Amazon.com description: Product Description: More diffuse and active than ever before, the Al-Qaeda network continues to threaten the United States and its allies. Despite significant counterterrorism efforts, groups in the network continue to carry out attacks across the world. Breaking Al-Qaeda lays out a unique approach to combating terrorism—by homing in on the network’s tiny fissures, which will ultimately lead to its collapse.

Elena Mastors and Jeffrey H. Norwitz propose examining the network’s members through a tailored psychological framework to determine how and why they are influenced to act. Analyzing and thus understanding these individuals, their nature, and their environment are central to identifying the network’s stresses. Pinpointing these will lead to successfully influencing their activities. They further advocate that select individuals from numerous government agencies carry out a broad and sustained campaign of what is termed “informational influence.”

Breaking Al-Qaeda is a significant contribution to our understanding of the terrorist network and offers a new and creative approach to countering its threat.