There is no question that French counter-terrorism official Jean-Louis Brugui?re is a leading world authority on the subject and a direct transcript of his interview with the Financial Times (link), upon which the article above is based, poses many provocative and intriguing analyses and hypotheses. Although he is obviously privy to a plethora of sensitive and classified domestic and international French intelligence reports, some of the conclusions he reaches stray from some terrorist trends identifiable to the open source analyst. Brugui?re at least appears to confuse Western and allied vulnerabilities with al-Qaeda intentions and capabilities. Upon review of the al-Qaeda modus operandi since the east African bombings of US Embassies in 1998 (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident), it is suggested here that affiliated jihadists prefer to operate in comfort zones, emphasize their technical capabilities via their attack modality, and focus on the destructiveness of their attacks for political purposes with economic effects only a secondary consideration. Thus, while Asia remains a high-activity region for al-Qaeda allies, neither Tokyo nor anywhere else in Japan is a likely target. Additionally, strikes against the significant landmarks and resorts across the region will be chosen for the potential spectacularity of their destruction and likely mass casualties of specific nationalities in order to effect a political message if not outright political change.

Since the first significant al-Qaeda operation in 1998, three types of related jihadist attack modes have been pursued: