Paper Info
Title
Using activity focus networks to pressure terrorist organizations
Abstract
The predominant idea for using network concepts to fight terrorists centers on disabling key parts of their communication networks. Although this counternetwork strategy is clearly a sound approach, it is vulnerable to missing, incomplete, or erroneous information about the network. This paper describes a different and complementary application of network concepts to terrorist organizations. It is based on activity focus networks (AFNs), which represent the complex activity system of an organization. An activity focus is a conceptual or physical entity around which joint activity is organized. Any organization has a number of these, which are in some cases compatible and in some cases incompatible. The set of foci and their relations of compatibility and incompatibility define the AFN. A hypothetical AFN for a terrorist organization is specified and tested in a simulation called AQAS. It shows that certain activity foci, and in particular one combination, have high potential as pressure points for the activity system. The AFN approach complements the counternetwork approach by reducing the downside risk of incomplete information about the communication network, and enhancing the effectiveness of counternetwork approaches over time.
Year
DOI
Venue
2006
10.1007/s10588-006-7082-z
Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory
Keywords
Field
DocType
Communication,Activity,Network,Simulation,Counterterrorism
Downside risk,Telecommunications network,Computer science,Computer security,Terrorism,Knowledge management,Artificial intelligence,Complete information
Journal
Volume
Issue
Citations 
12
1
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.46
1
1
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Steven R. Corman1978.72