Copyright Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist

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The future of terrorism

Jan 2004

Terrorists make use of whatever technologies they have access to to inflict conspicuous harm on others. Generally, the bigger the effect, the more attractive it is to them, so newer bigger, more powerful technologies are likely to be of great interest. We have apparently been mostly successful in preventing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons from falling into terrorist hands, but some new technologies will be much harder to police. We are unlikely to get rid of terrorists.

There are many things that may be said about techniques and technologies that might be harnessed for future terrorism, and some novel possibilities in the field of weapons of mass destruction. For obvious reasons, these are only available on request from legitimate authorities.