Countering the New Terrorism

Countering the New Terrorism By Ian O. Lesser
1999 | 182 Pages | ISBN: 0833026674 | PDF | 6 MB
This is a fairly recently produced document that could act as a primer for terrorists activities against the US. The books main thrust was how these new terrorist organization threaten the US Air Force and what the Air Force can do to protect itself. Do not worry about the book being to narrow, the authors take a much broader view at describing the terrorist threat and we are not bogged down by new and improved guard post theories. As the book was written before 9-11 there are some comments that are chilling when viewed with today's knowledge of recent history.The book covers the basic organization structures of the terrorist organizations and how they operate. The book also gives a brief run down of who the current organizations that are active. It also talks about the trends in terrorism in both the type of groups and the type of attacks. The point the authors make is that there are fewer attacks, but they are increasing in their destructiveness. My only complaint was that the section talking about the organizational structures of the terrorist groups started to read like a management textbook, a little dry and dull. Overall the book is interesting with some very interesting comments viewed in a post 9-11 world. If you are looking for a quick brief of terrorists then this is a good place to start.