2025/10/31 by Syed Mahfujul Haque Marjan, Tommy Blanchard · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence #Intelligence, Security, War Strategy #Global Security and Public Health
paper · doi:10.1080/18335330.2025.2581159
openalex publication_date 2025/10/31 · openalex created_date 2025/11/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Effective counterterrorism depends on both formal intelligence and informal human sources, including public tips and community reports. This study analyses how 246 US-based jihadi terrorists between 2001 and 2016 attracted the attention of law enforcement, with a focus on two distinct forms of collaboration: contact with foreign militant networks and operational cooperation with US-based accomplices. Individuals with US-based operational collaborators were significantly more likely to be detected – through tips from community members or family. On the other hand, individuals who only had contact with a foreign militant group were significantly less likely to be detected, especially by government informants. These findings underscore the critical role of community-based detection in identifying decentralised threats and suggest that different collaboration styles pose distinct challenges for counterterrorism strategies.