers, common online distribution forums, and explicit technical guidance for future violence. By collapsing distinctions between leaders and operatives, strategic disaggregation minimizes infiltration risk, exploits biases that downplay white supremacist threats, and enables movement growth while evading counterterrorism attention. The study concludes that WST is better understood as a horizontally networked movement pursuing long-term political and social goals based on a largely shared ideology, with implications for policy responses.