CTC Sentinel. Volume 4, Issue 11-12

Authors: Erich Marquardt; MILITARY ACADEMY WEST POINT NY COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER

Abstract:

A group of men spend their formative and early adult years in Western urban settings such as London, Hamburg, Copenhagen, New York or Sydney. They take the initiative to travel overseas and then return to the West to launch terrorist attacks in the name of al-Qaida. Can this be considered an al-Qaida plot? What criteria determine that designation? What is the nature of the relationship between radicalized men in the West and the core al-Qaida organization in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan? For it to be identified as an al-Qaida plot, does one of the plotters have to attend an al- Qaida training camp or meet with an al-Qaida trainer, or can they simply be inspired by al-Qaida s ideology?

Limitations:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE