ABSTRACT
Terrorism has come to be defined as war and Al Qaeda is in the forefront of
terrorist groups who are enemies of the United States. Even North Korea, one
of our bigger state enemies, does not currently cause the United States to fear
an attack in the heartland or on its ports, as Al Qaeda does. As a result, in some
respects Al Qaeda has the attributes of a superpower — not in the weight of its
destructive firepower, but in its capacity to potentially collapse a large nation
with the use of disruptive targeting. With a conventional state opposing
force (OPFOR), we systematically analyze their capabilities and intent, and
then build advanced weaponry, technological advances, psychological
warfare, political influence and other tactics accordingly. To treat Al Qaeda
as a nation-state would be a mistake. However, examining their capabilities
and intent, via their order-of-battle (OB), is necessary if we are to put
ourselves in a position to make predictions and assess our own OB and
counter-methodology accordingly.
