August 29, 2017
The Threat of Small-Dollar Terrorism
The recent ISIS terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils likely cost no more than a few thousand dollars—little more than the cost of renting vehicles and housing and feeding operatives for a few weeks. These attacks fit a pattern of high-impact, low-cost terrorism across Europe. Even the Paris attacks in November 2015, which killed 130 revelers, likely cost no more than $10,000.
It’s not clear whether the terrorists in Spain received money from abroad or raised funds locally to carry out the attacks. But we know that even as coalition military forces have scored victories against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, ISIS operatives and terrorists have turned to these kinds of low-cost attacks across the West. Just since the beginning of January, we have seen horrific examples in London, Paris, Manchester and Stockholm, in addition to the attacks in Spain.
Read the full article in Politico.
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Defense / Transatlantic Security
When Defense Becomes Destruction: Austria-Hungary’s Mistake and Ukraine’s RiskThis article was originally posted on War on the Rocks. The southeastern Polish city of Przemyśl, with its elegant 19th century Habsburg-era train station, remains one of the ...
By Franz-Stefan Gady
-
Commentary
Defense / Transatlantic Security
Ukraine’s Catch-22 MomentThis article was originally published in the Financial Times. In Joseph Heller’s wartime classic, Catch-22, the protagonist Yossarian seeks out the US army surgeon Doc Daneeka...
By Franz-Stefan Gady
-
CNAS Insights | Budgetary Own Goals Undermine “Speed and Volume”
Commentary
On November 7, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth laid out a plan to overhaul the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) acquisition system. Placing an emphasis on delivering new capa...
By Philip Sheers, Carlton Haelig & Stacie Pettyjohn
-
Drones: Who Is Making the New Weapons of War?
Podcast
From Ukraine and Russia to Gaza and Sudan, drones have become a key weapon of war. Which companies are making them, and profiting from this rapidly expanding but controversial...
By Stacie Pettyjohn
