Studying terrorism

Researching counterterrorism

Context

The general trend in domestic extremism is the terrorist's disavowal of traditional, hierarchical, and structured terrorist organizations. Even well-established militia groups, which tend to organize along military lines with central control, are characterized by factionalism and disunity.

Counter-claim

The very nature of the current domestic terrorism threat places severe limitations on effective intelligence gathering and evaluation. From a law enforcement perspective, the fundamental problem is that the traditional focal point for counterterrorism analysis – the terrorist group – is not always well-defined or relevant in the current environment.