3rd Edition
Terrorist Recognition Handbook A Practitioner's Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities, Third Edition
First published in 2003, Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Practitioner's Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities remains one of the only books available to provide detailed information on terrorist methodology—revealing terrorist motivation, organizational structure, planning, financing, and operational tactics to carry out attacks.
This fully revised and updated third edition contains the detailed analysis and history of prior editions with completely new case studies and information on new and emerging terrorist practices and trends. Updates to the third edition include:
- The newest geopolitical challenges and terrorism to emerge from the geopolitical climate post-Arab Spring
- Details on the newest attack tactics and procedures of al-Qaeda including al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, the Islamic Maghreb, and East and North Africa
- Lessons learned from recent terrorist operations and information gained from plots foiled by the FBI in the U.S.
- Current strategic factors and regional variables affecting global terrorism and regional insurgencies
- Potential points of failure in terrorist operations where plots can be most easily detected and disrupted
- The increasing trend of self radicalized, Internet- educated "lone wolf" operations, as demonstrated in the Boston Marathon bombing
- The rebirth of U.S. and European militia groups
Written for counterterrorism practitioners who risk their lives to uncover planned attacks on civilian populations, this book will serve as a guide to train intelligence operatives, law enforcement entities, and military intelligence agents and soldiers to recognize and disrupt the various stages of developing terrorist plots.
Know the Terrorist
Your Mission: Critical Awareness
Who They Are: Identifying Terrorist Operatives
Intelligence Profiling Suspected Terrorists
Terrorist Training
Terrorism 101: Why the Terrorist Chooses This Path
What Terrorists Believe
Identifying the Terrorist Group and Its Cells
Terrorist Group Organization
The Terrorist Cell
Terrorist Strategies and Target Selection
Detection of Key Terrorist Activities
Terrorist Preparations for Attack
The Terrorist’s Tools: Conventional Weapons Identification
The Terrorist’s Tools: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons and Equipment
Predicting an Attack
Terrorist Surveillance Techniques
Detecting Infiltration and Special Mission Techniques
The Decision and Attack Sequence: The Last Chance to Stop and Attack
The Basics of Analyzing Intelligence and Predicting Terrorism Events
Point of Danger: Law Enforcement Traffic Stops and Encountering Terrorists
Terrorist Operations and Tactics
The New Fields of Terror
A Primer on al-Qaeda and the Global Extremist Insurgency
Suicide Terrorism: Tactics, Equipment, and Management
Terrorism and Insurgency in Iraq and the Changing Middle East (2003-2013)
Supplemental Data: Bibliography and Appendices
Bibliography
Appendix A: Global Terrorist Groups
Appendix B: Explosives Components and Ingredients Checklist
Index
Biography
Malcolm W. Nance
First published in 2003, this practitioner-based handbook provides a comprehensive and detailed treatment of terrorism and counter-terrorism. Divided into six parts, the chapters cover topics such as understanding terrorism in all its manifestations, and the components of counter-terrorism. The appendices include a bibliography, a listing of terrorist groups, and a checklist of explosive components and their ingredients. The author is a consultant on counterterrorism and a retired military intelligence officer.
—Book review by Dr. Joshua Sinai appearing in Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2014