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Breaching the Fortress Wall

Understanding Terrorist Efforts to Overcome Defensive Technologies

Cover: Breaching the Fortress Wall

By: Brian A. Jackson, Peter Chalk, Kim Cragin, Bruce Newsome, John V. Parachini, William Rosenau, Erin M. Simpson, Melanie Sisson, Donald Temple

The level of threat posed by a terrorist group is determined in large part by its ability to build its organizational capabilities and bring those capabilities to bear in violent action. As part of homeland security efforts, technology systems play a key role within a larger, integrated strategy to target groups’ efforts and protect the public from the threat of terrorist violence. Terrorist organizations are acutely aware of government efforts to deploy these systems and actively seek ways to evade or counteract them. This study draws on relevant data from the history of a variety of terrorist conflicts to understand terrorists’ counter-technology efforts. Depending on the adaptive capabilities of the adversary, a defensive model built of a variety of security measures that can be adjusted and redeployed as their vulnerable points are discovered provides a superior approach to addressing this portion of terrorist behavior. Fully exploring adversaries’ counter-technology behaviors can expose vulnerabilities in U.S. defenses and help the nation make the best choices to protect it from the threat of terrorism.

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Pages: 182

ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-3914-9

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Contents

Chapter One:
Introduction

Chapter Two:
Palestinian Terrorist Groups

Chapter Three:
Jemaah Islamiyah and Affiliated Groups

Chapter Four:
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Chapter Five:
Provisional Irish Republican Army

Chapter Six:
Conclusions: Understanding Terrorists’ Countertechnology Efforts

Appendix:
Prominent Acts of LTTE Suicide Terrorism, 1987–2002

This research was sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security and was conducted under the auspices of the Homeland Security Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment.

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