— Volume II No. 2: July 2006 —
Abstract
Article [pdf]Comments and Discussion:
“Social Network Analysis as an Approach to Combat Terrorism: Past, Present, and Future Research ”
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David Hofer October 06, 2006 22:04 |
| Questions on Social Network Analysis as an Approach to Combat Terrorism 1. Is it possible for Social Network Analysis to be as shielded from subjectivity as Physics or Biology? Though Physics and Biology had been corrupted by the USSR and the Third Reich, it is easy to get honest empirical conclusions even if one must speak them quietly to oneself. 2. Is Social Network Analysis compatible with Les Droites d'Homme, Constitutional Liberties? Ralph McGeehee had to rudely inquire into the private lives of those he interviewed. These villagers would have been impressed with the might and power of the US government. I am not so sure how duress or friendly persuasion was needed. Even kindly bribery in the form of foreign aid seems to be a way of compromising the integrity of the villagers. As to MI6 mapping out the network nodes of the IRA, this could lead to violations of privacy of many non-involved subjects of the crown. As to mapping the social relationships of American citizens with terrorist groups, Social Network Analysis seems primed to cast a very wide net upon large masses of the population. At least marketing research uses voluntary subjects. 3. Social Network Analysis seems to hold government and establishment sources of information as honest brokers. The article mentions government sources for data analysis. How honest and transparent could this data be? 4. What is a terrorist? If we said the following, "When the people fear the government you have tyranny...when the government fears the people you have liberty." If the government is scared of me, does that make me a terrorist? If the Social Network Analysist has an expansive definition for terrorist in its mapping goals we may end up with the complete social network of the ACLU or the Fully Informed Jury Association. Is this analysis really scientific? Everyone knows what a two gram particle of iron is. And we can set the boundary conditions for its acceleration vectors so as to calculate its force. We don't need think tanks or wise old men from Wall Street to give us any definitions. We are speaking of a social science, Network Analysis, that gains veracity from official sources. I don't even trust economic statistics being put by Federal Government. 5. Governments have an interest in shaping events. This includes manipulating social networks. Being that high security clearances are issued to various intelligence agencies and the need to know basis of data, no one can really know the black box of the whole model. If you were to map out the networks under the influence of Operation Gladio during the Cold War, how accessible would the data be if it led to actual intelligence assets of the CIA? Operation Gladio was admittedly a network of agent provacateurs working with various h0me grown terrorist groups. If I were an independent researcher or a law enforcement official of low rank, I could end up capturing a lot of unexplained signals in my data. There would be so many false leads and false accusations that the Social Network Analysis would be worse than useless. To conclude Social Newtork Analysis in order to be useful and ethical would require voluntary consent and transparency on part of all parties involved, otherwise it is a pseudoscience like the racialism studies conducted by German and American scientists during 1920's and '30's. |
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Nicole Doyle May 05, 2010 12:56 |
| Hi, and thanks for writing the article. I am interested in whether or not we have internationally engaged on the topic of terrorism and if so, what have we learned? I agree with your position that much can be gained in our knowledge via the use of online media and that expansion of our efforts can yield great benefits in connecting people for increased information and improved understanding of other cultures. What are your thoughts on using social networks such as Facebook or others that exist internationally to engage a younger population who may be influenced by the misguided intentions of terrorist? Also, I am interested studies that examine the exchange of ideas that may have been submitted that reflect whether people see terrorism as a religious war, or not. I personally do think there is are some connects to religion, but that terrorism as a whole has nothing to do with religion from the Islamic or Western perspective. The tie to religion is the individuals who see Islamic fundamentals as a basis on which to justify their violence. Thank you! |
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