The Washington Post article highlights a somewhat unique terrorism strategy on the part of some of the Netherlands? ?homegrown? Islamist militants of striking directly at the societal strata of national and political power and public debate as a means of serving the Islamist agenda. In so doing, Islamist terrorists are bypassing the more traditional indirect form of terrorism in which terrorists attempt to pressure and coerce their ?ultimate? target via the use of violence to terrorize an actor with the ability to pressure the ultimate target actor. For example, in order to coerce a government, terrorists might seek to conduct violence against a particular community or strata of society that, as the name implies, terrorizes a wider swath of society that feels an affiliation or association with the targets of violence. In turn, this terrorized community applies pressure upon the government to take action to protect them or to engage the terrorist group but, at the very least, is forced to recognize the group and its agenda. This recognition raises the profile of the group and its agenda. The terrorist violence, thus, cascades through various actors and audiences from the targets of the violence to the ultimate target of coercion. This conceptual framework and terminology for understanding the relationships and dynamics at play between various actors of terrorism is most clearly articulated by terrorism expert Alex P. Schmid.

Of concern for counter-terrorism agencies and officials is what effect this form of specifically focused and targeted Islamist terrorism may have on the targeted politicians and academics. The Dutch counter-terrorism security services, the BBE (Counter-Terrorism Profile), will be compelled to provide a robust level of security for the targeted figures to insulate them from the coercive effects of the terrorism threats. Further, counter-terrorism agencies must also be concerned with the potential that this particular form of terrorism might serve as an exemplar for, and subsequently spread to, other terrorist groups globally, particularly those within Europe.