This week’s CTCB State of Play Newsletter, our second issue, takes a special approach –
Sources regarding American military doctrine, defence industry reformatting, counter-insurgency, and projections about the future of
warfare – urban & information – are considered. Viewing counter-terrorism and response to violent extremism as ‘amongst other
instruments’ for long-term national security may yield greater efficiency and sustainable efficacy. Lessons learned from other
components, and disparate spatial and temporal contexts, seem to be transportable.
Human terrain of the information age and considerations for internal policing are the CT-trinity’s critical component. City structure and
infrastructure are set to function as targets, platforms, and opportunities for destabilisation and violent dissent, abetted by
geographically unbound info-comm technologies. It becomes increasingly important to weigh the ideological and political ramifications
of urban form, and the participants, items, and vision on a public agenda. Finally, as governments deal with complexity by relying on
increasingly complex unmanned systems, the terror group approach in stronger states mimics urban war best-practice by
decentralising, with loose and opportunistic shared vision for autonomous capability.