Countering Terrorism: Integration of Practice and Theory articles

Recent articles from Countering Terrorism: Integration of Practice and Theory

Preface.
February 28, 2002... The movement from idea to actuality often involves the cooperation of many individuals. This action becomes more complicated when it occurs within a bureaucracy. It was during a meeting of members of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) and...

Introduction: countering terrorism: integration of practice and theory.
February 28, 2002... On February 28, 2002, more than 70 academic scholars and researchers, and personnel from justice, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, met at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for an invitational conference on "Countering Terrorism:...

Executive summary.
February 28, 2002... Three broad themes emerged from the discussions. These were: * Efficient and effective collection and dispersal of information, * Development and maintenance of working relationships among various communities and law enforcement...

Scenario 1: a trustworthy local businessman reports suspicious activity by an apparently Middle Eastern neighbor.
February 28, 2002... A citizen contacts a detective in a small east coast city. The detective knows the caller to be a trustworthy local businessman. He reports suspicious activity by a neighbor who moved into a rental residence nearby. The neighbor appears Middle...

Scenario 2a: a woman contacts her therapist about a friend of her son's "martyrdom mission.".
February 28, 2002... A woman contacts her psychologist from whom she has been receiving therapy for the past year for bouts with depression. She reports that she has just learned that a friend of her 19-year-old son appears to be recruiting her son for a martyrdom...

Scenario 2b: a Palestinian reports to the FBI that a recent suicide bombing in Israel was committed by his brother.
February 28, 2002... A young man walks into a local FBI office and claims to be from Palestine. He reports that the recent suicide bombing in Israel that is being widely reported in the international media was committed by his brother. The reporting person is...

Scenario 2c: a teacher tells an officer about her student's father who talks about killing himself "like the people who flew planes into buildings.".
February 28, 2002... An off-duty law enforcement officer received a call from his neighbor who is a teacher at a local private elementary school. Today a ten-year-old boy student told her that he was worried about his father killing himself "like the people who...

Scenario 3a: without links to the local Muslim community, police receive an anonymous call about a conversation in a local mosque about plans to attack an American City.
February 28, 2002... A city police department of a medium size U.S. city received an anonymous telephone call to their published but non-emergency number. The caller reported overhearing a conversation that took place in a local mosque regarding a plan to attack an...

Scenario 3b: law enforcement must evaluate hoax terrorist threats. They also must construct media statements about possible threats and false alarms.
February 28, 2002... Investigators arrest an individual that has made several anonymous terrorist threats directed toward a city facility. Substantial investigative and security enhancements have occurred during the course of these threats. No financial or specific...

Scenario 4: three persons are arrested near a nuclear power plant; two refuse to talk and the third (who recently traveled to Indonesia, Yemen and Germany) will talk.
February 28, 2002... Three individuals were arrested for trespassing near a nuclear power plant after having been observed by plant security photographing and sketching the facility. The three individuals have been separated and interviewed individually. Two...

Scenario 5: improvised explosive device material is found in an apartment. The only witness to activity there is an alcoholic in withdrawal.
February 28, 2002... Fire and rescue personnel respond to an explosion and subsequent fire in an apartment building near an industrial section of the city. Arson investigators determine the cause and origin to be detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED)...

Scenario 6 (a-c): how can law enforcement build effective ties to local Muslim communities, and what can these communities do to mobilize their members to speak out against terrorism?(muslim communities, safety and security measures)
February 28, 2002... (a) FBI behavioral specialists have been requested to provide a local police department and field office with specific recommendations to improve trust and cooperation within their large Muslim community. There already have been two incidents...

Scenario 7: effective interview strategies for relatives, friends, or acquaintances of terrorists or suicide bombers.
February 28, 2002... Officers and agents are sent overseas to interview relatives, friends, and/or acquaintances of terrorists and/or suicide bombers. Identify interview strategies to be utilized with Middle Eastern women, children, and/or relatives of terrorists...

Additional issues for practice, training and research.
February 28, 2002... There were many questions and issues raised either in discussions that were tangential to the scenario focus sessions, or in the plenary session that occurred at the end of the conference day. These included: Can we characterize the...

Conference participants.(countering Terrorism)
February 28, 2002... Catherine B. Ahmad: FBI, Washington, DC. Larry G. Ankrom: Behavioral Assessment Unit, West Region, NCAVC, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA. Stephen Band: Behavioral Science Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA. Lara Baranowski: FBI, Washington, DC....

Appendix 1: information management and evaluation.(biomimetic information management )
February 28, 2002... Information Management and Evaluation Systems--an example The words that people use in communication are ill suited to standard word-based search engines. Frequently, new uses are invented for old words, ambiguous terms are used (the word...

Appendix 2: communications technologies.(Domestic Emergency Response Information System)
February 28, 2002... Domestic Emergency Response Information System One of the most critical problems in emergency response is the lack of interoperable communications. No authority exists to arbitrate the choice of communications systems across different...

Appendix 3: community policing models.(strategies for greatly reducing homicides)
February 28, 2002... Models of community policing A series of strategies begun in the early to mid-1990s in Boston to address violence among youth and the illicit gun market are given credit for greatly reducing homicides, especially among the youth. The plan...

Appendix 4: psychology of deception.
February 28, 2002... Psychological Evaluations of Deception Bond, Charles F. Jr; Atoum, Adnan Omar (2000). International deception. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol. 26(3), 385-395. This article describes three studies of international...

Appendix 5: data mining.(a way of looking through large amounts of information to find particular bits of information)
February 28, 2002... Data Mining Methodology is a way of looking through large amounts of information to find particular bits of information. The "looking through" can be done by computer. Once the computer finds what it is looking for, it will sound an alarm or...

Appendix 6: decision trees.(procedure for choosing a decision strategy from a decision tree (backward induction analysis))
February 28, 2002... Decision Tree Methodology: Decision trees can be used to help make decisions. The idea is to concretely identify the choice points and map the sequence of decisions from beginning to end. The advantage is that how a decision is made is made...

Appendix 7: training guide for hate crime training program.(intended to assist law enforcement agencies in establishing a hate crime training program for their personnel)(Brief Article)
February 28, 2002... Training Guide for Hate Crime: Data Collection. Summary Reporting System, National Incident-Based Reporting System (1997). U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation: Criminal Justice Information Services Division. The...

Appendix 8: psychology of bias.
February 28, 2002... Psychological Evaluations of Negativity Bias: psychologists have discovered that there is a tendency for humans to give greater weight to negative events than positive events. This should be considered when public officials are trying to...