What Does Today’s Terrorist Really Look Like?
I met recently with a Fortune 500 security executive and the topic of terrorism was at the forefront of our conversation. We discussed the recent Times Square incident in great detail and uncovered some interesting viewpoints that I wanted to share here.
As we ‘win’ the war on terrorism overseas, today’s terrorists are different. When the average executive thinks about what a terrorist looks like, he/she likely imagines groups of individuals plotting massive acts of destruction to bring their agenda to an international stage. However, as terrorist cells are broken up, much smaller groups and individuals can operate under the radar. We saw this with the recent attack attempt on Times Square.
Smaller and more frequent localized attacks may be the new norm. Car bombings and suicide bombings may be more easily executed vs. large scale attacks like 9/11. Large scale attacks take a lot of planning and flawless execution and have a greater chance of being prevented. Smaller scale attacks can be conducted quickly and more frequently putting pressure on us to ‘bat 1000′ to stop them every time.
Terrorists are getting more sophisticated with technology. While the methods of an attack may sometimes be crude in nature (like Times Square and the Christmas Day bombing attempts), terrorists are using the Internet to train each other, communicate via social networks, and to monitor the media to get an edge on what the authorities are doing. It’s inevitable that many of today’s terrorists will continue to use the same technologies we all use to do our own jobs.
The net-net: businesses should plan for an increase in disruptions from terrorism on a local level. It’s not so much about the ‘big one’ anymore.
