Book Review

Review

Alex Stedmon and Glyn Lawson (eds), Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism—Human Factors Theory and Application, Ashgate, 2015.

Reviewed by: Timothy Neville, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

When considering the existing threat of an adversary, traditional military intelligence and planning estimate the adversaries’ capability and intent. When asked to estimate the asymmetric threat posed by global terrorism the estimation of intent, specifically hostile intent is increasingly more difficult [1]. No longer does the hostile intent of the adversary exist as a defined, noticeable entity. Within our everyday lives, through public transport, in the built environment or through the use of essential services individuals or groups may be training, conducting reconnaissance, planning or executing acts of terror on high value or high impact targets (such as London Bombings 2005 or the various successful counterterrorism operations conducted in recent times). In Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism—Human Factors Theory and Application, edited by Alex Stedman and Glyn Lawson, the task of counterterrorism and the identification of hostile intent within the current threat environment is examined using human factors theory applied to individuals, groups and systems.

Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism—Human Factors Theory and Application consists of 22 chapters split into six parts—Part I Conceptualising Terrorism, Part II Deception and Decision Making, Part III Modelling Hostile Intent, Part IV Sociocultural Factors, Part V Strategies and Approaches for Counter Terrorism and Part VI Future Directions. The breadth of the contributions, from academic disciplines including human factors, psychology, business, sociology and engineering, to country of origin (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe), and professional background (academia, military or law enforcement) offers unique perspectives, providing the reader insights not readily available within more narrowly focused texts.

Part I Conceptualising Terrorism provides the contemporary context for examining hostile intent. Terrorism is now global, either through terrorist organisations with a global reach through training, resources and targets (for example Al Qaeda) or global in its influences (for example the Boston Bombers). Topics identified for consideration when conceptualising terrorism including the role of fear, the ethics behind surveillance and privacy, the possible neurobiological make up of terrorists as well as the relationship between crime control and counterterrorism through the lens of criminology.

Counterterrorism and the identification of hostile intent differs from normal policing due to its goal to prevent and detect planned terrorism prior to an act rather than investigate post-event. Part II Deception and Decision Making, therefore, reviews the current state-of-the art in research and practice on deception or lie detection in environments where an illegal act has yet to occur. This section identifies the limitations on neurological lie detection (that is, the lie detectors seen in popular culture) and provides an in depth look at non-verbal cues of deception and details an ongoing experiment aimed at identifying human pheromones associated with hostile intent. Finally, through developing a serious game, the last chapter of the section provides a novel approach to simulating criminal or counterterrorism investigations.

Part III Modelling Hostile Intent introduces the reader to four case studies where researchers have used various modelling techniques either to identify or infer modelling approaches where hostile intent could be a valid variable. The case studies involved safety and security in rail systems, financial and economic crime, adaption of militant (or terrorist) social networks, and the modelling of emergency preparedness through organisational responsibilities. While three of the four cases studies have, at best, tenuous links to the theme of the book, this section would nonetheless be enlightening to the reader as it highlights that counterterrorism and the estimation of hostile intent extends more broadly than an individual or group and has an impact, at a systems level, across multiple domains.

Part IV Sociocultural Factors explores the different cultural phenomena which have developed through the rise of global terrorism. Specifically, chapters on suicide terrorism intervention, female suicide terrorism and the utility of terrorists targeting educational institutions provide a reminder to the reader that hostile intent can be generated through various cultural forms such as patriarchal societies or through an analogous parasite within society. Of particular note to the reader is Parkinson and Stainforth’s chapter on the unintended consequences of the West’s ‘War on Terrorism’ over the last decade. The chapter presents a brief historical account of various counterterrorism operations in the United Kingdom and the noticeable increase in home-grown radicalisation as a direct consequence of fighting terrorism.

In Part V Strategies and Approaches for Counter-Terrorism and Part VI Future Directions, the book presents a number of interventions which can be used either by counter terrorism practitioners or researchers. Strategies include the use of art as visible interventions in public spaces, the use of macro-ergonomics approaches to capture a systems perspective of security in mass transports systems.

Overall the book provides a comprehensive survey of the many different factors which influence the detection of hostile intent and the task of performing counter-terrorism investigation in western society. An important contribution of the book is the consistent sub-theme surrounding the impact of urban design in counter-terrorism, when considered with the work of Stevens and Salmon [2], the book supports the growing field of applying Human Factors methods to urban design.

Similar to other books within this series (see [3,4]), Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism suffers due to its wide ranging scope. The book offers a stimulating survey of the field of human factors and counter-terrorism however, with the exception of a four of chapters (Chapters 8, 9, 18 and 19) readers should look for further sources to gain deeper knowledge on the topics presented.

With global terrorism on the rise through threats ranging from Islamic State to globally inspired home grown terrorism, contributions such as Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism—Human Factors Theory and Application are a timely reminder to both national security researchers and intelligence and law enforcement agencies of the complexity of counterterrorism and the difficulty in identifying the hostile intent of individuals and groups in the modern western society.

Hostile Intent and Counter-Terrorism—Human Factors Theory and Application can be ordered online through Ashgate at: http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472402103.

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