A third item is access to money. Both nation-states and nonstate actors can move funds around the world in ways that were not possible a few years ago. Osama Bin Laden, the wealthy Saudi Arabian expatriate who has launched terrorist attacks on Western targets from his base in Afghanistan, is a living example of this capability. Narcotics traffickers and advanced terrorist organizations also can take advantage of this capacity. The fourth element is deception.
New technologies make it much easier today for both types of adversaries to cover their tracks.
Money laundering is less transparent, computer crime can be difficult to trace, and physical threats such as bombs or other weapons of mass destruction can be set for activation autonomously, by time delay, or by remote control. An enemy can strike at its target from the opposite side of the world. Gannon divides issues facing the intelligence community between threats and challenges. While clear threats do exist, other nations and groups rate the label of challenges. These challenges constitute areas of significant interest to the United States, and its intelligence community must support vital decision making with its collection and analytical capabilities.