Privacy in the Age of Big Data
Social media, Web 2.0, the Internet of Things, mobile computing, and the expansion of sensors is allowing more information to be gathered than ever before which, coupled with Big Data analytics, offers unprecedented insight into the needs, patterns, and habits of users, citizens, and consumers. Though it leads to better service, convenience, and efficiency, the [...]
Slavery and Human Trafficking in 2013
Introduction Reports and statistics from the UN, national governments, and politically diverse NGO’s demonstrate that human trafficking and slavery are as common today as they were during the years when transAtlantic slave trading was a legal enterprise. Estimates place the number of global victims as high as 29 million. The reality of this twenty-first century [...]
The International Drug Trade and West Africa: An Enforcement Quandary
“In the past decade, there has been significant growth in the illicit trafficking of drugs, people, firearms, and natural resources. Trafficking in these and other commodities is generally characterized by high levels of organization and the presence of strong criminal groups and networks. While such activities existed in the past, both the scale and the [...]
Boko Haram: A Threat to Nigeria and Beyond
Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Al-Shabaab, Hezbollah, the Haqqani network, and the Taliban are all infamous names to the Western world. These organizations, however, are but a handful of the many dozens of organizations with the official US designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Each organization has its country or region of operations and influence. Hezbollah in Lebanon, the [...]
State Sponsored Cyber Threats – The Long View
Thinking about state-sponsored cyber threats over the long term doesn’t come easy to Western strategists. This essay takes a look at at the strategic implications of thinking only in the short-term.
Dangerous Minds – The Relationship between Beliefs, Behaviors, and Tactics
This research monograph – Dangerous Minds, examines the relationship between the individual beliefs, behaviours, and tactics of an attacker. It was developed out of work, following human factors research for a ‘Scripted Agent Based Microsimulation Project’, which is currently being developed at the University of Wollongong (NSW, Australia). Another contributing factor to the development of [...]
Jordan’s Uncertain Future
Public protests erupted throughout Jordan in February of this year. While security officials in Amman are well accustomed to demonstrations within the city limits, the February protests also reached further out into the tribal regions, leading some to think that these small tremors of unrest are signs of a larger movement to come. Like the [...]
