Gauging the Commitment of Clandestine Group Members

<p>Since the attacks of September 11th 2001 there has been a great deal of attention given to understanding the inner workings of terrorist organizations in order for the United States to be successful in the Global War on Terrorism. Group dynamics has been one area of interest pursued to gain more insight into a terrorist's cognitive battlespace. Until a few years ago most research on individual commitment and organizational cohesion has been based primarily on questionnaires and open observations on groups that desire to be understood. However terrorist organizations are clandestine; they constantly employ operations security (OPSEC) to ensure protection and mission accomplishment. This thesis uses Decision Analysis principles specifically a Value-Focused Thinking-like approach to develop an initial hierarchical model of significant factors influencing an individual's commitment to a terrorist organization or any clandestine group of violent extremists. Individuals are evaluated and scored according to the model to identify exploitable vulnerabilities in their commitment level.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>