Stewart Scott is a security analyst for Stratfor. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ When seeking to place an attack like the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing into context, it is helpful to classify the actors responsible, if possible. Such a classification can help us understand how an attack fits... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/04/24/why-the-boston-bombers-succeeded-n1576701 81243118-29f7-42b8-adb5-252527871138 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT On March 26, the Belgian federal police's counterterrorism force, or Special Units, conducted a felony car stop on Hakim Benladghem, a 39-year-old French citizen of Algerian extraction. When Benladghem reacted... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/04/06/the-acute-jihadist-threat-in-europe-n1559398 4391b94a-4ad5-4f01-87ae-5a587660b3b7 Sat, 06 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released the 10th edition of its English-language magazine, Inspire, on March 1. After discussing its contents with our analytical team, initially I decided not to write about it. I... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/03/23/assessing-inspire-magazines-10th-edition-n1546426 13c7f8d1-f923-44bd-a1aa-598cd344b199 Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:01:00 GMT In last week's Geopolitical Weekly, George Friedman discussed how the global financial crisis has caused a global unemployment crisis and how Europe has become the epicenter of that crisis. He also noted that rampant... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/03/15/greeks-radical-left-the-dangers-of-the-disaffected-and-the-unemployed-n1534715 da1e5dbf-3066-4d42-afc4-757d6c3dfefd Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:01:00 GMT People sometimes obsess over the potential threat posed by terrorist attacks that use things such as chemical weapons, electromagnetic pulses or dirty bombs. Yet they tend to discount the less exciting but very real... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/03/01/the-overlooked-terrorist-threat-n1523115 429c4ca6-828b-4f70-b0f4-3cd80a4fa1d2 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:01:00 GMT From time to time, I will sit down to write a series of analyses on a particular topic, such as the fundamentals of terrorism series last February. Other times, unrelated events in different parts of the world are... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/02/17/soft-targets-back-in-focus-n1514270 f08096c7-a9a9-49ef-a963-1d44f04313de Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT On Feb. 1, a Turkish national named Ecevit Sanli walked up to the side entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara like many others had done that day. Dressed inconspicuously, he waved a manila envelope at the man inside... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/02/08/when-security-measures-work-n1507632 bc4aef00-6b20-4966-a71d-0024a94645b2 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT The French military's current campaign to dislodge jihadist militants from northern Mali and the recent high-profile attack against a natural gas facility in Algeria are both directly linked to the foreign intervention... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/02/01/the-consequences-of-intervening-in-syria-n1502417 6f778d9f-ef5a-40b1-a313-48507df1ebb8 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT The recent jihadist attack on the Tigantourine natural gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria, and the subsequent hostage situation there have prompted some knee-jerk discussions among media punditry. From these... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/01/26/the-unspectacular-unsophisticated-algerian-hostage-crisis-n1497948 03a12b50-9cc7-4013-b900-b3644f19eff5 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT Editor's Note: This week's Security Weekly summarizes our annual Mexico drug cartel report, in which we assess the most significant developments of 2012 and provide updated profiles of the country's powerful criminal... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/01/20/mexicos-drug-war-persisting-violence-and-a-new-president-n1493149 5a67318c-4bd6-4fff-8f80-f72911b9b5b8 Sun, 20 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT At Stratfor, we follow Mexico's criminal cartels closely. In fact, we are currently finishing our 2013 cartel forecast, which will be released later this month. As we analyze the Mexican cartels, we recognize that to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/01/06/mexicos-cartels-and-the-economics-of-cocaine-n1479750 935dcc5d-0577-4472-b83b-ca4ddc11e8ef Sun, 06 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT On Dec. 18, the U.S. State Department's Accountability Review Board released an unclassified version of its investigation into the Sept. 12 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. Ambassador to Libya... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2013/01/02/the-benghazi-report-and-the-diplomatic-security-funding-cycle-n1477335 6f0cdb2f-f04f-46ce-86ba-fa6e4c3e6846 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT On Nov. 25, Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group from northern Nigeria, attacked a church in Jaji, Kaduna state, using two suicide bombers during the church's weekly religious service. The first bomb detonated... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/12/16/is-boko-haram-more-dangerous-than-ever-n1467973 c1b43d62-d215-4eb6-b4d8-c42c061ab5a8 Sun, 16 Dec 2012 05:01:00 GMT Enrique Pena Nieto will be sworn in as Mexico's next president Dec. 1. He will take office at a very interesting point in Mexican history. Mexico is experiencing an economic upturn that may become even more... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/11/23/constraints_facing_the_next_mexican_president d48ed11e-749c-4a19-96d3-64388bf0df9c Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:01:00 GMT On Oct. 19, Lebanese Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan was assassinated on a narrow side street near Sassine Square in downtown Beirut. The attack involved the detonation of a moderately sized vehicle-borne improvised... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/11/16/lebanon_lessons_from_two_assassinations 03fa6a72-7807-4dcf-b9f9-9a9b681e1142 Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:01:00 GMT A widely propagated myth would have us believe that Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera and his Sinaloa Federation are less violent than many of their competitors. Statements from journalists... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/11/09/the_real_el_chapo 82446875-bd58-4adf-9872-87fb7353f20b Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:01:00 GMT On Oct. 12, a pregnant medical doctor from Guadalajara, Mexico, attempted to enter the United States through the San Ysidro border crossing. The woman reportedly wanted to give birth in the United States so that... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/11/02/pocket_litter_the_evidence_that_criminals_carry d9bebd08-577a-44fe-8343-1a58b42990dc Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:01:00 GMT The Obama administration's efforts to counter the threat posed by al Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement have been a contentious topic in the U.S. presidential race. Political rhetoric abounds on both sides;... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/10/24/defining_al_qaeda 48b591e7-85d1-460b-aaaf-2a5f224bdb46 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:01:00 GMT The terrorist tradecraft discussed in last week's Security Weekly does not happen in isolation. The practitioners of terrorist tradecraft conduct their activities in the midst of other people -- the authorities... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/10/14/evolution_and_trends_in_terrorism_tradecraft 6cfc1b83-6a3c-4627-ad36-c897d89b7ea0 Sun, 14 Oct 2012 04:01:00 GMT One of the distinctive features of Stratfor's terrorism and security analysis is its focus on the methodology of attacks. Of course, identifying those responsible for an attack is important, especially in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/10/06/terrorism_tradecraft 8a1db55d-4062-4d67-be9f-c23ddd8aba0b Sat, 06 Oct 2012 04:01:00 GMT It has been more than two weeks since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, yet the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/09/28/diplomatic_security_in_light_of_benghazi 60e633f9-0480-4edd-bcb8-1880b73a2916 Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:01:00 GMT On the evening of Sept. 15, Adel Daoud parked a Jeep Cherokee loaded with a large explosive device outside a bar in downtown Chicago. As he walked down the street away from the vehicle, he activated a trigger to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/09/22/aspiring_jihadist_arrested_in_chicago 88c578d6-14bd-460c-b34c-6a6df9a283c9 Sat, 22 Sep 2012 04:01:00 GMT When the London 2012 Paralympic Games conclude the week of Sept. 9, the British navy reportedly will send a task force to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, where it will participate in amphibious exercises off the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/09/09/evacuations_and_contingency_planning a6096fc9-0cac-4aa7-83b2-cb1e9aa1b88f Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:01:00 GMT On the morning of Aug. 24, Jeffrey Johnson returned to his former place of work, Hazan Import Corp., and waited on the street outside the building. Johnson, who was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/09/03/countering_workplace_violence caa26fe2-b82b-4815-9bd8-d4c73fc8e061 Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:01:00 GMT A string of incidents over the past month has served as a reminder that despite the intense, decadelong focus on the jihadist threat, domestic terrorism is still an issue in the United States. On Aug. 5,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/08/24/domestic_terrorism_a_persistent_threat_in_the_united_states df34d606-cd41-450c-a573-38538efa76b8 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 04:01:00 GMT Since 2010, Central Asia has become increasingly volatile, a trend many have attributed to a rise in militant Islamism. Militancy has indeed risen since 2010, but the notion that militant Islamists primarily... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/08/10/militancy_in_central_asia_more_than_religious_extremism 5cfbb9b0-187a-46df-9ca4-1a9799d0f55e Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:01:00 GMT The unraveling of the al Assad regime in Syria will produce many geopolitical consequences. One potential consequence has garnered a great deal of media attention in recent days: the possibility... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/08/05/the_specter_of_syrian_chemical_weapons 48c7e3b3-d66e-48fc-8077-95c9658e07e7 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 04:01:00 GMT In the early hours of July 20, a gunman entered a packed movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and opened fire on the audience that had gathered to watch the premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/07/27/the_persistent_threat_to_soft_targets cf0da58a-1ba6-4c11-ab9d-d8a09e178ac4 Fri, 27 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT On the night of Dec. 14, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot and killed while on patrol in an Arizona canyon near the U.S.-Mexico border. Two guns found at the scene were linked to an... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/07/15/the_other_consequences_of_fast_and_furious e4198920-f844-47f8-a98c-4f31afe5361b Sun, 15 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT In recent weeks, insurgent forces in several countries have been forced to withdraw from territories they once held. Somalia's al Shabaab, which was pushed out of Mogadishu in October 2011, was ejected from... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/07/02/insurgency_and_the_protracted_war 73834539-5466-4895-9e17-afd93a97f016 Mon, 02 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT A video recently posted to the Internet depicting an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Syria has garnered a great deal of attention. A Syrian militant group called the Hawks Brigade of the Levant... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/06/22/are_syrias_rebels_getting_foreign_support 0ff58bbb-ce9d-4455-a96d-bb61ae026b18 Fri, 22 Jun 2012 04:01:00 GMT In a U.S. operation dubbed "Dark Angel," local and federal law enforcement officers on May 30 arrested 20 individuals involved in methamphetamine trafficking across five states. Authorities confirmed that the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/06/16/dark_angel_and_the_mexican_meth_connection 3ca33def-ea79-4338-b7d3-24fcd4eedc0d Sat, 16 Jun 2012 04:01:00 GMT On June 4, four U.S. diplomats assigned to the Consulate General of the United States in Peshawar, Pakistan, were stopped at a military checkpoint and temporarily detained after refusing to allow their two... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/06/08/tensions_and_operational_challenges_in_pakistan 74111625-312f-4a73-9a05-5b8bf5e217a0 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 04:01:00 GMT A small improvised explosive device (IED) detonated at a Salvation Army distribution center in Phoenix, Ariz., on the afternoon of May 24. Two Salvation Army employees discovered the explosive device, which was... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/06/01/a_serial_bomber_in_phoenix 969d6afb-2ecd-4ac9-aa4f-806c2318328c Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:01:00 GMT In last week's Security Weekly, we used a thwarted underwear bomb plot, as well as the U.S. government's easing the rules of engagement for unmanned aerial vehicle strikes in Yemen, as an opportunity to examine... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/05/25/terrorism_and_the_notsoexceptional_individual 184d3b0c-ddc5-4bad-affa-8bab1f8b34fe Fri, 25 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT There has been a lot of chatter in intelligence and academic circles about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri and his value to AQAP. The disclosure last week of a thwarted AQAP... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/05/18/terrorism_and_the_exceptional_individual 88b29542-120c-475c-a042-2bb4144183c8 Fri, 18 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT In past Security Weeklies we have often noted how analyzing terrorism is like assembling a puzzle. After an attack has transpired, it is easier to piece the disparate clues together because you have the luxury... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/05/11/searching_for_connections_amid_terrorist_threats f8025e27-f4e1-454c-b88a-297453137e1e Fri, 11 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT In March 2011, while many of the arms depots belonging to the government of Libya were being looted, we wrote about how the weapons taken from Libyan government stockpiles could end up being used to fuel... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/05/05/the_continuing_threat_of_libyan_missiles 7f53aa07-bb09-4eae-8608-79a71f7bb4a6 Sat, 05 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, released a message April 23 informing U.S. citizens in the country that it had received credible information regarding a possible attack against Nairobi hotels and prominent... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/04/28/al_shabaabs_threat_to_kenya 7fab4c16-bc6d-4164-ba9c-0882f2dd853f Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT Institutional Revolutionary Party presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, the front-runner in the lead-up to Mexico's presidential election in July, told Reuters last week that if elected, he would seek to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/04/21/mexicos_plan_to_create_a_paramilitary_force c288ef7a-436e-49ed-b3a5-db5656c399ab Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman announced April 3 that the U.S. government's "Rewards for Justice" (RFJ) program was offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/04/16/why_us_bounties_on_terrorists_often_fail 5d3f5b40-6c13-4036-b478-6fe268f2c78e Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT Mohammed Merah, the suspect in a string of violent attacks culminating with the March 19 shooting deaths of three children and a rabbi at the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse, France, committed suicide by cop... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/04/06/inside_the_toulouse_shootings 982f16a5-5d34-4273-93ec-7edc9e0bdd19 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT As we conclude our series on the fundamentals of terrorism, it is only fitting that we do so with a discussion of the importance of keeping terrorism in perspective. By design, terrorist attacks are intended to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/03/23/keeping_terrorism_in_perspective d221e825-8f54-4680-9947-c934c4b831a2 Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:01:00 GMT For the past three weeks we have been running a series in the Security Weekly that focuses on some of the fundamentals of terrorism. First, we noted that terrorism is a tactic not exclusive to any one group and that the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/03/18/a_practical_guide_to_situational_awareness 283ceee1-1812-4d37-9782-8ac87f676559 Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:01:00 GMT As we noted last week, terrorist attacks do not materialize out of thin air. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Those planning terrorist attacks follow a discernable process referred to as the terrorist attack cycle.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/03/08/detecting_terrorist_surveillance 89247312-d933-4104-858c-a7d13fb5bd22 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT Last week's Security Weekly discussed the fact that terrorism is a tactic used by many different classes of actors and that, while the perpetrators and tactics of terrorism may change in response to shifts in larger... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/03/03/detection_points_in_the_terrorist_attack_cycle 77fdea6a-7aba-4648-9244-ee01d7883672 Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT In this week's Geopolitical Weekly, George Friedman discussed the geopolitical cycles that change with each generation. Frequently, especially in recent years, those geopolitical cycles have intersected with changes in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/02/24/the_myth_of_the_end_of_terrorism 417bb6af-87fe-4f6d-87ce-95e13ce3f00c Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT Mexico will hold its presidential election July 1 against the backdrop of a protracted war against criminal cartels in the country. Former President Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) launched that struggle;... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/02/10/mexicos_presidential_election_and_the_cartel_war d80e76a6-8345-4554-a6ce-926a8d2f3748 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT Mali has experienced perhaps the most significant external repercussions from the downfall of the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Stratfor has discussed the impact of the conflict in Libya on the wider region... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/02/03/mali_besieged_by_fighters_fleeing_libya c8fd3d40-a393-4fdc-a99e-80b0bd44c86c Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT The Nigerian militant group Boko Haram conducted a series of bombing attacks and armed assaults Jan. 20 in the northern city of Kano, the capital of Kano state and second-largest city in Nigeria. The attacks, which... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StewartScott/2012/01/31/nigerias_boko_haram_militants_remain_a_regional_threat 21cab50d-b04e-44a7-8798-12daa0611144 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:01:00 GMT