Defense & Intelligence Policy, Business and Technology

ANALYSIS: Preventing Terrorism Requires ‘Deep and Analytical Understanding’

Homeland Security Today: Prevention and intelligence are two essential elements in the fight against terrorism, which are directly tied to each other and can only be achieved with extensive field experience and training.

Counterterrorism officers must have a deep and analytical understanding of the terrorist organizations they are dealing with; should read most of their literature; must know the groups’ history, tactics, methods; what kind of weapons and explosives they use; their recruitment and training schemes; their social media activities and posts; and, more importantly, their past activities and attacks in a given jurisdiction. They also must know the people who support them and the members of the terrorist organizations.

Most of the time, this only constitutes one leg of the proverbial chair, and a chair needs four legs to stand. The second important aspect of a successful counterterrorism officer is having the necessary field experience, where there is direct interaction with possible targets and suspects and where there are opportunities to carry out firsthand field operations. An officer who is not comfortable enough with his background and who does not have enough time in tenure would be unlikely to successfully analyze the situation at hand.

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