A while back, I likened counterterrorism to campaigns against organized crime. The terrorist and the mafioso have a lot in common, including increasing business between them. This recent research paper, co-authored by one of the guys at Counterterrorism Blog, goes into further detail about these connections between terrorist cells and criminal organizations.
About this blog
Categories
- Afghanistan (30)
- Alliance politics (1)
- Asia (1)
- Books (2)
- Charter (1)
- China (4)
- Counterinsurgency (59)
- Counterproliferation (6)
- Counterterrorism (156)
- Current Affairs (33)
- Current events (4)
- Declarations of war (5)
- Democracy and constitutionalism (68)
- Dynamics of strategy (5)
- Europe (6)
- Guerrilla warfare/insurgency (6)
- History (61)
- Intelligence (43)
- Iran (23)
- Iraq (243)
- Islam (4)
- Israel (10)
- Japan (1)
- Journalism (6)
- Latin America (8)
- Lebanon (10)
- Leverage and power (6)
- Middle East (21)
- Military affairs (84)
- Military theory (16)
- Movies (1)
- North Korea (16)
- Off-topic (76)
- Pakistan (7)
- Podcast (5)
- Practice (1)
- Proliferation (8)
- Religion and revolution (3)
- Revolutionary warfare (18)
- Russia (2)
- Science and politics (6)
- Special operations (3)
- Spectrum of strategy (18)
- Terrorism (24)
- Turkey (6)
- Unconventional weapons (13)
- US foreign policy (104)
- Vietnam (1)
- War aims (10)
- Wargames (6)
- Weblogs (63)
- WWII (7)
Core topic
- 1. GETTING STARTED
- 2. WAR AIMS
- 2a. Why war?
- 2b. Meet Thomas Schelling
- 2c. The fog of war aims
- 2d. The war against what?
- 2e. How great a victory?
- 3. DECLARATIONS OF WAR
- 3a. The dog that didn't bark
- 3b. War and the US Constitution
- 3c. The dam and the river
- 4. LEVERAGE AND POWER
- 4a. Power is only potential
- 4b. Power and context
- 4c. Power and anti-politics
- 4d. Alliances are more than constraints
- 4e. Showing your hand
- 5. THE SPECTRUM OF STRATEGY
- 5a. "A war like no other"
- 5b. The levels of strategy
- 5c. The grand strategic level
- 5d. The theater level
- 5e. The operational level
- 5f. Operational strategy, another example
- 5g. The tactical level
- 5h. The technical level
- 6. DYNAMICS OF STRATEGY
- 6a. Friction
- 6b. The initiative
- 6c. Measure and counter-measure
- 6d. The indirect approach
- 6e. Simplicity and redunancy
- 6f. The center of gravity
- 7. REVOLUTION, TERROR, AND INSURGENCY
- 7a. Revolution and violence
- 7b. Revolutionaries and war aims
- 7c. Causes of revolutionary violence
- 7d. Elections and insurgencies
- 7e. The evolution of revolution
- 7f. Revolution's minimum entry requirements
- 7g. Revolutionary chaos, radical order
- 8. REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES
- 8a. The Maoist strategy
- 8b. The Leninist strategy
- 8c. The terrorist strategy
- 8d. Revolutionary organizations
- 8e. Dynamics of revolutionary strategy
- 9. COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES
- 9a. Counterinsurgency is hard, part I
- 9b. Counterinsurgency is hard, part II
- 9c. Counterinsurgency is hard, part III
- 9d. Counterinsurgency is hard, part IV
- 9e. Counterinsurgency is hard, part V
- 9f. Counterinsurgency is doable, part I
- 9g. Counterinsurgency is doable, part II
- 9h. Counterinsurgency is doable, part III
- 9i. Counterinsurgency is doable, part IV
- 9j. Counterinsurgency is doable, part V
- 9k. Counterterrorism is easier, part I
- 9l. Counterterrorism is easier, part II
- 9m. Counterterrorism is easier, part III
Exploding myths
- A terrorist nuclear attack is inevitable.
- Alliances constrain too much.
- Any good army can defeat guerrillas.
- By showing strength, we automatically deter our enemies.
- Captured terrorists have information that could help stop an imminent attack.
- Citizen soldiers form our military.
- Complete secrecy is required when fighting terrorists.
- Doing something and having the right values are the measures of leadership.
- Elections can stop insurgencies.
- Federal authorities are doing a great job identifying, monitoring, and nabbing terrorists in the US.
- Iraq can't possibly be like Vietnam.
- Middle Eastern countries are medieval.
- More information is better information.
- Our troops are the finest in the world, so they are fated to win.
- Releasing more photos and video will make a bad situation worse.
- The Constitution doesn't fit the new reality of war against terrorists.
- The Iraq invasion has crippled terrorist groups.
- The war against terrorists is like nothing else we've ever faced.
- Torture helps get convictions.
- Torture works.
- We are fighting a single insurgency in Iraq that's part of the global terrorist network.
- We have to be hyper-vigilant to stop terrorists.
- We know what victory in this war means.
- We're fighting a war on terror.
- We're winning the war of ideas.
- What al Qaeda wants is a mystery.
Blogs
- Afghan Warrior
- Alexander the Average
- American Footprints
- Armchair Generalist
- Arms Control Wonk
- Back to Iraq
- Blue Force
- Bobby's World
- Body and Soul
- Civic Soldier Forum
- Counterterrorism Blog
- Democracy Arsenal
- Draft Zinni
- Duck of Minverva
- Fruits and Votes
- Global Guerrillas
- Homeland Security Watch
- Informed Comment
- Intel Dump
- Irregular Analyses
- Jawa Report
- Lawyers, Guns, and Money
- Liberals Against Terrorism
- Making a military historian
- Mental Mayhem
- No Quarter
- Opino Juris
- Poliblogger
- Politics Among Nations
- Strategic Security Project Blog
- Tell Me A Secret
- The War In Context
- This Is Rumor Control
- War Historian
- Zenpundit
- The War In Context
- Mountain Runner
- Battlefield Biker
- Misfire! Misfire! Misfire!
- Reading Your Way Through History
Resources
- Army Historical Foundation
- Army Times
- British American Security Information Council
- Center for Technology and National Security Policy
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Defense and the National Interest
- Dupuy Institute
- Foreign Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Foreign Policy Research Institute
- GlobalSecurity.org
- HistoryNet.com
- Consimworld
- Marine Corps Gazette
- Military Week
- National Security Archive
- Naval Institute Proceedings
- Partnership for a Secure America
- Parameters
- RAND Corporation
- Strategy Page
- Terrorism Knowledge Base
- The Wargamer
- US Army CAC, Military Review
- US Army, Combat Studies Institute
- US Department of Defense web site
- US order of battle in Iraq
- World conflict database
- Maps of War
Comments