ABSTRACT
In the aftermath of the tragic events in the USA on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent bomb attacks in Bali, Madrid and London, and with the daily litany of attacks on police, military personnel and civilians as the insurgency in Iraq continues, a particular perception of the phenomenon known today as terrorism has become prevalent. At first sight it seems that terrorism now manifests itself in ways that Western people have not encountered before and hence it must pose a new threat to society. In the face of this, counter-terrorism concepts and strategies appear to be inadequate or unsuitable for dealing with it, and hence a process of modernization is needed. Current counter-terrorism organizational systems and structures are hierarchical and bureaucratic, whilst the terrorists now operate by using highly adaptable, flexible and resilient network forms of organization. Counter-terrorism practitioners must therefore organize themselves in a similar way if the threat is to be mitigated successfully.1
