Improving the business of intelligence

I am troubled by what the Paris terror attacks say about our country’s continuing failure to properly understand terrorist methodologies and formulate more effective counterterrorism responses. I’m particularly troubled by the sensationalistic U.S.media coverage of them.

If we continue to aggrandize the violent acts of a handful of marginalized individuals into existential threats to western civilization, our over-reactions will to continue sapping our resources while empowering extremists of all sorts.

Anyone following the events in Europe as they unfolded would have seen familiar tropes playing out in the media. The first is that terrorism in the West is primarily, if not exclusively, a Muslim problem. Many commentators viewed the three Paris terrorists as representative of an alienated European Muslim population vulnerable to the call of terrorism.

Our Overreaction to Terrorist Attacks Like Paris Is Only Making Things Worse

The terrorists’ goal is to spread irrational fear. Our intelligence professionals shouldn’t be helping them. By Michael German