Title: Empirical and Virtual Terrorist Networks
Speaker: Victor Asal and R. Karl Rethemeyer, Rockefeller College, University at Albany, SUNY
Date: Thursday, May 10, 2007 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Location: DyDan Center, CoRE Bldg, Room 431, Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ
Abstract:
There has been a growing awareness that social networks can provide important resources for mobilizing groups. Some of the most important research in this area has shown the importance of intra-organizational networks In this presentation we will discuss new research that identifies the advantages that inter-organizational ties bring to terrorist organizations in terms of lethality, CBRN pursuit, and the ability to attack certain value-rich targets like airplanes. We will also explore a new line of research that focuses on virtual terrorist networks. In this project we plan to go beyond the historical evidence and build maps of virtual terrorist networks by mapping connections between terrorist websites. We believe that this effort will allow us to identify new connections more quickly and identify areas of concern that policy makers need to focus upon. We will present some proof of concept work related to this line of research.