I wrote a column in the Washington Post some time ago exploring the work of Eli Berman and David Laitin, who argued that terrorist groups function much in the manner of exclusive country clubs. (OK, minus the wine and golf. Presumably.) Recent accounts about the five young men from Virginia who were apprehended in Pakistan [...]

The conventional model of terrorism suggests shadowy recruiters are spread around the world in search of young men and women who can be radicalized. In one of the chapters in my upcoming book, I discuss the problem in conceiving of terrorist masterminds as telemarketers who reach out to many people in the hopes that a [...]