Countering The New Terrorism

Countering The New Terrorism
by Ian O. Lesser

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About Book

Journal of Homeland Security
The book's findings will be of great interest to those concerned about terrorism, counterterrorism, and U.S. national security policy.

Security Management Magazine
...provides a vital foundation for those who wish to understand the changing nature of international order.

Sharon E. Farb, The Library Quarterly, January 2000
The message...should be heeded by librarians and information professionals of all types.

Terrorism Research Cntr, Jan 2002
This book is full of fresh new ideas, and is a must read in considering the future of terrorism.

Joint Forces Quarterly, Spring 2000
Countering the New Terrorism is an insightful and practical volume for those involved in the world of counterterrorist policy.

The Library Quarterly, Jan 2000
The message...should be heeded by librarians and information professionals of all types.

Journal of Peace Research
Competent and well-structure analysis and clear conclusions make this book a useful source.

Perspectives on Political Science
...provides a new perspective on the changing nature of world politics...an important contribution to literature on terrorism and international affairs.

Joint Forces Quarterly, Spring 2000
Countering the New Terrorism is an insightful and practical volume forthose involved in the world of counterterrorist policy.

Terrorism Research Center, January 2002
This book is full of fresh new ideas, and is a must read in considering the future of terrorism.

Book Description
Recent bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa remind us that U.S. citizens and U.S. interest are not immune to terrorism. Featuring the works of world-renowned experts, this book traces the recent evolution of international terrorism against civilian and U.S. military targets, looks ahead to where terrorism is going, and assesses how it might be contained.

From the Publisher
Terrorism is changing, as is its effect on national security. This bookbrings together three complementary papers that address trends ininternational terrorism, the special problem of terrorism in the informationage, and how to meet the terrorist challenge to U.S. interests.Each of these papers pays special attention to the effect of terrorismon the U.S. military. Each also considers the role of militaryforces, especially air and space power, in national counterterrorismstrategy.The study made extensive use of the RAND-St. Andrews Chronologyof International Terrorism a comprehensive database on world wideterrorist incidents since 1968.The papers were written as contributions to a year-long project onTerrorism and Counterterrorism: Implications for Strategy andUSAF Planning, conducted within the Strategy and DoctrineProgram of RAND's Project AIR FORCE. The study was co-sponsoredby the Deputy Chief of Staff, Air and Space Operations (AF/XO), andthe Director of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance(AF/XOI). It was aimed at helping the Air Force to address its ownforce protection concerns, as well as contributing to the broadernational and international debate on terrorism. The findings shouldbe of interest to a wide audience interested in terrorism, counterterrorism,and national security policy.

From the Back Cover
Within Terror's Reach

"The new terrorism has different motives, different actors, different sponsors, and . . . demonstrably greater lethality. Terrorists are also organizing themselves in new, less hierarchical structures and making use of amateurs to a far greater extent than in the past. All of this renders much previous analysis of terrorism . . . obsolete, and complicates the task of intelligence gathering and counterterrorism."

--Ian O. Lesser, Countering the New Terrorism

Recent terrorist acts, such as the bombings of the World Trade Center, Khobar Towers, and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, remind us that terrorism is capable of gravely affecting U.S. citizens and U.S. interests.

Where is terrorism headed--and how close will it come to our shores? RAND, home to the world's top experts on international terrorism, confronts these issues unflinchingly in Countering the New Terrorism.

In Countering the New Terrorism, authors Ian Lesser, Bruce Hoffman, John Arquilla, David Ronfeldt, and Michele Zanini trace the recent evolution of international terrorism against civilian and U.S. military targets, offer judgments on the future directions of terrorism, and propose strategies for its containment.

Can terrorism be stopped? Contained, yes, stopped, no. This frank report addresses the role of military forces, especially air and space power, in national counterterrorism strategy and stresses that the United States must strive to make terrorism "more transparent" and address the problem of privatized terror. In the words of one author, the stakes "go beyond the protection of American lives and property and our capacity for global engagement, and involve the reasonable expectation that the government will keep its citizens from being terrorized."

About the Author
IAN O. LESSER (D. Phil., International Politics, St. Antony's College, OxfordUniversity) is a Senior International Policy Analyst at RAND whose areas of expertise include U.S. foreign policy and strategic planning, NATO and Mediterranean affairs, grand strategy and economic security, and international terrorism.

JOHN ARQUILLA (Ph.D., Political Science, Stanford University) is a RAND consultant and a professor of foreign policy at the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

DAVID F. RONFELDT (Ph.D., Political Science, Stanford University) is a senior social scientist at RAND whose research focus includes information revolution, netwar, cyberocracy, strategic swarming and the rise of transnational networks of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Michele Zanini (master's in public policy, Harvard University) is a researcher at RAND who has worked on a number of RAND research projects focusing on NATO strategy in the Balkans and Mediterranean, terrorism, and European defense planning.

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