One of the most ignored dimensions of the Iraqi insurgency are the Iraqis themselves who are regularly abducted, held for ransom and sometimes executed.

Bruce Hoffman

Categorized in : Dimensions Ransom Abduction

One of the problems with the kill-or-capture metric is that it has often been to the exclusion of having a deeper, richer understanding of the movement, its origins, and our adversaries' mindset. The nuances are absolutely critical. Our adversaries are wedded to the ideology that informs and fuels their struggle, and, by not paying attention, we risk not knowing our enemy.

understanding knowing struggle

It could be coincidence. It's an extraordinarily short turnaround it's impossible to say at this point.

turnaround coincidence impossible

With the exception of weapons of mass destruction, there is no other type of attack that is more effective than suicide terrorism. The perception is that it's impossible to guard against.

mass-destruction perception suicide

I think this is one of the major challenges that we face in the U.S. The major incidents in the U.S. have not conformed to our stereotype of an established terror organization attacking a major iconic landmark.

organization challenges thinking

Al-Qaeda's obituary has been written countless times over the decade. Each iteration has proved to be ephemeral, as the moment has continually shown itself to have a deeper bench than we imagine.

benches als ephemeral

The tech task force's focus has turned primarily to actual investigations, rather than what you might think of as' lead generation,'.

technology

This inattention could have created the opportunity for a local group — perhaps with external encouragement or support — to emerge from obscurity and perpetrate such terrifically lethal attacks.

top-news

Interoperability has long been viewed as a way to solve lock-in problems, the thing about interoperability requirements is that you have to be very careful with how you design them and what they actually do.