Terrorism and Counterintelligence: How Terrorist Groups Elude Detection (Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare)
Blake W. Mobley has written a groundbreaking study on how terrorist groups collect intelligence. He vividly portrays terrorist group dilemmas and weaknesses, as well as their ability to foil the security services of their adversaries.(Daniel Byman, Georgetown University, and research director of the Saban Center at The Brookings Institution)With the strategic defeat of al Qaeda in sight,Terrorism and Counterintelligenceoffers a timely analysis of the vulnerabilities of terrorist organizations, which will speed their demise.(Graham T. Allison, director of Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs)Counterintelligence remains a stepchild in the study of intelligence, despite the fact that every organization, including NGOs, does it in some form whether or not they use the language. Blake W. Mobley's book is a welcome addition to the literature on this subject, all the more so because it looks at the counterintelligence of terrorist groups. He combines solid scholarship with an insider's sense for how the world actually works. His framework -- organizational structure, popular support, and controlled territory -- applies well to terrorist groups. Slightly adjusted, it could also apply to other groups as well, including NGOs.(Gregory F. Treverton, director, RAND Corporation's Center for Global Risk and Security and vice chair of the National Intelligence Council)A well-researched and compellingly argued book that sheds original light on a perplexing and heretofore often misunderstood subject.... Highly recommended.(Choice)Terrorism and Counterintelligenceis an intellectual rollercoaster that shows the ups and downs of the biggest and most prominent terrorist groups the world has dissected so far and leaves the reader with a renewed sense of the power and control these groups have on traditional society.(Ross W. Clark, Penn State UniversityParameters1900-01-00)