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Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent
As the fifth full year of America’s global war on terrorism continues, statistics concerning terrorist attacks show a disturbing from a twenty-one-year high in 2003, attacks tripled in 2004 and then doubled in 2005. And as the incidence of terrorist attacks increased, so has the number of terrorists. While the primary leaders of the Taliban, al Qaeda, and al Qaeda in Iraq remain at large, a 2006 Department of Defense study reportedly identified thirty new al Qaeda–affiliated terrorist groups that have been created since September 11, 2001. We may not have metrics that measure our success in the war on terrorism, but these realities certainly illuminate our failures. In Thinking Like a Terrorist , former FBI counterterrorism agent Mike German contends that the overarching problem is a fundamental failure to understand the terrorists—namely, what they want and how they intend to get it. When our counterterrorism policies are driven by misunderstanding and misperception, we shouldn’t be surprised at the results. Today’s terrorists have a real plan—a blueprint that has brought them victory in the past—that they are executing to perfection; moreover, their plan is published and available to anyone who bothers to read it. Once the terrorists’ plan is understood, we can develop and implement more effective counterterrorism strategies. A former undercover agent who infiltrated neo-Nazi terrorist groups in the United States, German explains the terrorist’s point of view and discusses ways to counter the terrorism threat. Based on his unusual experience in the field, Thinking Like a Terrorist provides unique insights into why terrorism is such a persistent and difficult problem and why the U.S. approach to counterterrorism isn’t working.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 27, 2009
This book has a lot of good insights about terrorism, such as:
“We must remember that the terrorists have neither the military nor the political power necessary to destroy a government on their own. The terrorists’ strategy is to fool the government into destroying itself by becoming what the terrorists say it already is: illegitimate.”
“…if a hostile nation sponsors a terrorist group we should not call them terrorists. They are covert intelligence agents of a hostile power. Calling them anything else only confuses everyone and makes it difficult to formulate an appropriate response.”
“Some commentators point to the fact that al Qaeda has not attacked the homeland since 9/11 as evidence that we’re winning the war on terror. This observation again ignores the terrorists’ strategy. The 9/11 attack was not intended to be the first step in a jihadist invasion of the U.S. The well-documented strategic goal of the 9/11 attack was to provoke the U.S. into invading the Middle East, where jihadist forces could then wage a war of attrition. They wanted us on their territory so they could kill Americans with less effort and at high economic costs to America.”
“We must remember that the terrorists have neither the military nor the political power necessary to destroy a government on their own. The terrorists’ strategy is to fool the government into destroying itself by becoming what the terrorists say it already is: illegitimate.”
“…if a hostile nation sponsors a terrorist group we should not call them terrorists. They are covert intelligence agents of a hostile power. Calling them anything else only confuses everyone and makes it difficult to formulate an appropriate response.”
“Some commentators point to the fact that al Qaeda has not attacked the homeland since 9/11 as evidence that we’re winning the war on terror. This observation again ignores the terrorists’ strategy. The 9/11 attack was not intended to be the first step in a jihadist invasion of the U.S. The well-documented strategic goal of the 9/11 attack was to provoke the U.S. into invading the Middle East, where jihadist forces could then wage a war of attrition. They wanted us on their territory so they could kill Americans with less effort and at high economic costs to America.”
October 10, 2007
His insights didn't seem to apply very well to groups like al Qaeda, but his account of time infiltrating neo-Nazi groups was fascinating.
December 3, 2008
Great book - very interesting (except Chapter 6 which, to me, didn't fit the overall theory of the author).
December 28, 2008
"Thinking Like A Terrorist" is an intelligent argument by an undercover FBI operative who infiltrated white supremacist groups, successfully, and who brings his wide-ranging and open-minded thinking to the problem of terrorism. What's particularly impressive is how the author can shift mindsets while keeping true to his own orientation. He thinks terrorists are misunderstood, and that a key to fighting terrorism is to know them better, like Sun Tzu suggested in "The Art Of War."
What are terrorists like? They're human. They see themselves as the good guys, fighting for justice; they're polite, disciplined, willing to risk their lives for their buddies and their cause and don't see themselves as "terrorists" but soldiers. Some read books with logical justifications for their ideology, some of which are quite sophisticated and philosophical. "Ideology is everything" to them. They look like everyday people. And he sees many similarities between a law enforcement mindset and the terrorists' mindset -- both sides see themselves as groups with rather rigid orientation towards a particular system of belief. And morality can cloud our perceptions, he argues, and seeing terrorists as "evil" prevents us from getting into their heads. Even 'terrorism' is a pejorative term, and he has a point. We can learn about terrorists from their public manifestos and writings in the same way that we can learn about Hitler by reading Mein Kempf. The author has a broad sense of history and notes similarities between white supremacist gangs and secretive groups from Middle Eastern history like The Assassins. Terrorists are often paranoid, afraid of informants, and habitually accuse each other of being an informant as a crude test. He was asked: are you an informant? He worried his cover was blown but realized quickly that there was no information behind this query, and members did this to each other as a kind of paranoid habit. Some groups adopt structures to make it difficult for law enforcement to infiltrate them; information is shared only on a need-to-know basis, and sometimes cells are found within cells. It's difficult to determine who the real leaders are. And lacking a clear sense of leadership is often a weakness for terrorists on the run.
Mr. German criticizes the FBI and officials for not understanding terrorists, from not seeing the world through their eyes, from sometimes overreacting. During the Red Scare, for example, government overreacted with the Palmer Raids in 1919. Officials charged with fighting terrorism often overestimate the strength of terrorists: "a true picture of terrorists would show poorly selected, poorly trained, and poorly equipped soldiers in a poorly organized army." There's a healthy dose of criticism for the FBI as well as possible resentment that his fellow agents never heeded his recommendations.
But I think the problem of terrorism is bigger than infiltrating ideological hate groups. The specter of nuclear terrorism looms. How can this be prevented? Most terrorism experts and virtually all of the public see terrorism as essentially a government and military and police problem, and I think that's a mistake. I think the problem of terrorism is even bigger -- it's a citizens' problem. We're the ones who suffer when it happens. So citizens need to prevent it. And citizens have wider latitude to act than government officials since we can change the framework in which law enforcement works.
And Mr. German, by seeing white supremacist groups as terrorists, might be ready to see terrorism as an expanded problem like I do. Most experts define terrorism narrowly as politically motivated violence; I think it's broader, namely "violence against individual rights." Begin with this definition and it follows that there are three types of terrorists -- criminals (neighbors who violate our rights), tyrants (our own government officials who violate our rights) and foreign terrorists (powerful individuals abroad or heads of state.) All three types of terrorism must be prevented, in my view. It's not enough for government by itself to try to fight terrorism, because in trying to fight terrorism, government may become a terrorist towards its own people (and the author hints at this in his condemnation of the Palmer Raids.) Terrorism is a three-part, multi-faceted problem, larger but solvable. We can't try to fight one form of terrorism by exacerbating another. But this happens routinely in airports: to prevent airline hijackings (crime) security guards frisk every passenger without specific cause (a form of tyranny.)
My book "Common Sense II: How to Prevent the Three Types of Terrorism" (Amazon & Kindle, 184 pages) spells out how to prevent each type of terrorism by applying light (information, exposure, awareness.) For example, to prevent crime, we must identify all movement in public while strengthening privacy. For this to happen, citizens must agree to such monitoring, and for this to happen, people must become real citizens, not merely apathetic consumers and shoppers which characterize most Americans today. Citizenship should be a contract between individual and state with specific responsibilities and privileges. It's possible to prevent every instance of home-grown terrorism using this method. The rest of my book shows how one can apply the concept of light to exposing the other types. For example, I think the architecture of government requires an overhaul so that America can make steady long-term foreign policy, consistently rewarding friends and punishing enemies; but today it can't do this because administrations change every eight years, sometimes after only four. I propose a revised architecture based on lessons from history and political philosophy. My strategy will prevent all types of terrorism, including smuggled nuclear bombs. My strategy is brief, rational, non-religious, written by a citizen for citizens, non-technical. Be prepared: there are some controversial ideas (one expert found it "bracing"). But my book can protect America. It's plain logic from one citizen to another. But it requires a major overhaul of government, more than a change of presidents, parties, or even amendments, but a Second Constitutional Convention to redesign government to prevent all three types of terrorism. Our democratic process is broken, and it must be returned to health, otherwise our fine nation will crumple into historical nothingness.
This is an excellent book for people interested in the undercover life of a dedicated FBI agent who risked his life to fight dangerous enemies. It offers intelligent perceptions about terrorists and shrewd strategies for undoing them. There are helpful suggestions about how to fight the war on terror given the current framework. But it doesn't prevent terrorism.
What are terrorists like? They're human. They see themselves as the good guys, fighting for justice; they're polite, disciplined, willing to risk their lives for their buddies and their cause and don't see themselves as "terrorists" but soldiers. Some read books with logical justifications for their ideology, some of which are quite sophisticated and philosophical. "Ideology is everything" to them. They look like everyday people. And he sees many similarities between a law enforcement mindset and the terrorists' mindset -- both sides see themselves as groups with rather rigid orientation towards a particular system of belief. And morality can cloud our perceptions, he argues, and seeing terrorists as "evil" prevents us from getting into their heads. Even 'terrorism' is a pejorative term, and he has a point. We can learn about terrorists from their public manifestos and writings in the same way that we can learn about Hitler by reading Mein Kempf. The author has a broad sense of history and notes similarities between white supremacist gangs and secretive groups from Middle Eastern history like The Assassins. Terrorists are often paranoid, afraid of informants, and habitually accuse each other of being an informant as a crude test. He was asked: are you an informant? He worried his cover was blown but realized quickly that there was no information behind this query, and members did this to each other as a kind of paranoid habit. Some groups adopt structures to make it difficult for law enforcement to infiltrate them; information is shared only on a need-to-know basis, and sometimes cells are found within cells. It's difficult to determine who the real leaders are. And lacking a clear sense of leadership is often a weakness for terrorists on the run.
Mr. German criticizes the FBI and officials for not understanding terrorists, from not seeing the world through their eyes, from sometimes overreacting. During the Red Scare, for example, government overreacted with the Palmer Raids in 1919. Officials charged with fighting terrorism often overestimate the strength of terrorists: "a true picture of terrorists would show poorly selected, poorly trained, and poorly equipped soldiers in a poorly organized army." There's a healthy dose of criticism for the FBI as well as possible resentment that his fellow agents never heeded his recommendations.
But I think the problem of terrorism is bigger than infiltrating ideological hate groups. The specter of nuclear terrorism looms. How can this be prevented? Most terrorism experts and virtually all of the public see terrorism as essentially a government and military and police problem, and I think that's a mistake. I think the problem of terrorism is even bigger -- it's a citizens' problem. We're the ones who suffer when it happens. So citizens need to prevent it. And citizens have wider latitude to act than government officials since we can change the framework in which law enforcement works.
And Mr. German, by seeing white supremacist groups as terrorists, might be ready to see terrorism as an expanded problem like I do. Most experts define terrorism narrowly as politically motivated violence; I think it's broader, namely "violence against individual rights." Begin with this definition and it follows that there are three types of terrorists -- criminals (neighbors who violate our rights), tyrants (our own government officials who violate our rights) and foreign terrorists (powerful individuals abroad or heads of state.) All three types of terrorism must be prevented, in my view. It's not enough for government by itself to try to fight terrorism, because in trying to fight terrorism, government may become a terrorist towards its own people (and the author hints at this in his condemnation of the Palmer Raids.) Terrorism is a three-part, multi-faceted problem, larger but solvable. We can't try to fight one form of terrorism by exacerbating another. But this happens routinely in airports: to prevent airline hijackings (crime) security guards frisk every passenger without specific cause (a form of tyranny.)
My book "Common Sense II: How to Prevent the Three Types of Terrorism" (Amazon & Kindle, 184 pages) spells out how to prevent each type of terrorism by applying light (information, exposure, awareness.) For example, to prevent crime, we must identify all movement in public while strengthening privacy. For this to happen, citizens must agree to such monitoring, and for this to happen, people must become real citizens, not merely apathetic consumers and shoppers which characterize most Americans today. Citizenship should be a contract between individual and state with specific responsibilities and privileges. It's possible to prevent every instance of home-grown terrorism using this method. The rest of my book shows how one can apply the concept of light to exposing the other types. For example, I think the architecture of government requires an overhaul so that America can make steady long-term foreign policy, consistently rewarding friends and punishing enemies; but today it can't do this because administrations change every eight years, sometimes after only four. I propose a revised architecture based on lessons from history and political philosophy. My strategy will prevent all types of terrorism, including smuggled nuclear bombs. My strategy is brief, rational, non-religious, written by a citizen for citizens, non-technical. Be prepared: there are some controversial ideas (one expert found it "bracing"). But my book can protect America. It's plain logic from one citizen to another. But it requires a major overhaul of government, more than a change of presidents, parties, or even amendments, but a Second Constitutional Convention to redesign government to prevent all three types of terrorism. Our democratic process is broken, and it must be returned to health, otherwise our fine nation will crumple into historical nothingness.
This is an excellent book for people interested in the undercover life of a dedicated FBI agent who risked his life to fight dangerous enemies. It offers intelligent perceptions about terrorists and shrewd strategies for undoing them. There are helpful suggestions about how to fight the war on terror given the current framework. But it doesn't prevent terrorism.
September 29, 2017
Overall really good criticisms of the GWOT and how we can fight terrorism better without throwing away the constitution. Would have been more interesting though if the author was able to share more of his undercover stories.
January 10, 2018
Eye opening
I enjoyed the specific references to other books on ideologies. As a veteran, I know there are always ulterior motives, but never once thought that about the basic underpinnings of the extremist groups.
I enjoyed the specific references to other books on ideologies. As a veteran, I know there are always ulterior motives, but never once thought that about the basic underpinnings of the extremist groups.
June 29, 2008
What an important read for all Americans. Mike German was an undercover FBI agent (and law school graduate) assigned to work on terrorist groups in the US. He likens the tactics of these groups to the tactics used by Al Qaida today and uses the law and the constitution to suggest strategies for the War on Terror.
It's an incredible piece of work, stocked with references and examples, making it a little tedious in parts, although a great history lesson. If that tediousness scares you away from reading this book, simply read the last two chapters. They sum up all the information as it applies to today's War on Terror and will simultaneously make you glad to be an American yet clarify what our government needs to do to maintain that pride and fight terrorism in the most effective manner.
It's an incredible piece of work, stocked with references and examples, making it a little tedious in parts, although a great history lesson. If that tediousness scares you away from reading this book, simply read the last two chapters. They sum up all the information as it applies to today's War on Terror and will simultaneously make you glad to be an American yet clarify what our government needs to do to maintain that pride and fight terrorism in the most effective manner.
April 5, 2015
Get the feeling that the current "war on terror" strategy isn't just unconstitutional but also counterproductive. This book contains insights garnered from first-hand experience infiltrating and investigating terrorist organizations.
February 26, 2008
The good news is that this book provides a great outline of bullet points for fighting terrorists; the bad news is that we’ve followed the terrorists’ playbill and done almost everything to embolden the enemy and helped in their recruitment against us.
November 10, 2007
Great insights from somebody who's been on the front lines.
January 5, 2009
Good book, but it dealt more with how the governments should deal with terrorism, rather than the agent's actually experience.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews