The Challenge of Nonterritorial and Virtual Conflicts: Rethinking Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism
Abstract
In this paper, esteemed terrorism expert Dr. Stephen Sloan provides a learned narrative about the scholarship and doctrine concerning terrorism and insurgency. In offering his thoughts about the well chronicled flow of terrorism analysis, he identifies how recent trends should be affecting counterterrorism doctrine and policy. In the concluding chapters he provides his views for improving upon the traditional approaches in order to deal with international and virtual threats. The premise of Dr. Sloan's paper is that terrorism in the 21st century has become predominately international in nature, riding on the back of opportunities provided by new technologies in cyberspace, aerospace, and the Internet. He suggests that traditional concepts for countering terrorism and insurgency are not effective in dealing with contemporary terrorism in its modern form as a nonterritorially based insurgency. Concerning the notion of a global insurgency, Dr. Sloan's analysis runs parallel with scholars such as Rohan Gunaratna, Richard Shultz, and David Kilcullen whose recent writings address the issues of terrorism and global insurgency. The reader can decide upon the extent of the global insurgency--or if one exists at all. And is global insurgency the right descriptor for the terrorism phenomenon we now observe? Dr. Sloan's paper enjoins the reader to consider the observed facts of an increasingly effective use of technology by groups that employ the terrorism tool to advance their interests. The intent of these terrorist groups will be up to the intelligence community and policymakers to discern. But Dr. Sloan suggests, while we must acknowledge the imperatives of countering global insurgency, U. S. counterterrorism policy should be keenly focused upon countermeasures for terrorist's use of aerospace and cyberspace.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA542409
Entities
People
- Stephen Sloan
Organizations
- Joint Special Operations University