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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Terrorism Studies
Indicators Of Terrorism Vulnerability In Africa, Raymond J. Hill
Indicators Of Terrorism Vulnerability In Africa, Raymond J. Hill
Theses and Dissertations
Terrorism in Africa has increased more than six-fold since 1997, with an increase in lethality as well. The U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to counter this increase in terrorism; however, terrorism in Africa has increased seemingly unabated. Furthermore, these methods used to counter-terrorism have been reactionary as opposed to preventative. To address the terrorism threat to a country, we must first understand which characteristics make a country vulnerable to such a threat. A confirmatory analysis bridges the inter-discipline gap between quantitative and qualitative fields through as assessment of observational findings about the causes of terrorism. An exploratory analysis …
Combating Biological Terrorism From Imported Food, Jeffrey S. Nelson
Combating Biological Terrorism From Imported Food, Jeffrey S. Nelson
Theses and Dissertations
There is a threat that a terrorist or terrorist organization will use access to the US food supply to kill or sicken Americans by contaminating imported food products from Mexico. The food that Americans eat is coming more and more often from foreign countries such as Mexico. Foodborne diseases infect nearly fifty million people in the US each year, resulting in over three thousand deaths. There are many terrorist organizations that would like to deliberately contaminate American food. Drug cartels and terrorist organizations currently operate in Mexico, one of the leading food importers into the US. The purpose of this …
Dynamic Modeling Of The Economic Impacts Of A Terrorist Attack Using A Radiological Dispersion Device, Christopher B. Ledford
Dynamic Modeling Of The Economic Impacts Of A Terrorist Attack Using A Radiological Dispersion Device, Christopher B. Ledford
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research is to model the dynamic economic influences associated with an attack using a radiological dispersion device (RDD). Specifically, this thesis seeks to identify the variables associated with the total economic impact to the local community where the attack occurs and gain better insights into how local, state and federal entities can employ various policy decisions to bring the system under control within the first year of recovery. Of primary interest to the research is the problematic behavior of exponential economic impact and how the final accumulation of fiscal cost can be reduced. Using a system …
Classifying Failing States, Nathan E. Nysether
Classifying Failing States, Nathan E. Nysether
Theses and Dissertations
The US is heavily involved in the first major war of the 21st Century -- The Global War on Terror (GWOT). As with any militant group, the foundation of the enemy's force is their people. There are two primary strategies for defeating the terrorists and achieving victory in the GWOT. First, we must root out terrorists where they live, train, plan, and recruit and attack them militarily. Second, we must suffocate them by cutting off the supply of new soldiers willing to choose aggression or even death over their current life. This thesis helps to achieve these objectives by applying …
Analysis Of Layered Social Networks, Jonathan T. Hamill
Analysis Of Layered Social Networks, Jonathan T. Hamill
Theses and Dissertations
Prevention of near-term terrorist attacks requires an understanding of current terrorist organizations to include their composition, the actors involved, and how they operate to achieve their objectives. To aid this understanding, operations research, sociological, and behavioral theory relevant to the study of social networks are applied, thereby providing theoretical foundations for new methodologies to analyze non-cooperative organizations, defined as those trying to hide their structure or are unwilling to provide information regarding their operations. Techniques applying information regarding multiple dimensions of interpersonal relationships, inferring from them the strengths of interpersonal ties, are explored. A layered network construct is offered that …
Comparative Analysis Of Biosurveillance Methodologies, David M. Kempisty
Comparative Analysis Of Biosurveillance Methodologies, David M. Kempisty
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research is to compare two different biosurveillance methodologies: BioWatch and "A Hot Idea". BioWatch is fielded and operating in major US cities today. Air samples are collected on filter paper and analyzed for the presence of harmful biological agents. "A Hot Idea" is an evolving methodology using the human body's immune response to identify the onset of infection from a harmful pathogen. Detecting a temperature increase, using infrared thermographers, in a statistically significant portion of population would allow earlier identification of a biological release, accelerating initiation of response actions. A selected population including policemen, firemen, and …
An Epidemiological Approach To Terrorism, Kjirstin A. Bentson
An Epidemiological Approach To Terrorism, Kjirstin A. Bentson
Theses and Dissertations
There are many types of models for counterterrorism, explaining different problems that the military faces in the fight against terrorism. This thesis proposes that one of the fundamental assumptions underlying existing models of counterterrorism is that the struggle with terrorists can be understood as a war in the traditional sense of the term. We propose to rethink the struggle against terrorism as a fight against an infection. The epidemic of terrorist ideology within part of the world is a result, from this perspective, of the infectiousness of that ideology. Using the insights of the field of the epidemiology of ideas, …
Gauging The Commitment Of Clandestine Group Members, Doneda D. Downs
Gauging The Commitment Of Clandestine Group Members, Doneda D. Downs
Theses and Dissertations
Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, there has been a great deal of attention given to understanding the inner workings of terrorist organizations in order for the United States to be successful in the Global War on Terrorism. Group dynamics has been one area of interest pursued to gain more insight into a terrorist's cognitive battlespace. Until a few years ago, most research on individual commitment and organizational cohesion has been based primarily on questionnaires and open observations on groups that desire to be understood. However, terrorist organizations are clandestine; they constantly employ operations security (OPSEC) to ensure protection …
Modeling Transnational Terrorists' Center Of Gravity: An Elements Of Influence Approach, Cheryl L. Hetherington
Modeling Transnational Terrorists' Center Of Gravity: An Elements Of Influence Approach, Cheryl L. Hetherington
Theses and Dissertations
Since the September 11th terrorist attack, there has been an increased emphasis on understanding and modeling terrorists groups. While several efforts have focused on identifying transnational terrorists' centers of gravity (COGs), most of these efforts have proposed COGs using a traditional nation-state paradigm. In today's "global village", terrorist groups are no longer limited by locality and national boundaries. With the increasing threats from transnational terrorist groups, new paradigms and models are necessary to properly analyze today's, and tomorrow's, conflict. Analysis should be based on the identified and quantified transnational terrorists' COGs and their associated interactions. Unfortunately, not all of the …
Modeling And Analysis Of Clandestine Networks, Clinton R. Clark
Modeling And Analysis Of Clandestine Networks, Clinton R. Clark
Theses and Dissertations
Since Sept. 11, 2001, there has been great interest in the military and intelligence communities in using Social Network Analysis (SNA) to support the disruption and destruction of global terrorist networks. SNA results, however, tend to be descriptive and are limited due to the lack of advantageous properties of the relationship measures applied to the arcs in a social network. Further, SNA techniques generally focus on a single network context while real relationships are based in multiple contexts. This thesis develops a new proxy measure of pair-wise potential influence between members of a network, a Holistic Interpersonal Influence Measure (HIIM). …
Understanding The Dynamic System Of Terrorist - Government Interaction, John A. Hanrahan
Understanding The Dynamic System Of Terrorist - Government Interaction, John A. Hanrahan
Theses and Dissertations
The nature of action and reaction that forms the basis for terrorist - government interactions creates a dynamic system. Understanding how this dynamic system behaves in response to key government activities can help the government better control the overall behavior of the system. The system dynamics methodology is one tool that can help the government solve specific behavioral problems within the overall system. This research shows the ability of system dynamics to help develop government policy towards terrorism that can directly affect a terrorist's behavior. It supports a government policy of offensive action instead of defensive reaction. It also identifies …
A Statistical Analysis Of Terrorism And Instability In Latin America, Juan A. Hurtado
A Statistical Analysis Of Terrorism And Instability In Latin America, Juan A. Hurtado
Theses and Dissertations
In this research the effect of socioeconomic factors on terrorism and government instability in Latin America are studied. A commonly held opinion is that terrorism and instability are caused by repressive conditions. The objective of this research was to generate a methodology to forecast terrorism and instability given certain socioeconomic indicators. This methodology was generated for individual countries, two groups of countries, and a composite developing country. A set of 28 socioeconomic factors were evaluated and reduced based on correlation analysis. Patterns of terrorism and instability were investigated through data analysis and factor analysis. Multiple regression was used to develop …