Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting

In baseball, a batter that achieves a .300 average (i.e. 3 hits in every 10 tries) is considered a success.  A goaltender with a save percentage of over .900 (meaning he saves nine out of every ten shots he faced) is considered good.  Other professions undoubtedly have their own measures of success. So why is […]

Now that everyone and his uncle has had a chance to comment on the nuclear accord reached with Iran, it’s my turn. (Full disclosure: I was an Iranian analyst in the Canadian intelligence community for twenty years and was even fluent in Farsi at one point – alas no more!) There is no question Iran […]

We all know that politicians are generally not well regarded.  Recent surveys in the US have shown trust in Congress at around 14%.  Not good. I suppose the reasons for this historic lack of confidence vary from person to person.  Most news stories seem focus on illegal spending, or outrageous perks or how little time […]

We can’t seem to get away from the whole mental illness/terrorism nexus.  Popular wisdom still maintains that people who engage in acts of terrorism must have some form of mental disturbance.  This argument is being put forward yet again in the case of the Chatanooga shooter, as he was allegedly depressed at some point in […]

As US officials and others struggle to understand why Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez shot and killed five Marines in Tennessee before he himself was shot to death by police, we are left with the usual potential suspects.  He had mental issues (depression).  His father was a radical (he was once on a US terrorist watch list). […]

When we talk of terrorism we often tiptoe around terminology.  Even the word “terrorism” itself has caused some angst: witness the debate back and forth over what to call the killing of three US Muslims in North Carolina a few months ago by a crazed neighbour and the more recent slaughter of nine African Americans […]

The more our security agencies investigate groups and individuals who adopt violent ideologies, some of which will engage in planning violent acts, the more we will be subjected to high profile and riveting trials.  In Canada over the past decade we have had several, ranging from the Toronto 18 to Momin Khawaja, and including plots […]

When most people think about terrorism, they probably have some pre-set notions of what it looks like.  Terrorists are from disadvantaged backgrounds.  They are marginalised.  They have mental health issues.  They are inherently violent people. All these preconceptions are wrong.  Or at least they are not very good at predicting who becomes a terrorist and […]

In the struggle to come up with strategies to deal with violent extremism (notice I didn’t say “War on Terror”?) a number of policies, strategies and measures are continually being proposed by governments, academics, experts and thinktanks around the world.  There is even some attempt at coordinating positions and coming to some agreement on what […]

A couple of years ago, I remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal in which the phenomenon of “lawfare” was featured.  Lawfare occurs when a person misuses the legal system to intimidate others from criticising him/her and threatens to bring personal liability action.  The term was applied to a number of scenarios: when […]