The Making of Terrorists and Their Networks

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal is pursuant to a Memo of Understanding established with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in which both the NSF and the DHS will co-fund "The Making of Terrorists and Their Networks." The project is to undertake an assessment of the state of knowledge about the "making of terrorists." It is a meta-evaluation to evaluate studies of the making of terrorists. The proposal undertakes a series of workshops to bring experts together to discuss a large number of topics related to terrorism. An interdisciplinary panel of experts will review and evaluate relevant data, distill essential scientific findings, and make recommendations to policy makers, researchers, and other audiences. The goal is to determine what is known about terrorist groups generally and what is known about terrorist networks specifically. The experts assembled will determine how this information can be used to identify vulnerabilities for the purpose of effective counterterrorism.