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January 23, 2018

Presentation on New Year's Eve Terror Plot, with FBI Special Agent and Professor Mark Concordia

On January 18th, Professor Mark Concordia and FBI Special Agent, Joe Testani presented to RWC students, faculty, staff and members of the community on the New Year's Eve Terror Plot: The Emmanual Lutchman Case.

In 2015, Emanuel Lutchman claiming to receive direction from an overseas ISIL member planned to commit an armed attack against civilians at a restaurant/bar located in Rochester, New York.  The attack was scheduled to occur on New Year’s Eve 2015 on behalf of ISIL and in furtherance of his plan to join ISIL. 

Following the arrest, local media coverage concentrated on facts and family statements relating to Lutchman’s mental state.  Lutchman at times was portrayed as a disaffected young man with a long history of mental illness and suicide attempts. Lutchman searched for meaning to his troubled life circumstances and desired to identify and belong to a group.  The search led him to gang affiliations and criminal activity, prison, conversion to Islam, and eventually fixation with the Islamic State.  The consumption of IS propaganda led to his transformation from fixation to identification as a jihadist and brother to IS fighters. 

The presentation contains visual representation through online activity/postings by Lutchman, FBI undercover audio and video recordings, examples of IS propaganda videos found in Lutchman’s possession, social media postings, oral statements to Agents, and case narration by Special Agent Joseph Testani who led the investigation.  ATAP member and CTM, Professor Mark Concordia, will synthesize Threat Assessment and Management concepts throughout the presentation to include, but not limited to, proximal and distal warnings behaviors identified in the TRAP 18, pathways to targeted violence, factors signaling Lutchman’s personal transformation from fixation to identification, the influence of the copycat effect in this case, and the role of impulsivity as it affected the timing of the attack.

The second part of the presentation will include information pertaining to innovated response strategies by the FBI Buffalo Division and local stakeholders to appropriately deal with the influx of case referrals containing threats of targeted violence with a mental health component.   Part II will include SA Testani’s pioneering initiative to embed local mental health providers on the JTTF and Professor Concordia’s efforts to establish a county-wide adult Threat Assessment and Management team in an area relatively unfamiliar with the TAM team concept.     

Professor Concordia worked counterterrorism with the FBI Rochester JTTF for over 13 years.  Professor Concordia possesses advanced knowledge of the application of threat assessment and management concepts to local law enforcement and higher education response protocols to threats of targeted violence.   SA Testani is a worldwide recognized counterterrorism subject matter expert with over 25 years of experience with the FBI.

Related Majors

Economic Crime Investigation - The Economic Crime Investigation program is an interdisciplinary major that blends courses from Criminal Justice, Accounting, and Computer Science, giving students a firm foundation in the procedures of criminal investigation and preparation of evidence for the justice system.
Homeland Security and Applied Intelligence - Help fight terrorism by earning your Homeland Security Degree. Our Homeland Security Courses will teach you how to use intelligence data to anticipate & prevent criminal activity.
Kirby Trask - 585-594-6081 - trask_kirby@roberts.edu