How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns

by Audrey Kurth Cronin

Control over operations is another classic problem for groups. There is a reverse correlation between the nature of an organization and the nature of its planning of operations. Networked organizations may more easily carry out attacks, compartmentalize information, and keep themselves safe from detection, but whether they actually work toward the achievement of the cause is another question. Security and efficiency are always at odds, a dilemma that has been recognized by terrorist groups since the nineteenth century. Under pressure from state counterterrorism, targeting becomes more difficult and groups often progressively lose control over their operatives, resulting in a widening of acceptable targets to include more easy-to-hit “soft” targets. Meanwhile, the security imperative that leads to the compartmentalization of information and the limiting of communications