Thinking about Terrorism

I have been fascinated by counter-terrorism as one of the most intellectually stimulating topics. Somebody referred to it as the mother of all systems problems. That may well be true, for one has to take in to account complexities of geo-politics, psychology, social networks, history and culture, and technology among many other aspects.

The entire issue is so complex that I have a hard time to start picking up different threads. My lense at looking at counterterrorism has been mainly geopolitical, and while I find that immensely helpful in understanding terrorism, it is hardly enough to explore the entire gamut of counterterrorism.

  I would start with Thomas P. M. Barnett's Pentagon's New Map. Watch Barnett's presentation on C-Span if you don't have time to read the book. The Counterterrorism blog provides a group commentary on different aspects of counterterrorism. Most of this analysis is US centric. John Robb at Global Guerrillas has some great analysis on possible disruptions, as well as a few theoretical frameworks for analysis which can be extended in different directions.

A while ago Frontline had two great documentaries (You know it was coming) titled Al-Queda's New Front and Cyber War. The first documentary looked at Al Queda's spread in Europe in the wake of March 2004 bombings in Madrid. The second explores the vulnarabilities of cyberspace from a terrorist attack.

I am also slightly confused about where strategic defense ends and counter-terrorism begins. Obviously, the boundaries are not clearly demarketed. Any thoughts?

Comments

[Dan]

I am also slightly confused about where strategic defense ends and counter-terrorism begins.

The major difference lays in the area of time and opponents. Small wars, like counter-terrorism, tend to be protracted, long-term processes involving a quasi police action against non-state actors rather than total war against uniformed troops.

Joseph S. Nye thinks that it is similar to the piracy of centuries past, where some country's supported pirates for their own means, while others had a 'war on piracy'.

I think it's also important to remember that terrorism is a tactic and that the counter-measures to it are usually measured by the intensity that the terrorists applied their tradecraft. Social psychologists would call it a 'matched reaction'. In years past terrorist tactics were counter-acted by counter-terrorist tactics and minor operations and weren't that widespread because it wasn't a perceived as a threat. Today, because the intensity has changed, terrorism would be high up in the area of strategic defense. I would say that it is a high priority subset of strategic defense in today's world.