The world is witnessing a surge in global terrorism since the breakout of War in the Middle East on February 28, 2026. To mitigate threats, law enforcement authorities should take the lead to enlist the cooperation, collaboration, and partnership of all the branches of government, the private sector, and the public. As intelligence may be absent, partial, or flawed, law enforcement should develop the tell-tale indications, signs, and clues to prevent and pre-empt attacks. By working with all the sectors of society, the best and the brightest police officers should invest in behavioral and operational profiling to detect, disrupt, and dismantle terrorism and criminal threats upstream. By being alert and vigilant, the public can recognize observable behaviors and environmental signals that can indicate potential security threats, criminal activity, or safety hazards. By investing in predictive profiling, those serving in every sector is encouraged to look past the routine of their daily lives and report anything that feels “out of the ordinary” to law enforcement or private security personnel.
Crime and terrorism are the principal challenges confronting police practitioners. With globalization, ideological extremism and its vicious byproduct, terrorism, spread worldwide. No country is immune from the surging threat of political violence and terrorism. Both hostile states and non-state armed groups engage in political violence and terrorism to advance their aims and objectives.
Every successful terrorist attack is an intelligence failure. Rather than act after an attack, governments should focus on prevention. However, the law enforcement profession is geared to investigating an event only [ital]after[end] an attack. Unlike an act of crime, as it targets citizens, terrorism has far-reaching consequences. As such, preventing acts of terrorism is both a national and public security priority.
The gamechanger of terrorism is globalization, especially social media. Vicious ideologies and virulent narratives have a global reach and travel rapidly. The ideologies appeal to a cross section of society—from the rich to the poor and from the highly educated, to the less educated. More than ever before, youth and even children are radicalized online. Although the physical space remains important to mitigate attacks, to prevent attacks, the digital space is the most important domain.
Authorities should develop a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach. This two-step approach is vital to detect and disrupt attacks in the planning and preparation phases of an attack. Responding to an attack in the execution phase is too late.
Key Strategies for Preventing Terrorism
Key strategies focus on addressing the root causes of radicalization, strengthening physical and cyber defenses, and disrupting terrorist and extremist activities both in the physical and digital spaces. Preventing terrorism requires many layers working together—there’s no single fix. The most effective approaches combine security, social policy, and both domestic and international cooperation. To prevent terrorism, governments and international organizations employ comprehensive and ad hoc strategies.
1. Address root causes.
Counterterrorism efforts increasingly focus on addressing underlying conditions that make individuals vulnerable to extremist ideologies, such as social marginalization, economic grievances, and low education levels. These strategies help address those causes:
- Reduce political exclusion, discrimination, and human rights abuses
- Expand access to education, jobs, and economic opportunities
- Counter extremist narratives by promoting critical thinking and media literacy
2. Prevent radicalization.
- Support community-based programs that engage youth, families, and local leaders
- Early intervention when people show signs of violent extremism
- Support exit and rehabilitation programs for individuals leaving extremist groups
3. Implement strong but lawful security measures.
- Intelligence-sharing between agencies and countries
- Targeted surveillance based on credible threats (with legal oversight)
- Protect critical infrastructure and public spaces without overpolicing communities
4. Counter terrorist financing.
- Track and disrupt money flows, including charities used as fronts
- Enforce international financial regulations and sanctions
5. Engage in online prevention efforts.
- Remove extremist content and limit algorithmic amplification
- Promote credible counter-messaging from trusted voices
- Equip people to recognize propaganda and disinformation
6. Cooperate with domestic and international partners.
The building blocks of international cooperation are domestic cooperation. That is, there should be efforts to cooperate within the law enforcement, intelligence, and military partners at home before reaching out to foreign counterparts. As ideological extremism and terrorism are transnational threats, they require a coordinated global response. Organizations like the United Nations, European Union, and others work to build capacity, share best practices, and support member states’ efforts while upholding human rights and the rule of law.
- Share intelligence, training, and best practices across borders
- Resolve conflicts diplomatically where terrorism thrives
- Support fragile states to strengthen governance and the rule of law
7. Share Actionable Insights.
Cooperation among intelligence services and police agencies (like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and INTERPOL) is crucial for identifying and neutralizing threats.
8. Uphold human rights.
- Avoid collective punishment or profiling, which can fuel extremism
- Ensure transparency and accountability in counterterrorism efforts
Bottom line: Terrorism is reduced most effectively when societies are inclusive, just, and resilient, paired with smart, lawful security and global cooperation.
9. Maintain border security.
Implementing robust border management and screening measures helps disrupt the movement of terrorists and illegal trafficking flows.
10. Counter terror financing.
International efforts aim to track and cut off funding sources for terrorist organizations through stricter regulations and information sharing.
11. Prioritize cybersecurity.
Protecting critical IT infrastructure and working together to prevent the misuse of new technologies by terrorists are growing priorities.
12. Provide legal frameworks.
Establish national and international legal instruments to define, prevent, and prosecute terrorist acts.
13. Protect soft targets.
Enhance security measures at public spaces, such as transport hubs, event venues, and places of worship, which are often targeted. Define community-based prevention and public roles. A whole-of-society approach emphasizes community resilience and public vigilance.
- Community Engagement: Building trust and awareness within communities helps to identify early warning signs of radicalization.
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Individuals: Programs like the United Kingdom’s “Prevent” and “Channel” initiatives work with health services, education, and local authorities to provide support to individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
- Public Reporting: Citizens are encouraged to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to authorities. In the UK, advice and guidance on how to report concerns can be found via the ACT Early website or by contacting Counter Terrorism Policing.
- Countering Propaganda: Work with civil society and the private sector (e.g., social media companies) to challenge extremist narratives and remove terrorist content online.
Pre-Attack Identification
No terrorist attacks happen out of the blue. Every attack is preceded by both terrorist support and operational activities that are detectable. For each of the pre-attack activities, police should provide the private sector with a list of indicators, signs, and clues on what they should be looking out for to detect an attack. The security departments of the private sector can identify what is routine and what is anomalous. Every industry should develop operational and behavioral indicators, signs, and clues to secure their faculties. Working with the organization’s staff, the security practitioners serving in the industry can develop threat signatures.
To familiarize the private sector on what to look out for, the 14 terrorist support and operational activities preceding an attack should be shared with both the security and non-security staff. As non-security staff are more likely to detect an activity that is suspicious than a security staff, sharing indicators, signs, and clues with the non-security staff is essential.
The support activities include the following:
- Propaganda
- Recruitment
- Fundraising
- Procurement
- Safe houses
- Communication
- Transport
- Training
- Multiple identities
- Travel
The operational activities include the following:
- Initial surveillance and reconnaissance
- Rehearsal
- Final surveillance and reconnaissance
- Attack
Engaging Partners
Prevention of terrorism should be the highest priority. Ideally, law enforcement leaders should reach out and establish partnerships within the government and the nongovernmental sector. They should also work closely with the national security agencies and military forces, especially those units dedicated to monitoring the digital space.
To protect people and assets, law enforcement should engage with the different branches of government as the first step. Between the police leaders, national security agencies, and military forces, there should be a shift from counterterrorism cooperation to collaboration and partnership. If they do not work together, the entire threat picture will not be seen. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each branch of government sees only a part of the threat. When they start to work together, they will be able to see the entire picture.
As the second step, law enforcement leaders should build partnerships with the private industry and community organizations. To identify and recognize threats before they manifest on the ground, police should build trusted relationships with the nongovernmental organizations. As more attacks can be detected online than in the physical space, law enforcement authorities should build relations with tech companies. Likewise, trusted relationships should be built with the other sectors in the private industry—from banks and financial institutions to hotels and others in the hospitality sector, as well as the transportation sector. Only those serving in each sector are best positioned to recognize suspicious activities and behaviors. To detect threat activity, the staff serving in each sector should be oriented and trained to read and recognize the threat.
Understanding the Threat
The execution phase of a terrorist attack is too late to detect and disrupt an attack. There should be a shift in the mindset to prevent rather than react to an incident. There should be a greater effort to engage the private sector and reach out to vulnerable segments of the communities. The focus should be upstream prevention rather than downstream preemption.
It is vital to engage the community to inoculate them against exclusivist, extremist, violent, and terrorist activity. By promoting moderation, toleration, and coexistence, the members of the community will be able to alert the authorities if they observe hate speech or incitement that leads to violence and terrorism. When sensitized to the threat, they are likely to alert the authorities when they notice something suspicious or anomalous. What is not routine or not normal should trigger an alert that leads to an investigation. Community leaders, parents, teachers, elders, and others in mentorship should play a frontline role. In addition to investing in the communities, especially vulnerable populations, the government and partners should engage and sensitize stakeholders to report suspicious activity.
Every sector needs to be oriented to detecting threats by being aware of the suspicious clues, signs, and indicators. To secure the aviation, maritime, and land transportation sectors, an instructor should be oriented to distinguish between a bona fide pilot and a suicide pilot. A terrorist who wants to crash a plane into a target will not be interested in learning to land. The pilot instructor should watch for pilot trainees keen to learn to take off and fly but not to land. In the travel sector, both the security and non-security staff should look out for travelers going to conflict areas in their neighborhoods. Likewise, the government should prepare travel companies and security officers to thoroughly examine the travel identities of their customers. The trained staff should look out for genuine identity cards, as well as fraudulently obtained, forged, and altered documents. It is also important to inform the staff that many individuals with no prior criminal or intelligence record often use their real identities.
To orient the financial and banking sector to detect threat finance, develop and monitor for suspicious clues, signs, and indicators across the collection, storage, movement, and disbursement phases. If a credit card is used to purchase acetone, it is most likely by a cleaner to clean a drain. If a credit card is used to purchase hydrogen peroxide, it is most likely by a barber to dye hair. However, if a person purchases large amounts of both acetone and hydrogen peroxide, it is an indicator the person could make a homemade bomb. If both these products are purchased from a single credit card, the credit card company should alert law enforcement immediately.
As hotels have also become targets, to secure the hospitality industry, it is essential to orient and train both security and non-security staff to detect suspicious behavioral and operational activity. Likewise, templates of what is suspicious and what to look out for should be created for all sectors. Educational institutions, religious bodies, and information and communications agencies are vital partners in preventing threats.
Conclusion
Today, over 90 percent of the infrastructure is owned or operated by the private sector. To secure any country from the threat of terrorism, the government, especially the police, should build an enduring partnership with the private sector. Law enforcement’s security education wing should build the knowledge and understanding within the private sector on how terrorists operate, the insider threat, and predictive profiling.
The paramount importance of working with partners requires a change of mindset within the policing community. Preventing terrorism involves a multifaceted approach combining national security and public security measures; community engagement to build resilience; and international cooperation, collaboration, and partnership. d
Please cite as
Rohan Gunaratna, “Prioritizing Prevention,” Police Chief Online, March 25, 2026.
