Human and Social Forces in the Spread of the IED Threat: Innovation, Diffusion and Adaptation

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) conducted a workshop entitled “Human and Social Forces in the Spread of the IED Threat: Innovation, Diffusion and Adaptation” on Thursday, November 20, 2008, at the University of Maryland in College Park. The objectives of the workshop were to explore certain aspects of the social and behavioral elements of the threat of terrorists using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), specifically those aspects related to the evolution and spread of IED usage, and to set the stage for future research in this area. After START researchers set the workshop parameters, initial presentations and discussion provided a baseline of current knowledge (both qualitatively and quantitatively derived) regarding innovation and diffusion in the terrorist use of IEDs. Group discussions and breakout sessions explored the future directions that research in this area might take.