Word: terrorists
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...assumptions," says Peter Neumann, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College in London. That's the reality of terrorism: it adapts, mutates and constantly challenges our preconceptions. So counterterrorism strategies should do the same thing. That's the best way to limit the damage terrorists can inflict and, ultimately, reduce the supply of new recruits. The failed car bombs are a reminder that it is time to jettison three of our false assumptions about the nature of the terrorist threat...
...Iraq, 184 from Jordan and 27,558 from India. One of the suspects in the car bombings is from Iraq, one is from Jordan, and two are from India. Whether al-Qaeda or other organized groups directed these individuals isn't all important. The vast majority of would-be terrorists are now freelancers and self-starters, which means that while we're going to see more duds like the car-bomb attacks, we are also likely to see a lot more attempts, period. The key is to think in a more nuanced way about the threat rather than focus exclusively...
...best way to protect civilians from terrorist attacks is to prevent them from being planned. One goal is not separate from the other. But governments still tend to focus much of their time and money on our last lines of defense--explosives sniffers at airports and haz-mat suits for firefighters. That's the equivalent of building a really deep castle moat and waiting for the invaders to arrive. "Unless you can arrest [terrorists] before they get to execution stage, your chances of averting bloodshed and death come down to luck," says a French former counterterrorism official...
...dozens of cameras it has had in place since 9/11 have so far netted zero arrests. What the surveillance cameras can do is help investigators piece together the details of plots after they are attempted, gather forensic evidence and identify suspects--all of which deepens their understanding of how terrorist networks operate. "Terrorism prevention is about information gathering and intelligence," says Richard Pildes, a co-director of New York University's Center on Law and Security. "It's not about defensive measures...
...next and most urgent task is to infiltrate terrorist groups. This is hard but not impossible. Israel, for example, has managed to set up a web of Palestinian collaborators. Last winter a would-be suicide bomber took refuge in a Palestinian house after his explosive vest failed to detonate on a bus. Unbeknown to him, the father of his host was an informer for the Israeli domestic intelligence service. The father contacted the police, and the man was arrested...