Publication

This brief takes a critical look at the information gathering activities intelligence agencies are now performing in their counterterrorism programs. It concludes that the agencies are now collecting increased amounts of data, but that's not necessarily translating into better predictions about possible terrorist acts. As a result, the world's intelligence agencies need to 1) focus more on the timely and discriminate processing of information than they currently do, and 2) be less risk averse when it comes to supplying government leaders with data about possible terrorists and their plausible targets.