Roots of Counterterrorism

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, much of the counterterrorism literature has focused on costly and ineffective approaches, losing sight of productive strategies from eras past. Roots of Counterterrorism revives the narratives from the Dutch domestic security service Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) from 1968-78, a period of turbulence that lasted until the Dutch regained political stability. Using newly declassified primary sources, Constant Willem Hijzen shows that a goal of large-scale prevention was not as effective as focusing on suspected perpetrators of attacks. The book introduces a new way of analyzing the dynamics of counterterrorism, shedding light on contemporary wisdom from Dutch intelligence history.