Farrall in Foreign Affairs:How al Qaida Works

February 24th, 2011 by zen

This is what Global Guerrilla theorist John Robb would call “a Plausible Promise“, a required step in building an “open source insurgency” which can attract groups with differing agendas, opportunitic actors and ideologically motivated, socially alienated “lone wolves” to their banner. Al Qaida has tacticians who apparently agree, having formally adopted “Open Source jihad” in late 2010. So far, the executive branch departments of the USG seem to be studiously determined to ignore that as well, a stance that corrupts our analytical integrity and cripples our operational effectiveness. Lying to oneself is rarely a good way to get an advantage over an opponent.

I think I can speak for Charles Cameron in that we here at zenpundit.com hope to see more articles from Ms. Farrall in the near future.

ADDENDUM:

SWJ Blog –The Hasan Slide Presentation A Preliminary Commentary by Charles Cameron

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Posted in 4GW, academia, Afghanistan, al qaida, analytic, COIN, counterinsurgency, cultural intelligence, extremists, foreign policy, globalguerillas, ideas, insurgency, intellectuals, islam.insurgency, islamic world, islamist, john robb, military intelligence, national security, networks, non-state actors, organizations, politics, social science, strategy, Tactics, terrorism, Theology, theory, war | 6 comments

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  1. Charles Cameron:

    February 24th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    Thanks for posting this, Zen. I’m delighted to see Leah’s work get the attention and recognition it deserves at Foreign Affairs.
    .
    I’d also like to draw our readers’ attention to Leah’s blog, All Things Counterterrorism, and in particular to her thoughts about "edge of the network connections" [1, 2, 3 ], and her ongoing conversation with abu Walid al-Masri — and to say that like many others, I eagerly await the opportunity to congratulate her, any day now, on completion of her thesis, and to read what I am sure will be a defining work.

  2. zen:

    February 25th, 2011 at 4:12 am

    You are welcome Charles – is Leah taking her dissertation and reworking it to a book form when she is finished?

  3. Daniel McIntosh:

    February 25th, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    This is a great article.  One of the best I’ve read for at least the past year.  I’m shoving it at my students and telling them to read it.

  4. Charles Cameron:

    February 26th, 2011 at 9:56 am

    I haven’t heard anything from Leah directly about book publication as yet, Zen.

  5. Fabius Maximus:

    February 27th, 2011 at 2:05 am

    An excellent contender in the "rule by fear category."  The competition is strong.  Will AQ kill us before the ice caps melt and flood our cities?  Then there is AIDS, pollution and overpopulation — all strong horses that appear to be weakening.  I remain fond of the global commie conspiracy (I still check under my bed every night, just in case, as I never got over the bomber and missile gaps, and the scarey Team B warnings).
    ..
    The author cites little evidence that AQ offers substantial dangers to us, but the article is strong on vague assertions (watch NCIS every week for details, as AQ takes down the US Navy one sailor at a time).  An equally good case could be made for SMERSH, SPECTRE, and THRUSH.  Just in case, check extra careful under your beds!

  6. Charles Cameron:

    February 27th, 2011 at 7:54 am

    I don’t think Leah is interested in stirring fear, FM.
    .
    In my experience she’s a cautious scholar, and very far from a scare-monger.  This piece strikes me as basically an overview of the history and structure of AQ with some assessment of the implications for risk analysis. If it had contained documentation for every assertion it would have been three times as long — at which point the content would have been cut back to one third of what we now have by the editors.