Engineers make the best terrorists!

[Kodiak]

If this might be more appropriate to N&P, benevolent mods are free to move it there.


article here

Planning skills make engineers good 'field operatives'
Sheila Riley
EE Times
(04/03/2008 11:39 AM EDT)

SAN FRANCISCO — Engineers' personality traits make them excellent "field operatives"--that is, on--the-ground terrorists, according to an international security expert.

The connection between engineering and violent extremism is well known to terrorist groups and those who work to stop them, said Raphael Perl, who heads the Action against Terrorism Unit at the 56-country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"Engineers ideally make excellent strategic planners, and they make excellent field operatives. They think differently from how other people think," Perl said from Vienna, Austria, where he is based.

Engineers may disagree, but they would be hard put to ignore Perl's statements. OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, promotes democracy and conflict prevention, and includes non-NATO nations such as Russia and non-European Union countries such as the United States. The organization is seen as a growing and influential vehicle for the exercise of "soft power" in the anti-terrorism field.

Although not an engineer himself, Perl is a former fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a long-time terrorism expert for the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

Engineers make good strategic planners because they think in terms of systems and networks. They make good operatives because they tend to be thorough and meticulous, Perl said.

Another quality many engineers share is the ability to keep quiet. "It's fair to say they're not perceived as super-social animals or the life of the party," Perl said. "They're not going to talk to a lot of people and brag about any terrorist activity they may be involved in."

Because of those traits, terrorist groups actively recruit engineers. That means engineers are exactly the people who need to be in on anti-terrorism efforts, Perl said. He flatly disagreed with comments made by engineers in a recent EE Times article. Those comments criticized an Oxford study, "Engineers of Jihad," which found terrorists in Islamic countries were more likely to be engineers than members of other professions.

The study argued that an "engineering mindset," coupled with harsh socioeconomic conditions in certain Islamic countries, could lead to participation in terrorism. Angry engineers challenged the statistical significance of the study's small sample and labeled it sloppy science.

But the reality is that engineers are overrepresented in terrorism, Perl said. Al-Qaeda is a clear example; it's widely acknowledged that a significant number of the group's top leadership had engineering backgrounds. Further, the terrorist organization works to attract engineers to its ranks, Perl said. While such groups might benefit from recruiting operatives with technical skills, the more fundamental qualities that define engineers and other tech professionals are the primary draw. "Al-Qaeda is actively recruiting from the engineering community because they like those qualities.They're increasingly recruiting engineers, scientists, chemists, people with medical degrees and people with technical backgrounds," Perl said.

It's not only in Islamic countries that this is happening, he said. Al-Qaeda is increasingly recruiting scientists and engineers, especially non-Muslims, and is doing so worldwide, according to Perl.

There are very strong government policy implications, he said: Engineers need to participate in anti-terrorism efforts. Networks-possibly multiple networks at once-will be the next al-Qaeda targets. That's where engineers could be a critical component of anti-terrorism work.

"Just like it takes a thief to catch a thief, it takes an engineer to catch an engineer," Perl said.

I thought this was pretty interesting. I'm an engineer, and I notice that the way I look at things is far different from those of other professions. I wonder though why this "Engineer mindset" lends itself more to terrorism than a "scientist mindest" or "technician mindset". Perhaps it has to do with the emphasis on problem-solving and analytical skills.

[Broomstick]

I think it also has to do with being able to figure out how things fit together, work together, and form a system. If you understand the system you are more likely to determine the weakest points (which are not always obvious to an outsider) and that is obviously where you would concentrate an attack.

Kinda similar to how doctors can make excellent torturers, or the way pilots can pull off a hijacking and accurately fly aircraft into buildings. The training and education that makes them what they are also makes them dangerous if they go bad.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Engineers have traditionally been excellent military officers for largely the same reason--they can look at the land and analyze where to lay out their strongpoints, where to position their supporting elements, how to arrange the artillery to cover the maximum possible swept ground, how to prepare the defensives to allow the most rapid movement of troops to a point of weakness, where to position their stop lines. Engineering actually came to me as a field of interest in part through that; I've always been naturally inclined to just look around and thing, "hmm, trenchline there, snipers over there, the artillery can be here, we can use that drainage ditch as an improvised stop line..."

[Adrian Laguna]

That's why it's a good thing that West Point is, and always has been, primarily and engineering school. While there are turds here and there, the United States has always had some truly excellent commanders. Though the reason behind West Point's academic focus is less about it being good for the military, and more about given graduates something to do in peace time (as well as a concern that bored officers plan coups for fun).

[brianeyci]

Another quality many engineers share is the ability to keep quiet. "It's fair to say they're not perceived as super-social animals or the life of the party," Perl said. "They're not going to talk to a lot of people and brag about any terrorist activity they may be involved in."

This might cause a bit of a controversy, but I think the article comes to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons. Engineers party loud and hard -- some do not, but many do. They are not all quiet. In fact I've heard it say that engineering is the ultimate "mannish" by engineers, and part of being a man is bragging and pride.

It is possible that all other things being equal, engineers are possibly better at everything. It's the whole argument about different kinds of intelligence compared to different areas of focus that's been talked to death on this forum, and I am leaning towards the latter more and more.

If terrorists are more likely to be engineers, that just means terrorists on the high end (sleeper cells, not bus bomber) have stricter hiring practises and little room for bloat, unlike the corporate or government world. It could also be that engineers have more expectations, being highly educated, and after they graduate they can't find employment. In other words it's easier to disenfranchise an engineer in India or Pakistan than simple farmer, and disenfranchisement is the first step to extremism.

[The Yosemite Bear]

That's why it's a good thing that West Point is, and always has been, primarily and engineering school. While there are turds here and there, the United States has always had some truly excellent commanders. Though the reason behind West Point's academic focus is less about it being good for the military, and more about given graduates something to do in peace time (as well as a concern that bored officers plan coups for fun).

But that tradition goes back to Rome. I mean how else did they build all those Aquaducts, Roads, and other civilizing structures. Give the Roman military plenty to do.