Why Killing Terrorist Leaders Doesn't Necessarily Wipe Out Their Organizations

Posted August 7, 2017

External Article: Baltimore Sun

Jenna Jordan, assistant professor in the Ivan Allen College Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech was quoted in “Why killing terrorist leaders doesn't necessarily wipe out their organizations” for Baltimore Sun.

Excerpt:

Analysts don’t expect the policy of targeting militant leaders to change under the Trump administration.

But many analysts also say that while removing leaders may hurt militant groups, there are numerous examples of new leadership taking charge and continuing their missions. In some instances, analysts said, killing terrorist leaders fueled even more violence.

“The prevailing wisdom has been for a long time that taking out terrorist leaders helps to destabilize their groups,” said Jenna Jordan, assistant professor of International Affairs at Georgia Tech, who is writing a book on the subject. “But it's unlikely to diminish a large terrorist group's activities in the long run.”

For the full article, read here.