Counterterrorism tactics A model of cell dynamics

Abstract

Modus operandi of various terrorist organizations has been studied extensively, and databases such as ITERATE collate details about terrorist attacks, to include the types of technology used by the terrorist organization and the number of resultant casualties. Surprisingly, however, a generalized model of how terrorist organizations plan their attacks is unavailable in the extant literature. Drawing from organizational theory, particularly the command and control literature and the case study methods, this paper posits a generalized model of terrorist attack planning. By extending this model into the counterterrorism domain, we then consider how to more optimally detect terrorist attacks.