Terrorism Analysis Project 

The Federation of American Scientists created their Terrorism Analysis Project (TAP) in June 2010 to investigate the nexus between violent non-state actors and the diversification, diffusion, and adoption of disruptive lethal technologies. TAP's purpose is to strengthen existing national and international counterterrorist and intelligence-gathering measures that predominantly focus on weapon and technology availability, target vulnerabilities, and consequence management, and frequently overlook ideological motivations in their threat-assessment calculations. Mindful that national and international efforts to address the growing risk of mass-casualty and mass-disruption terrorism are limited by resources, TAP seeks to better inform policy by illuminating why specific non-state actors seek specific technologies. Moreover, TAP conducts in-depth empirical research and innovative analyses on how technologies are perceived, adopted, controlled, and employed by various terrorist groups and political and religious extremists. Read more...

The TERRORISM ANALYSIS PROJECT (TAP) BLOG provides news and analysis of issues relating to terrorism and extremism as they relate to technologies of lethality (e.g., Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear [CBRN] devices, weapons, and agents). Additionally, the TAP Blog explores why specific non-state actors seek or abjure specific technologies. Read the blog...

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Anatomizing Non-State Threats to Pakistan's Nuclear Infrastructure: The Pakistani Neo-Taliban

The revelation of Usama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound raises several troubling questions about Pakistan’s patronage of extremists. The subsequent terrorist assault on Naval Station Mehran in Karachi, however, again demonstrates that Pakistan is both sponsor to and victim of jihadists. This paper, the first in a series addressing nuclear weapon and fissile material security in South Asia, details the evolution and characteristics of Pakistan’s most dangerous jihadists—the Pakistani Neo-Taliban.

Read the executive summary.

Read the full report (PDF).

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