Borealis Threat & Risk ConsultingToday (July 22) marks the fifth anniversary of one of the darkest days in Norway’s history. Anders Behring Breivik set off bombs outside a government complex in Oslo, killing 8, then traveled to an island called Utoya where a young person’s political function was occurring and massacred 69 people. Today also marks the fifth anniversary […]
Another terrorist attack another claim that a – pick one – mentally ill/alienated/uneducated/inherently violent/disenfranchised young man “self-radicalised” and went on to commit a terrorist act. The case this time is the axe attack on a train in Germany by an Afghan (or Pakistani – the information on this is not yet clear) immigrant. German officials […]
The general public has little insight into how intelligence agencies operate. That is good on one level since these organisations’ success depends in large part on their ability to work in the shadows. On another level, however, the information vacuum invariably opens the door wide open for anyone – and I do mean anyone, qualified […]
Like a lot of people I enjoy traveling. I had some amazing opportunities to see the world while I worked in intelligence and I have continued to voyage abroad in retirement. There is so much that our planet has to offer and it is indeed a privilege to see it close up. When I […]
If there is one thing that is true about all Islamist extremist groups is that they are full of hate. They hate other Muslims. They hate the Shia. They hate the Sufis. They hate non-Muslims. They hate LGBT. They hate choice. They hate everything in their warped world view. Hate. Hate. Hate. One other thing […]
The horror of what happened in Nice compounds the horror of what happened in Paris in January and November of last year. These large-scale attacks got a lot of attention, but there were also some smaller ones like the killing of a police officer and his wife and an attempt to blow up a gas […]
As I write this blog events in Turkey are still unfolding. Whether we call this a successful coup or an attempted coup is not relevant to what I hope to convey here. Suffice to say that a tactic the Turkish military used all too frequently in the 20th century appears to have resurfaced. I have […]
If I have said it once, I have said it many times: it is best to wait for information to come in before issuing “definitive”analyses of what has just happened. The tragic attack in Nice may be over but it is far too soon to give in to speculation about who was responsible and why […]
The shootings in Dallas last week are a tragedy no matter what your political stripe. The murder of five police officers, those we entrust to keep us safe, tends to hit hard. The apparent unjustified shootings and deaths of several black Americans by police officers in recent months is likewise a very sad series of […]
Every day we seem to read about yet another terrorist attack attributed to Islamic State. Whether or not the group claims the event – and there is a lot of analysis over when it does and when it doesn’t – there is no question that in the minds of most people IS is the world’s […]