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This volume helps us understand the transformations of terrorist organisations, and the conflicts they are involved in, by broadening the perspective on what is considered terrorist learning.Using a variety of methodological approaches and empirical data, the volume offers a look at the clandestine inner lives of groups from different continents and ideological backgrounds in order to explore from whom they learn and how, and what the outcomes are. Their internal and external interactions are examined within their socio-political contexts to illuminate how they adapt to challenges or fail to do so. Unpacking the question of ‘how do terrorists learn'helps us to grasp not only changes of violent means of action but also of operational and strategic approaches and, ultimately, even transformations of the ends pursued. The chapters demonstrate that terrorist learning is not principally different from that of other human organisations. The contributors draw on conceptual frameworks of organizational learning, but also broaden the scope beyond the organizational framework to acknowledge the variety of forms of informal and decentralized learning characteristic of much contemporary terrorism.This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, violent extremism, organisational studies and International Relations.

Armed Groups­ is the most comprehensive text to provide a framework for categorizing the key actors that pose a threat to today's security arena—terrorists, mercenaries, insurgents, militias, and transnational criminal organizations—and analyzing their characteristics to provide a thorough overview. Drawing on case studies, histories, and a rich, yet underexplored theoretical literature, this study presents students with the tools to methodically examine these often overlooked, but key drivers of violence in the international system. Additionally, globalization, the privatization of force, and the return of great power competition have altered the security landscape and enhanced armed group threats. These forces have also led to an increasing overlap between conflict and crime, and a growth in the state use of armed group proxies. Coming to terms with armed groups—their objectives, strategies, internal composition, and the environment that fosters them—remains a critical task for practitioners, scholars, and policy makers alike in understanding the changing nature of war.This second edition, updated throughout, includes new material on the importance of private military companies, the shift to sub-Saharan Africa as an important center of conflict, the return of great power politics, the increased use of social media and advanced technology, and the increasingly criminalized nature of armed groups.,

What is the role of founding leaders in shaping terrorist organizations? What follows the loss of this formative leader? These questions are especially important to religious terrorist groups, in which leaders are particularly revered.Tricia L. Bacon and Elizabeth Grimm provide a groundbreaking analysis of how religious terrorist groups manage and adapt to major shifts in leadership. They demonstrate that founders create the base from which their successors operate. Founders establish and explain the group's mission, and they determine and justify how it seeks to achieve its objectives. Bacon and Grimm argue that how successors position themselves in terms of the founder shapes a terrorist group's future course. They examine how and why different types of successors choose to pursue incremental or discontinuous change. Bacon and Grimm emphasize that the instability surrounding succession can place a group at its most vulnerable—the precise time to explore options to weaken or defeat it.Bacon and Grimm highlight similarities between Islamic terrorist groups abroad and Christian white nationalist groups such as the 1920s Ku Klux Klan in the United States. Drawing on extensive field research in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Pakistan, Terror in Transition features detailed analysis of groups such as al-Shabaab, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and al-Qaeda in Iraq / the Islamic State in Iraq, as well as the KKK. Offering a rigorous theoretical perspective on terrorist leadership transition, this policy-relevant book provides actionable recommendations for counterterrorism practitioners.

Opinion surveys show that what the public assumes it knows about terrorism is at best a badly distorted view. Recalling the'Flat Earth'phenomenon, early misconceptions have become solidified, despite new evidence refuting them. The authors of The Irrational Terrorist discredit these popular myths and misconceptions, providing an accessible overview of the realities of terrorism and liberally illustrating their analysis with case studies. Ranging from the religious and economic backgrounds of individual terrorists to the nature and outreach of terrorist organizations, they offer fact-based, cutting-edge explanations of the motivations and behavior of terrorist groups.

The contributions of this volume aim at a new, evidence based approach to Jihadism studies. What is the structure of Jihadi online communication and the dissemination of operational material online? Which errors were made by conventional Jihadism research? Which programs, apps, etc. use Jihadis to further their online communication? Next to these questions the contributors discuss the evident inability to understand basic mathematical principles in conventional Jihadism research and consider a very important video as a case study of Jihadi online communication, stressing the linguistic and theological shortcomings of conventional research. The volume is based on the understanding of theological elements as a vital part of Jihadi communication.

A gripping exploration of the ethical, legal, and strategic considerations of a bedeviling question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?Starting in late 2012, Westerners working in Syria—journalists and aid workers—began disappearing without a trace. A year later the world learned they had been taken hostage by the Islamic State. Throughout 2014, all the Europeans came home, first the Spanish, then the French, then an Italian, a German, and a Dane. In August 2014, the Islamic State began executing the Americans—including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, followed by the British hostages.Joel Simon, who in nearly two decades at the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked on dozens of hostages cases, delves into the heated hostage policy debate. The Europeans paid millions of dollars to a terrorist group to free their hostages. The US and the UK refused to do so, arguing that any ransom would be used to fuel terrorism and would make the crime more attractive, increasing the risk to their citizens. We Want to Negotiate is an exploration of the ethical, legal, and strategic considerations of a bedeviling question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies. The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.

Montserrat Abad estudia en el libro las posibles vías para enjuiciar a los combatientes terroristas extranjeros que se unieron a las filas del Estado islámico. El objeto se centra en su persecución por los crímenes de guerra, crímenes contra la humanidad y genocidio cometidos en el conflicto armado transcurrido entre 2014 y 2017 en Iraq. Muestra las carencias y dificultades que existen a este respecto, tanto en lo que se refiere a la jurisdicción internacional como a las nacionales. Además, detecta incongruencias entre distintas resoluciones del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas, sobre todo entre las que se refieren específicamente, de un lado, a los combatientes terroristas extranjeros, y, de otro lado, a los crímenes de atrocidades masivas. Asimismo, se examinan ciertas novedades relevantes en materia de prueba, así como la interrelación de Iraq y Siria a muchos de los efectos considerados.

El terrorismo es uno de los temas virales en el plano político y, en la actualidad, cuenta, lamentablemente, con gran repercusión en la opinión pública y en el ámbito social. Para estos movimientos, su propaganda es vital a la hora de lograr influencia y desarrollo global, ya sea para propagar terror o para captar nuevos miembros. Esta obra ofrece un profundo análisis en el que Alberto Beltrán desenmascara las diferentes formas de difusión que poseen los principales movimientos terroristas, desde Al Qaeda hasta ETA. Ante los numerosos atentados que Europa ha sufrido recientemente, gran parte de la sociedad se plantea: “¿Por qué personas que parecen estar totalmente integradas deciden arrebatar la vida de personas inocentes?”. El mensaje terrorista cala de forma profunda en las mentes de sus seguidores gracias a las técnicas psicológicas, pilares fundamentales de las vías directas de propaganda. Cada página de este manual hace un repaso histórico de las técnicas propagandísticas utilizadas por las organizaciones más importantes del mundo, haciendo especial énfasis en el terrorismo yihadista, y profundizando y analizando los procesos psicológicos de las mismas. Además, incluye un anexo explicativo con numerosos ejemplos visuales de las campañas utilizadas por cada movimiento terrorista.

Why we need to think more like economists to successfully combat terrorismIf we are to correctly assess the root causes of terrorism and successfully address the threat, we must think more like economists do. Alan Krueger's What Makes a Terrorist, explains why our tactics in the fight against terrorism must be based on more than anecdote, intuition, and speculation.Many popular ideas about terrorists are fueled by falsehoods, misinformation, and fearmongering. Many believe that poverty and lack of education breed terrorism, despite a wealth of evidence showing that most terrorists come from middle-class and often college-educated backgrounds. Krueger closely examines the factors that motivate individuals to participate in terrorism, drawing inferences from terrorists'own backgrounds and the economic, social, religious, and political environments in the societies from which they come. He describes which countries are the most likely breeding grounds for terrorists, and which ones are most likely to be their targets. Krueger addresses the economic and psychological consequences of terrorism and puts the threat squarely into perspective, revealing how our nation's sizable economy is diverse and resilient enough to withstand the comparatively limited effects of most terrorist strikes. He also calls on the media to be more responsible in reporting on terrorism.Bringing needed clarity to one of the greatest challenges of our generation, this 10th anniversary edition of What Makes a Terrorist features a new introduction by the author that discusses the lessons learned in the past decade from the rise of ISIS and events like the 2016 Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida.

This volume examines how both victims and perpetrators of terrorism are relevant to our understanding of political violence.While the perpetrators of political violence have been the subject of significant academic research, victims of terrorism and political violence have rarely featured in this landscape. In an effort to capture the vast complexity of terrorism, and to widen the scope of the agenda that informs terrorism research, this book presents a series of analyses that examines the role of the perpetrators, the experience of the victims, the public and media perceptions of both, and given the inherent intricacy of the phenomenon, how we might think about engaging with perpetrators in an effort to prevent further violence. By considering the role of the many actors who are central to our understanding and framing of terrorism and political violence, this book highlights the need to focus on how the interactivity of individuals and contexts have implications for the emergence, maintenance and termination of campaigns of political violence. The volume aims to understand not only how former perpetrators and victims can work in preventing violence in a number of contexts but, more broadly, the narratives that support and oppose violence, the construction of victimisation, the politicisation of victimhood, the justifications for violence and the potential for preventing and encouraging desistance from violence.This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and political violence, victimology, criminology, security studies and IR in general.

In this age of asymmetric warfare, battles are fought more and more against armed groups of opponents such as terrorists, insurgents, or transnational criminal organizations. This text is the first to categorize armed groups and analyze their characteristics in a systematic way to provide a thorough overview of all types of armed groups and the role they play in today's security environment.Drawing on international case studies and histories, the work analyzes the objectives, strategies, and internal composition of armed groups and the environments that foster them. It demonstrates that armed groups often behave in an “hybrid” fashion, be it the criminal actions terrorists groups take to fund their goals or the role terrorist actions play in criminal organizations. As such dividing lines blur, governments need to figure out how, where, and when these armed groups are operating in zones of conflict or peace, as well as their motivations, structures, and ultimate objectives. This thorough and groundbreaking study will provide students with a strategic view of who armed groups are, how to analyze them, and what geopolitical and geostrategic factors influence their origins and operations.

This volume provides an overview of intervention and management strategies for dealing with terrorist and extremist offenders in prisons. The management of terrorist and extremist prisoners has long been recognised as a difficult problem in prisons. In most countries, such offenders are relatively rare, but when their numbers increase these prisoners can undermine the effectiveness and safety of the prison system. At a global level there is an increasing recognition of the problem of militant jihadi extremists in prison and their ability to recruit new members among other prisoners. The numbers of such prisoners are low but growing and, as a result, prisons are becoming centres of radicalisation; indeed, in some cases, terrorist plots appear to have been based entirely on networks that were radicalised in prison.This volume presents an expertly informed assessment of what we know about terrorists, extremists and prison, exploring the experience of a wide range of countries and of different political movements. Drawing critical lessons from historical case studies, the book examines critical issues around management strategies, radicalisation and deradicalisation, reform, risk assessment, as well as post-release experiences. The role that prisoners play in the conflicts beyond the jail walls is also examined, with case studies illustrating how prisoners can play a critical role in bringing about a peace process or alternatively in sustaining or even escalating campaigns of violence.Written by leading experts in the field, this volume will be of much interest to students of terrorism/counter-terrorism, criminology, security studies and IR in general.

Voici Al-Qaida elle-même, dans sa parole la plus secrète : voilà comment les jihadistes de la Base parlent et se parlent. Dans leur violence la plus crue. Ce manuel rédigé par Al-Qaida décrit comment doit se comporter le parfait terroriste. Il détaille, en 18 leçons, comment échapper aux poursuites, recruter, recueillir de l'information, fabriquer de faux papiers, détruire, commettre des attentats, fabriquer des poisons, assassiner, résister aux interrogatoires, s'évader, le tout au nom du jihad “contre les régimes athées et apostats” peuplés “d'infidèles”...

From Anders Breivik in Norway, who murdered scores of young people in a bombing and mass-shooting attack, to Omar Mateen, the Orlando killer who perpetrated the worst mass shooting in American history, lone wolves have demonstrated that they can be as dangerous as organized terrorist groups. Who are these terrorists and what can be done about them? An internationally renowned terrorism expert presents the first comprehensive treatment of this important issue. After delving into the diversity in motivations and backgrounds of lone wolf terrorists, Simon makes the following key points about this growing threat: lone wolves have proven to be more creative and dangerous than many terrorist groups; lone wolves are not just Islamist extremists but can be found among all types of political and religious ideologies; the Internet has provided the perfect breeding ground for isolated individuals with terrorist tendencies, but it may also prove to be their undoing; there are few women in this category, but this is likely to change in the coming years; and the common perception that nothing can be done about lone wolves is wrong. In fact, innovative strategies and policies can be developed to both prevent and respond to this type of terrorism. Drawing on his more than twenty-five years of experience studying terrorism, Simon has produced an insightful book that is essential reading for anyone concerned about the potential terrorist threats from violence-prone individuals in our midst.This paperback edition contains a new preface by the author, which reviews lone-wolf incidents since the publication of the original edition.

A comprehensive look at how terrorist groups organize themselvesHow do terrorist groups control their members? Do the tools groups use to monitor their operatives and enforce discipline create security vulnerabilities that governments can exploit? The Terrorist's Dilemma is the first book to systematically examine the great variation in how terrorist groups are structured. Employing a broad range of agency theory, historical case studies, and terrorists'own internal documents, Jacob Shapiro provocatively discusses the core managerial challenges that terrorists face and illustrates how their political goals interact with the operational environment to push them to organize in particular ways.Shapiro provides a historically informed explanation for why some groups have little hierarchy, while others resemble miniature firms, complete with line charts and written disciplinary codes. Looking at groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, he highlights how consistent and widespread the terrorist's dilemma--balancing the desire to maintain control with the need for secrecy--has been since the 1880s. Through an analysis of more than a hundred terrorist autobiographies he shows how prevalent bureaucracy has been, and he utilizes a cache of internal documents from al-Qa'ida in Iraq to outline why this deadly group used so much paperwork to handle its people. Tracing the strategic interaction between terrorist leaders and their operatives, Shapiro closes with a series of comparative case studies, indicating that the differences in how groups in the same conflict approach their dilemmas are consistent with an agency theory perspective.The Terrorist's Dilemma demonstrates the management constraints inherent to terrorist groups and sheds light on specific organizational details that can be exploited to more efficiently combat terrorist activity.

Chapter 1 - Al-Aqsa Martyrs'Brigades Chapter 2 - Al-Badr (India) & Al Ghurabaa Chapter 3 - Al-Qaeda & Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya Chapter 4 - Al-Qaeda in Iraq Chapter 5 - Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb Chapter 6 - Ansar Al-Islam Chapter 7 - Armed Islamic Group of Algeria Chapter 8 - Balochistan Liberation Army Chapter 9 - Communist Party of India (Maoist) Chapter 10 - Fatah al-Islam Chapter 11 - ETA Chapter 12 - Lashkar-e-Taiba Chapter 13 - Hezbollah Chapter 14 - FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Chapter 15 - Imad Mughniyah Chapter 16 - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Chapter 17 - Ayman al-Zawahiri Chapter 18 - Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Naval Warfare Chapter 2 - Operation Praying Mantis Chapter 3 - Battle of the Paracel Islands Chapter 4 - Operation Morvarid Chapter 5 - Action in the Gulf of Sidra (1986) Chapter 6 - Gulf of Tonkin Incident Chapter 7 - USS Liberty Incident Chapter 8 - Significant Naval Warfare

Chapter 1 - Al-Aqsa Martyrs'Brigades Chapter 2 - Al-Badr (India) & Al Ghurabaa Chapter 3 - Al-Qaeda & Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya Chapter 4 - Al-Qaeda in Iraq Chapter 5 - Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb Chapter 6 - Ansar Al-Islam Chapter 7 - Armed Islamic Group of Algeria Chapter 8 - Balochistan Liberation Army Chapter 9 - Communist Party of India (Maoist) Chapter 10 - Fatah al-Islam Chapter 11 - ETA Chapter 12 - Lashkar-e-Taiba Chapter 13 - Hezbollah

The bestselling author of Shadow War and Losing Bin Laden exposes the sinister Al Qaeda mastermind behind 9/11. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, has carried out many of the biggest terrorist plots of the past twenty years, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Millennium Plots, and the beheading of Daniel Pearl. As the world awaits his trial, bestselling author and investigative journalist Richard Miniter brings to life his shocking true story. Based on more than one hundred interviews with government officials, generals, diplomats and spies-from the United States, Europe, the Arab world, and Afghanistan-and on the ground reporting from Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Guantánamo Bay, Miniter reveals never-before-reported Al Qaeda plots and surprising new details about the 9/11 attacks. He also shows how Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was radicalized in America and takes us inside terrorist safe houses, CIA war rooms, and the cages of Guantánamo Bay. While thoroughly reported and strongly sourced, this is a pounding narrative that reads like a thriller.

Part reportage and part protest, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb is an inquiry into the cultural logic and global repercussions of the war on terror. At its center are two men convicted in U.S. courts on terrorism-related charges: Hemant Lakhani, a seventy-year-old tried for attempting to sell a fake missile to an FBI informant, and Shahawar Matin Siraj, baited by the New York Police Department into a conspiracy to bomb a subway. Lakhani and Siraj were caught through questionable sting operations involving paid informants; both men received lengthy jail sentences. Their convictions were celebrated as major victories in the war on terror. In Amitava Kumar's riveting account of their cases, Lakhani and Siraj emerge as epic bunglers, and the U.S. government as the creator of terror suspects to prosecute. Kumar analyzed the trial transcripts and media coverage, and he interviewed Lakhani, Siraj, their families, and their lawyers. Juxtaposing such stories of entrapment in the United States with narratives from India, another site of multiple terror attacks and state crackdowns, Kumar explores the harrowing experiences of ordinary people entangled in the war on terror. He also considers the fierce critiques of post-9/11 surveillance and security regimes by soldiers and torture victims, as well as artists and writers, including Coco Fusco, Paul Shambroom, and Arundhati Roy.

This book examines the communicative aspects and implications of US counter-terrorist policies towards al-Qaeda. Recent US counter-terrorist strategy has been largely based upon projecting certain perceptions of America as an actor to those drawn to al-Qaeda, and this book investigates in what ways, and to what extent, US officials believed that the signals sent by what America did and said could influence the behaviour of the terrorist and would-be terrorist. The study then draws on a growing understanding of that audience to analyse how those drawn to al-Qaeda were and, indeed, still are likely to be influenced by the perceptions of America that Washington's policies generated. The study's central argument is that, given al-Qaeda's unconventional strategy and the particularities of the world-view characterising those drawn to the group, America's counter-terrorist signalling proved largely counter-productive to America's objective of undermining al-Qaeda's strategic narrative, instead serving in many ways to validate it.Firstly, this book seeks to reveal the significant and largely unexplored role that signalling has played in US counter-terrorist policy towards al-Qaeda. Second, it tries to capture the objectives, strategy, tactics, ideology, and other defining features of the world-view characterising those drawn to al-Qaeda. Third, it strives to combine those two lines of inquiry by applying the al-Qaeda world-view to a critical analysis of the signals sent by US policies. Finally, the book aims to offer broad policy implications that demonstrate how an informed understanding of the world-view of those drawn to al-Qaeda can be employed to revise and refine American counter-terrorist signalling.This book will be of much interest to students of US foreign policy and public diplomacy, counter-terrorism, strategy and international security.Joshua Alexander Geltzer has a PhD in War Studies from Kings College London, and is currently a juris doctoral student at Yale Law School.

Terrorist organizations and international criminal networks pose an increasing danger to the world. This book looks at diverse groups from Al Qaeda to Mexican drug cartels and includes a chapter on terrorist WMD threats. This look at sub-state rivals is recommended to all serious students of international security.

Many popular ideas about terrorists and why they seek to harm us are fueled by falsehoods and misinformation. Leading politicians and scholars have argued that poverty and lack of education breed terrorism, despite the wealth of evidence showing that most terrorists come from middle-class, and often college-educated, backgrounds. In What Makes a Terrorist, Alan Krueger argues that if we are to correctly assess the root causes of terrorism and successfully address the threat, we must think more like economists do. Krueger is an influential economist who has applied rigorous statistical analysis to a range of tough issues, from the minimum wage and education to the occurrence of hate crimes. In this book, he explains why our tactics in the fight against terrorism must be based on more than anecdote and speculation. Krueger closely examines the factors that motivate individuals to participate in terrorism, drawing inferences from terrorists'own backgrounds and the economic, social, and political conditions in the societies from which they come. He describes which countries are the most likely breeding grounds for terrorists, and which ones are most likely to be their targets. Krueger addresses the economic and psychological consequences of terrorism. He puts the terrorist threat squarely into perspective, revealing how our nation's sizeable economy is diverse and resilient enough to withstand the comparatively limited effects of most terrorist strikes. And he calls on the media to be more responsible in reporting on terrorism. What Makes a Terrorist brings needed clarity to one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Finding Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, had long been the U.S. military's top priority -- trumping even the search for Osama bin Laden. No brutality was spared in trying to squeeze intelligence from Zarqawi's suspected associates. But these'force on force'techniques yielded exactly nothing, and, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the military rushed a new breed of interrogator to Iraq. Matthew Alexander, a former criminal investigator and head of a handpicked interrogation team, gives us the first inside look at the U.S. military's attempt at more civilized interrogation techniques -- and their astounding success. The intelligence coup that enabled the June 7, 2006, air strike onZarqawi's rural safe house was the result of several keenly strategized interrogations, none of which involved torture or even'control'tactics. Matthew and his team decided instead to get to know their opponents. Who were these monsters? Who were they working for? What were they trying to protect? Every day the''gators'matched wits with a rogues'gallery of suspects brought in by Special Forces ('door kickers'): egomaniacs, bloodthirsty adolescents, opportunistic stereo repairmen, Sunni clerics horrified by the sectarian bloodbath, Al Qaeda fanatics, and good people in the wrong place at the wrong time. With most prisoners, negotiation was possible and psychological manipulation stunningly effective. But Matthew's commitment to cracking the case with these methods sometimes isolated his superiors and put his own career at risk. This account is an unputdownable thriller -- more of a psychological suspense story than a war memoir. And indeed, the story reaches far past the current conflict in Iraq with a reminder that we don't have to become our enemy to defeat him. Matthew Alexander and his ilk, subtle enough and flexible enough to adapt to the challenges of modern, asymmetrical warfare, have proved to be our best weapons against terrorists all over the world.

Faisal Devji argues that new forms of militancy, such as the actions of al-Qaeda, are informed by the same desire for agency and equality that animates other humanitarian interventions, such as environmentalism and pacifism. To the militant, victimized Muslims are more than just symbols of ethnic and religious persecution-they represent humanity's centuries-long struggle for legitimacy and agency. Acts of terror, therefore, are fueled by the militant's desire to become a historical actor on the global stage. Though they have yet to build concrete political institutions, militant movements have formed a kind of global society, and as Devji makes clear, this society pursues the same humanitarian objectives that drive more benevolent groups.

Examines violent terrorist groups that, while not formally allied with al-Qaeda, could pose a threat to Americans now or in the future and to the security of our friends and allies. The authors show how terrorists use criminal organizations and connections to finance their activities, and they identify distinct strategies to neutralize or mitigate these threats.

Examines al-Qaeda•s evolution and the emergence of the broader global jihadist movement-groups affiliated, associated, or inspired by al-Qaeda-and the threat that they pose to the United States and U.S. allies and interests. The authors conclude by setting out a four-pronged strategy to counter the jihadist threat.

“The definitive book on the nineteen men who brought such devastation and terror to this country... a well-told, meticulously researched cautionary tale.” —Washington Post Book WorldThe attacks of September 11, 2001, were a calamity on a scale few had imagined possible. In their aftermath, we exaggerated the men who perpetrated the attacks, shaping hasty and often mistaken reporting into caricatures we could comprehend—monsters and master criminals equal to the enormity of their crime. In reality, the 9/11 hijackers were unexceptional men, not much different from countless others. It is this ordinary enemy, not the caricature, that we must understand if we are to have a legitimate hope of defeating terrorism.Using research undertaken in twenty countries on four continents, Los Angeles Times correspondent Terry McDermott provides gripping, authoritative portraits of the main players in the 9/11 plot. With brilliant reporting and thoughtful analysis, McDermott brings us a clearer, more nuanced, and in some ways more frightening, understanding of the landmark event of our time.“The very best [book] available... on the subject.” —Los Angeles Times“Absorbing.... [A] richly textured narrative full of the sort of small, telling details that turn these men from faceless figures of evil into individuals.” —New York Times“Bound to become one of the most insightful books ever published about September 11.” —Houston Chronicle“Offers riveting accounts of the final weeks and days as the plotters prepared to carry out their horrific mission.” —Booklist“Chilling.” —KirkusReviews“This is journalism at its best.” —Seymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist“Engrossing and deeply disturbing.” —Publishers Weekly

This volume proposes some theories on the conditions that favor the formation of coalitions between terrorist organizations, and how they function within the changing international system. These theories are tested against empirical data on actual cooperation between European and Palestinian terrorist organizations from 1968 to 1990, and cooperation between European left-wing terrorist organizations (the phenomenon known as Euro-terrorism) from 1984 to 1988. These findings form the basis of a broader theory concerning cooperation and coalitions between organizations involved in international terrorism. Finally, an attempt is made to verify whether the new terrorist players driven, at least theoretically, by religious motivation, will imitate the behavior of the ideological or nationalist organizations, and to test whether the theories concerning cooperation and coalitions developed in this volume apply to the new reality.

'MG-332-NIJ'--P. [4] of cover.

Understanding how terrorist groups learn may aid in developing strategies to combat terrorist activities.

'MR-1782.'