The Latest Attacks on America Follow a Familiar Playbook

In the early hours of New Year's Day, a driver intentionally rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. A few hours later, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. There is no evidence suggesting the two attacks were coordinated, but these tragic events are a reminder that terrorist threats remain a deadly reality in the United States.

A new commentary by RAND's Brian Michael Jenkins and Bruce Butterworth of the Mineta Transportation Institute discusses what we know about attacks that use vehicles. Jenkins and Butterworth note that such attacks are relatively rare, but they are not a new phenomenon. In fact, nearly all the elements of the New Orleans attack have been seen before: the use of a rental vehicle, an attack on pedestrians gathered for an event, the use of firearms and explosives, and the driver being killed in a final confrontation with police.

In the wake of these attacks, much of the country is on edge, and social media continues to fuel rumors, accusations, and conspiracy theories. “That we have been here before and persevered,” Jenkins and Butterworth write, “is a source of cold comfort to those fearful today.”