Search: “Terrorists”

(I just realised that the title of this blog could be seen as offensive.  Please believe that I am not equating those that build bridges and improve our way of life with those who wantonly slaughter innocent people in the name of ideology.  The two have nothing in common.  Or do they?) Building on my […]

The answer to the question in the title of this blog should be a no-brainer.  We want research to help us come up with ways to stop (or prevent) terrorism.  Who would quibble with that? Well, things are not as simple as they seem according to an article in the New York Times.  In the […]

In the wake of the horrendous attacks in Brussels this week, there has been a cascade of stories, op-ed pieces and analyses of the event, ranging from why Belgian security services did not prevent it to whether more are on their way.  Political scientist, sociologists and even a few former spies have weighed in, and […]

If there is one theatre of war tactic that remains controversial – aside from the inevitable divisions of futuristic killer robots I keep reading about – it is the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles as the military prefers to call them.  Relentless, tireless, brimming with state of the art gadgetry, these flying platforms […]

I am fascinated by polls and the science of polling.  Yes, some firms have taken a hit for what turned out to be inaccurate predictions (especially when it comes to election results), but we do not have a better way at present to gauge the pulse of the public on any given issue.  It is […]

There are many occasions on which public perception does not hold up well once research is carried out and data collected.  For instance, people in Canada and the US think that crime is on the increase when statistics show quite the opposite and that we are in an era of unprecedented safety.  Global warming  is […]

Despite my continuing efforts to understand why people become terrorists, I have always believed that the decision to do so is indeed a choice, and not due to some form of coercion or brainwashing.  I view the vulnerability/victim arguments (i.e. it is not the fault of the terrorist) as both largely uninformed and perhaps the […]

Intelligence is usually a plodding business.  Not that it is not exciting – quite the contrary! – but that it takes time to gather information, process it, analyse it, figure out what gaps remain, and then go out and get more.  Rarely do you paint a complete picture, regardless of how good and diverse your […]

From time to time a bizarre case crops up in the world of terrorism, even in Canada.  We have all read of individuals who are portrayed as incompetent or cells described as “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight” (that was the consensus on the Toronto 18 for a long time and may still be believed […]

I just read in the Ottawa Citizen that the brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alexandre, has called on the Liberal government not to deport alleged Algerian terrorist Mohamed Harkat back to his native land. Recall that Mr. Harkat was subject to a National Security Certificate and found to be inadmissible to Canada under the […]