If you’ve been following this blog you know that I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.
If this is your first time to this blog, I’m writing an undergraduate thesis about the future of asymmetric warfare.
I recently took my research prospectus to my course professor and he loved it- except for one part- the title! After thinking about it for a while, I’ve got to agree with him. The one I’ve got now is pretty clunky.
Here’s what I came up with: GLOBAL CONSPIRACIES OF ONE: ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED TACTICS.
And here’s what my teacher and I tentatively agreed on in our sit-down: GLOBALLY INDIVIDUALIZED INSURGENCIES: OPERATIONS OF AND AGAINST ANONYMOUS, ISOLATED, COORDINATED AGENTS.
Kind of clunky, huh? Yeah, I’m not too hot on it either. So it’s time for a Wingman NewsWire first: a contest!
If you can come up with a title that:
A: I like
B: My professor likes
C: Describes the work
and finally
D: Isn’t utterly uncool
You’ll be getting a $20 AMAZON.COM GIFT CERTIFICATE. The contest will run until the end of October or until there’s a winner, whichever comes last.
For some more details about the paper, check out these posts.
This is the initial prospectus for my research project, which I mentioned here. As always, it is released under a creative commons license and I more than welcome your comments, questions and advice.
1. WORKING TITLE: Global Conspiracies of One: Anonymous, Isolated, Coordinated Tactics.
2. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is the National Security Organization optimized for combating widespread conspiracies which use cell isolation and anonymous communication?
3. PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE: Operations Security is the most important consideration for any combatant force today. This is especially true for asymmetric forces such as terrorist organizations or insurgencies. Organizational leaders try to minimize leaks by compartmentalizing forces into semi- or fully autonomous “cells”. Sometimes these cells owe allegiance to a philosophical leader in name only, operating on their own with no knowledge of any other cells. Occasionally, the name is the only thing these cells share—even end goals might differ between two “affiliated” groups. A conspiracy where one master cell, perhaps only one individual deep, manages hundreds or thousands of independently acting individuals, none of whom even know their partners exist, could have amazing security. This means great difficulty for organizations defending against this globally-individualized conspiracy. With the only mastermind using anonymizing technology to be indistinguishable from a friendly citizen, tracking down and preventing attacks could be nigh on impossible.
4. METHODOLOGY: Begin with a definition of the problem and its elements, including a brief primer on anonymizing technology, asymmetric combat, and terrorism. Continue with a literature review. Next discuss current terrorism and anti-terrorism model briefly, providing step-by-step process for prevention/defense. Then, discuss theoretical model and back it up with case studies, including Neurocam. Lay groundwork for technical feasibility with more detailed information on anonymizing technology. During theoretical model, show how it would defeat current anti-terrorism strategy point-by-point. Conclude with suggestions for a more effective model and recommendations for further research, including friendly use of this strategy.
As I mentioned before, the purpose of this paper is to “red plan” a method of organization and attack, and point out how the current security model is inadequate to fight it. I just picked up Robb’s Brave New War, which I have a feeling will influence the direction of this paper quite a bit. Just looking at it, he’s thinking along the same lines I am.
Like most, if not all, of the milestones I’ll post, this one has already been reviewed by my professor. The only thing he had to quibble about was the title- think you guys could help me?
Questions for Readers: Do you have books, journals or article you think I should read? Have you thought along these lines? Do you know of an organization which might be a case study of this sort of organization? Do you think you have a better title? If you’ve got anything that might be of ANY value whatsoever, post it to the comments! I look forward to discussing this with you.