Borealis Threat & Risk ConsultingSo this guy gets on a train traveling from Brussels to Paris, pulls out a couple of weapons, including an AK-47, and fails to kill dozens only because three US citizens heroically take him out (see story here). In the aftermath, the suspect is confused that he is being labelled a terrorist (despite the fact […]
Another group of young people disappears and ends up in Syria. Another set of families devastated. Another series of criticisms levied against the government for not stopping it. Another lament of “we didn’t see this coming”. The departure in February of three bright, accomplished young women from Bethnal Green in East London has shocked many […]
Canadians remember the 1988 Seoul Olympics when “our” sprinter Ben Johnson won gold in the 100-metre dash. Celebrations turned to sorrow quickly, however, when accusations began to surface that Ben doped up before the race (it turned out he had been doping up for years). A hero became a pariah. What was interesting, however, about […]
I don’t normally pay attention to what politicians say, especially during an election campaign, but someone alerted me (thanks to whomever that was!) to an interview this morning (August 15) with Defence Minister Jason Kenney on CBC’s The House. In the exchange, which covered a number of items (the economy, Mike Duffy…), the Minister talked […]
It is rare for an intelligence agency to get public credit for what it does or how it does it. It is even rarer for a group of intelligence analysts to be featured in a news story and described as at the forefront of understanding a particular threat. Analysts are like the Steve Carrell character […]
The Canadian Justice Department has been very busy on the anti-terrorism front lately. After the Anti-Terrorism Act was passed what seems like ages ago, three other bills were rushed through Parliament in the past few years. S-7 made it an offence to travel to join a terrorist group or commit a terrorist act abroad. C-44 […]
I spent almost half of my career as an intelligence analyst looking at a very specific type of extremism: Al Qaeda and its ilk. I looked at hundreds of cases of individuals who had radicalised in tune with the terrorist organisation’s ideology, and read hundreds of academic papers and dozens of books on the topic. […]
Whenever an act of terrorism occurs in the West there is an immediate flurry of questions and panic. How did this happen? Who was the perpetrator? Why did he (or, more infrequently, she) do it? Where did they get radicalised? Is this another self-radicalised lone wolf (perhaps the most inaccurate label out there)? What do […]
I hate saying I told you so, but… Remember my post on Egypt a month ago (When will Egypt learn?)? In it I wrote that the Sisi government appears to be making the same mistakes that the Sadat and Mubarak governments before him had committed. In the face of a very real threat from a […]
I see that the American government and its intelligence community are engaged in a debate over which terrorist group poses a greater threat to the US: Al Qaeda (and its affiliates) or the Islamic State (and its sorta affiliates). There are proponents on both sides of the ledger and good points are being made by […]