Research note: Concept to develop a software-based counter-terrorism campaign decision support tool

In the public policy community, a need exists for a software tool that comprehensively applies leading concepts of counterterrorism (CT) analysis and planning to systematically display, track, operationalize and update on an analyst´s computer all the decisions and processes involved in countering an on-going terrorist insurgency facing a targeted adversary. Initially, such a prototype would be employed for analytical and training purposes, with a more advanced version used in a government´s actual CT campaign. No such comprehensive software tool exists at present (based on the author´s knowledge) to address any of these requirements. This research note, which is of a preliminary nature, is primarily descriptive and does not include a discussion of how such a tool would be operationalized into a software program, since that would involve releasing proprietary intellectual property that is intended for commercial purposes. Hopefully, this preliminary research note will generate interest in a collaborative effort with other researchers and software developers to create and operationalize such a software tool kit.