Strategic Assessment

The attack of September 11, 2001 restored terrorism to the top of the agenda of governments and international forums and led to deployment changes in defensive security services around the world. It also renewed interest in the varying origins, expressions, and implications of the terrorism threat, sparking yet another wave of critical thinking about concepts relating to terrorism and different ways of contending with it. In general, the current wave of thinking argues that several aspects of terrorism have undergone a fundamental change, manifested in a readiness to exceed “known” – albeit not necessarily tolerated – limits of provocation, killing, and destruction. This change was dubbed “new terrorism” towards the end of the 1990s, suggesting that the threat posed by current terrorism is different from the threat posed by terrorism in the past, and that it is in fact much more serious.