Excerpts from abstract. I cleaned up the formatting some, but it still has some problems left. > The study examines how three core variables: a terrorist group

Excerpts from abstract. I cleaned up the formatting some, but it still has some problems left. > The study examines how three core variables: a terrorist group's organizational structure, its access to controlled territory and its level of popular support, affect the terrorist group’s counterintelligence strengths and vulnerabilities. Thirty-three terrorist groups are examined in a large typol ogi cal framework while addi tiona l case studi esprovi de an in - depth focus on Al Qaeda, the Provi siona l Ir ish Republ ican Army (PIRA),Fatah, Black September, and the Egypt ian Islamic Group (Gemaa al - Islamiyya). > The study shows that terrorist groups inevitably face predictable, thoughoften subtle, counterintelligence dilemmas that challenge their ability to func tion effectively. Cont rary to popu lar belief, the dissertation show s that hierarchical and tight ly organized terrorist organizationsare frequently superior to decentralized or ‘network’ terrorist organizations in their count erintelligence capabilitie s, and therefore are in many cases better suited for long - term survival. Additionally, the study shows that most terrorist group leaders crave publicity, which frequently undermines the terrorist group’s need to maintain secrecy and security.This research offers numerous pol icy prescriptionsfor more efficiently exploiting terrorist counterintelligence vulnerabilities.Incorporating these insights into current counterterrorism efforts promises to add inventive methods for monitoring and eliminating terrorist groups.