Bookshelf
Knowing al-Qaeda: The Epistemology of Terrrorism
Hellmich, Christina and Behnke, Andreas, Editors, Knowing al-Qaeda The Epistemology of Terrorism, Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. (Hardback. 190 pages, $99.95/£55.00. Website price $89.96)
Publisher's description: Despite a plethora of studies devoted to it, the current understanding of al-Qaeda and the threat it poses remains vague and ambiguous. Is al-Qaeda a rigidly structured organisation, a global network of semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an ideology? What role did Osama bin Laden play within the group and its terrorist campaign? What does it mean to talk about the "global Salafi-jihad" threat allegedly confronting the West? In addressing such questions many writers have sought to offer definitive answers, yet overall the truth about al-Qaeda remains elusive.
This book moves beyond this traditional approach in order to investigate and critically assess how such answers reflect the particular epistemological frameworks within which they are produced. Its chapters explore the varied contexts within which the obscure entity labelled al-Qaeda is constituted as a comprehensible object of political, strategic, cultural, and scientific knowledge, and within which 'terrorism' is rendered an experience of quotidian life.
This volume offers a much-needed critical reflection on Western ways of talking and of thinking about the frightening experience of global terrorism.
9/11 and the Design of Counterterrorism Institutions
Karlsson, Michael, 9/11 and the Design of Counterterrorism Institutions, Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. (Hardback, 208 pages. $99.95/£55.00, Wesbite price $89.96)
From the Publisher's Website: How did the North European states react to the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001? Michael Karlsson argues that 9/11 led to a considerable pressure to strengthen rules and practices for counterterrorism and security, but that this pressure was mediated by several other conditions. The reforms were also affected by, among other things, how the threat of global terrorism was perceived, pressure from international institutions such as the UN, EU, and NATO, the domestic political context, and pre-existing rules and practices. His analysis uses the new institutionalism framework, tested through case studies of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The book offers a unique lens on the study of counterterrorism from a new theoretical and regional perspective.
Measuring the Cost of Cybercrime
Anderson, Ross, Chris Barton, Rainer Rainer Bohme, Richard Clayton, Michel J.G. van Eeten, Michael Levi, Tyler Moore, and Stefan Sava. "Measuring the Cost of Cybercrime." (PDF) Paper presented at the 11th Annual Workshop on the Economics of Information Security, Berlin, June 25-26, 2012.
Introduction: "In this paper we present what we believe to be the first systematic study of the costs of cybercrime. It was prepared in response to a request from the UK Ministry of Defence following scepticism that previous studies had hyped the problem. For each of the main categories of cybercrime we set out what is and is not known of the direct costs, indirect costs and defence costs both to the UK and to the world as a whole. We distinguish carefully between traditional crimes that are now 'cyber' because they are conducted online (such as tax and welfare fraud); transitional crimes whose modus operandi has changed substantially as a result of the move online (such as credit card fraud); new crimes that owe their existence to the Internet; and what we might call platform crimes such as the provision of botnets which facilitate other crimes rather than being used to extract money from victims directly.
As far as direct costs are concerned, we found that traditional offences such as tax and welfare fraud cost the typical citizen in the low hundreds of pounds/Euros/dollars a year; transitional frauds cost a few pounds/Euros/dollars; while the new computer crimes cost in the tens of pence/cents.
However, the indirect costs and defence costs are much higher for transitional and new crimes. For the former they may be roughly comparable to what the criminals earn, while for the latter they may be an order of magnitude more. As a striking example, the botnet behind a third of the spam sent in 2010 earned its owners around US$2.7m, while worldwide expenditures on spam prevention probably exceeded a billion dollars.
We are extremely inefficient at fighting cybercrime; or to put it another way, cybercrooks are like terrorists or metal thieves in that their activities impose disproportionate costs on society. Some of the reasons for this are well-known: cybercrimes are global and have strong externalities, while traditional crimes such as burglary and car theft are local, and the associated equilibria have emerged after many years of optimisation. As for the more direct question of what should be done, our figures suggest that we should spend less in anticipation of cybercrime (on antivirus, rewalls, etc.) and more in response - that is, on the prosaic business of hunting down cyber-criminals and throwing them in jail."
9/11 Ten Years After: Perspectives and Problems
Utley, Rachel E. Editor, 9/11 Ten Years After: Perspectives and Problems, Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. ($99.95, Website price $89.96)
Publisher description: Ten years on, what have been the principal impacts of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the external policies and international outlooks of the world's major powers, the range and scope of the international security agenda and on the capacity for states and international organisations to work together to combat the dangers of international terrorism? This book investigates a range of international responses to the events of 9/11, to evaluate their consistency over time; to analyse their long-term significance and impact and to consider both their implications for the international security agenda and the prospects for international cooperation in addressing the challenges posed. In particular, the book considers the perspectives of some of the world's major powers and international organisations on the question of international terrorism, and on its perpetrators, comparing their interpretations and responses and examining how these have changed over the course of a decade of conflict. This book is primarily directed at an academic market, and especially towards undergraduate and taught postgraduate students on courses in international politics, international relations, security studies, terrorism studies, and contemporary international history.
Counterterrorism Intelligence: Fusion Center Perspectives
Cilluffo, Frank, J., Joseph R Clark, Michael P., Downing, and Keith D. Squires, "Counterterrorism Intelligence: Fusion Center Perspectives." (PDF)Homeland Security Policy Institute Research Brief 2, no. 1 (June 26, 2012).
The brief, from HSPI's Counterterrorism Intelligence Survey Research program, examines how professionals working in the national network of fusion centers view the terror threat, the efficacy of their centers, and the role fusion centers play in the intelligence enterprise.