ABSTRACT
In this paper the focus is on identifying the exercise of power by self and others in the language of terrorist group statements, which can foreshadow the decision to attack at various intervals prior to an attack event. The results of an automated content analysis with the Verbs In Context System (VICS), which retrieves and analyzes the operational codes of terrorist groups, suggest that there are identifiable psychological dispositions plus communication and coordination patterns in the public statements of terrorist groups associated with different pre-attack periods. These indices may warn of an immediate or a more remote attack event by al Qa'ida Central or affiliated and inspired groups, including al Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula.
