The ability to identify and adapt to emerging threats is a critical component of the U.S. homeland security strategy. An article in today’s Washington Post highlights several key pieces of evidence that support the notion that terrorists are looking to acquire a cyberterrorism capability. What this would portend is a major shift in operations, not only of al Qaeda, but of the terrorist threat in general. This is important to identify: counterterrorism strategies depend on an understanding of how terrorists are likely to attack, what targets they will attack, what weapons they will use, and what tactics and methods they will use to deliver their attacks. When terrorists take us by surprise, as they did in 9/11, it is because we did not identify or understand the change in these areas, and adjust our strategies accordingly. Terrorists take advantage of this fact, not only to increase the immediate damage of their attacks, but to increase the longer-term psychological impact. TRC Analysis
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