The Shifting Threatscape Spiral
Over three decades, the ideological face of terrorism in the United States has rotated through jihadist waves, right-wing surges and sporadic left-wing and ethnonationalist attacks. This spiral charts how those currents have twisted around one another in time.
From line chart to spiral timeline
The spiral starts in 1994 near the centre and winds outward to 2025. Each coloured band is one ideology. Where a band pulls outward and thickens, incidents spike.
In this baseline view, all strands are visible. Notice how the red right-wing spiral is present in almost every turn, even when others are quiet.
Right-wing extremism as the constant
Highlighting the right-wing strand shows how consistently it dominates the U.S. threatscape: in the 1990s militia era, through the 2000s and again during the polarised 2010s and early 2020s.
Even in years where jihadist attacks spike, the red spiral rarely disappears.
The jihadist wave, then retreat
The blue jihadist spiral swells in the 2000s and mid-2010s, reflecting post-9/11 plots and ISIS-inspired attacks. Yet its presence is more wave-like—bursts of activity followed by quieter years.
The contrast with the steadier right-wing pattern becomes clearer in this view.
2015–2020: Converging strands
In the outer coils, from 2015–2020, several strands fatten at once: right-wing, jihadist and a modest revival of left-wing attacks.
The spiral becomes visibly more turbulent—an era where multiple ideological currents turned violent in parallel.
2020s: A diversified, lower but complex threat
The latest turns of the spiral show lower overall volumes than the mid-2010s peak, but a more mixed picture—with incidents spread across right-wing, left-wing, ethnonationalist and “other” motives.
The threat has not vanished; it has fragmented. The outermost coils reveal a less concentrated but still active landscape.
Threatscape Spiral
US Incidents 1994-2025