 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Teaching Terror: Strategic and Tactical Learning in the Terrorist
World This edited volume addresses an important dimension of terrorism which has to date gone virtually unexamined. International terrorists have developed a global knowledge network through which tactics and strategies are increasingly shared. For example, there is increasing evidence that al Qaeda has learned new tactics from Hezbollah and other organizations. Recent studies suggest various forms of collaboration between terrorist organizations and criminal organizations, particularly in the Tri-Border region of South America. Experts from the CIA, DIA and FBI have discovered that Islamic terrorists have used the same designs for car bombs in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. And the increasingly widespread availability of information technology has enabled terrorist organizations to communicate in new and more effective ways (including websites, user groups, chat rooms, and e-mail). These and other observations indicate that there is a global sharing of ideas and lessons learned among international terrorists. However, relatively little is known in the intelligence community or among scholars in security studies about various dimensions of teaching and learning in the terrorism world. This volume seeks to fill a gap in the research literature by focusing focus on knowledge development, legitimization and transmission among terror networks as well as within certain terrorism cell structures. Several case studies will be included to demonstrate how terrorist networks can be viewed as learning organizations, able to draw on situational awareness to adapt their behavior in ways that (for example) renders technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and satellite phones ineffective. Overall, this volume provides a wealth of insights on the transfer of knowledge in the world of terrorism, offering policy implications for counterterrorism professionals, scholars, and policymakers. The timeliness and importance of these issues should make the volume very attractive to a broad audience. As the old adage confirms, the value of knowledge can never be overestimated, and the price of ignorance can never be underestimated. The global struggle for survival against terrorism exemplifies this in unprecedented ways.
|
||