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Al-Qaeda’s network — not its numbers — is crucial
By WDavidStephenson | July 13, 2007
Yes, it’s disturbing that the new “Al-Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West” report documents they’ve transferred operations to Pakistan and have rebuilt considerably since the US’s early success in 2001-2 in attacking its Afghanistan bases (before we lost focus and diverted resources to You Know Where).
However, since the War on Terror is likely to continue many years into the future, it’s important to remember that numbers aren’t as important as their networked structure in fighting us.
That’s the nature of asymmetrical warfare: a loose network of well-trained (or even, in some cases, poorly-trained but just lucky) terrorists with a lot of autonomy (including home-grown ones, I fear), can bring a large, well-trained army or a proud nation to its knees with a single massive and/or highly symbolic attack.
The numbers may ebb and flow, but the nature of the conflict remains that whether abroad with netwars, or at home with a networked homeland security strategy, we must have a networked defense against a networked enemy
BTW, I noticed that Sec. Chertoff, as he made the morning talk show circuit yesterday morning, again mouthed the bromide (it must be programmed into Secretaries of Homeland Security) that we should all be alert — but once again failed to either give specifics about what to be alert for, or where to find those specifics (good luck if you’re combing either the DHS or FBI sites for guidance).
Technorati tags:
homeland securityDHS Department of Homeland Security netwar War on TerrorIraq War terrorism antiterrorism smart mobs swarm intelligence emergent behavior networked homeland security Al-Qaeda
Topics: policy and politics, networked security | |
