Beyond Bin Laden's Caves and Couriers to a New Generation of Terrorists: Confronting the Challenges in a Post-9/11 World

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the National September 11 memorial & Museum opened; since then it has welcomed over 21 million visitors from every State in the country and 175 countries around the world. Fourteen years after 9/11, we are still engaged in that struggle. The viral speed of violent extremism has allowed our enemies to spread globally and has brought the war back to our doorsteps. Gone are the days of bin Laden, when extremists relied on couriers and caves to hatch their plots. Today's terrorists are openly recruiting on-line, across borders and at broadband speed. Radical groups like ISIS have enlisted citizens from over 100 countries to join their terrorist army in Syria. Islamist terror outposts have spread throughout the region and beyond. Even at its height, al-Qaeda never reached the operational tempo of ISIS. In the age of peer-to-peer terrorism and cyber jihad, extremists can inspire new recruits on-line, tweet marching orders, and wait for fanatics to act.