Prerequisite: None

Based on research paper of the same title, this briefing identifies the critical requirements necessary to conduct a terrorist attack integrating the actual methods used, taught, and published by the terrorists. These requirements are incorporated into a realistic planning model designed to emphasize the point at which the critical requirement is vital to the terrorist operation.

Establishing these critical points may lead to the identification of vulnerabilities in the operational cycle of an adversary. This perspective helps identify the essential requirements associated with a terrorist operation, and more importantly identifies those requirements we can and should deny or disrupt. Directly targeting a critical vulnerability, as determined by the analytic models, gives greater precision and rigor to countermeasure development, and ensures economy of force and effective employment of protection capabilities.

Learning Objectives:

• Create a model allowing detailed analysis of the entire terrorist attack process
  

• Create realistic scenarios identifying how terrorist can attack a target

• Establish a means to prioritize denying or disrupting terrorist attack requirements