I'm in San Diego for six days, attending a professional development course and then a security conference. The course, on the use of open source data mining and intelligence, is fascinating. Two young terrorism experts are sharing research techniques and case studies with the class.
While the background material is radical Islamic terrorism post-9/11, the foreground methodological lessons are what really interest me. They can be applied to the study of (and defense against) other types of threat.
Two examples that come to mind are organized internet fraud (something that concerns me from time to time in my daytime employment) and American fundamentalist theocrats (a threat that increasingly keeps me awake at night).
It's also interesting and sobering to learn that think-tanks, independent media and individual bloggers are probably more adept at this type of intelligence gathering than the FBI or CIA. The two experts leading the class, for example, are wunderkind hardly out of college.
It's not that it involves rocket science — anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can become a terrorist (or terrorist hunter) these days. It seems to have more to do with passion and freedom to experiment, the latter apparently not being a trait that is either much cultivated or supported with resources in parts of the classified intelligence community. At least that's the impression I get.
Looking forward to day two.
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