Stopping terrorists from unleashing attacks in the United States involves much more than just having good intelligence to uncover threats. In fact, it can be argued that the public and local police are more important in this fight.

 

A study produced by the Institute of Homeland Security Solutions on 68 foiled terror plots from 1999-2009 revealed that 29% of initial clues were provided by the public, and another 22% came from state or local law enforcement. Only 19% of clues were uncovered by government intelligence.

 

In addition, “Only three plots were reportedly discovered through Internet monitoring activities that found suspects conspiring online to participate in terrorist activities,” and” Only one case was identified in which the initial clue came from a report of possible surveillance activities, a somewhat surprising finding given the large amount of attention this type of pre-operational behavior has received.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Building on Clues: Examining Successes and Failures in Detecting U.S. Terrorist Plots, 1999-2009 (Institute for Homeland Security Solutions) (pdf)