From Whole Cloth: Making up the terrorist network

Little firm information exists about the global terrorist network, and the type of data used by network analysts—testimony of participants—is not available. Relying on newspaper and other media reports, some general conjectures about the network features of the terrorist organization can be offered: It may well be characterized by a high degree of connectivity and considerable redundancy. The dynamic units are probably small, with high personnel turnover and considerable structural equivalence. The network is not ‘managed’ in the strict hierarchical sense, but a central leadership appears to plan major moves, to provide training, finance and logistical support, but to permit considerable autonomy at the local level. Such structure contrasts markedly with typical governmental hierachies. Success against terrorism may be contingent, in part, on governments’ ability to set aside formal structure and match the fluidity and nimbleness of terrorist networks.