Description: 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.
Brief description: Constant Willem Hijzen is an affiliated researcher in intelligence studies at the institute of security and global affairs at Leiden University (the Netherlands)
Review Quotes: "Hijzen has contributed a though provoking account and a valuable addition to the literature." -- Studies in Intelligence
"...Roots of Counterterrorism makes a substantial contribution to three overlapping literatures: terrorism studies, intelligence studies and Dutch political history. For terrorism scholars, it offers an empirically grounded account of how one liberal democracy understood and managed terrorism long before the global 'War on Terror', thereby disrupting narratives that over-privilege 9/11 as a watershed. For intelligence scholars, this book provides a rare, detailed look inside a domestic security service at a moment of functional redefinition, supporting more nuanced theorisation of intelligence roles, tasks and organizational development." -- Serena S. Said, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism