The West may no longer be the main target for terrorist organizations; turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa has given rise to an increased number of more locally-focused attacks in the last year.

Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson say that recent terrorist plots reveal a shift in al-Qaeda's strategy.

An investigation by The Nation has found that members of an elite division of Blackwater are running a clandestine program to carry out assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives both inside and outside Pakistan, help run secret US military drone bombing campaigns and gather intelligence.

This document delves into the concepts of jihad, arguing that jihadists aim to "persistently drain the economic strength of the U.S."

Rising demand stands to increase the strain on the already taxed U.S. power grid. Without intervention, the system could become even more susceptible to terrorist attacks and acts of nature.

With summer approaching, experts warn the overburdened and aging U.S. electrical grid has become less reliable and more vulnerable to disruptions.

Backgrounder: Experts say more should be done to reduce risk on both passenger and freight rail.

Three years after September 11, the United States is still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to another attack on its soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footing at home. But despite the many new security precautions that have been proposed, America’s most serious vulnerabilities remain ominously exposed.

Carl Prine, an investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, says his recent report on rail security discovered glaring vulnerabilities that potentially endanger thousands of lives on a daily basis.

Attacks on U.S. chemical facilities have the potential to affect thousands, possibly millions of people, yet many of them remain poorly secured. Legislation to improve security standards has been watered down.

Security experts believe many U.S. chemical facilities are vulnerable to catastrophic attacks. Improvements have been slow to come, and Congress recently declined to take tough steps called for by experts.

CFR Senior Fellow Steven Simon says the plot uncovered by British authorities to simultaneously down several aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean bears all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda and suggests the group is still a viable threat.

The transport of liquefied natural gas to the United States is expected to surge in the next two decades. The explosive power of such gas makes transport ships attractive terrorist targets. Security experts say it is time to improve safeguards.

In their working paper, Andrew Karoly and Todolfo Martell examine the impact on stock prices in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The study identifies 75 attacks on publicly traded firms between 1995 and 2002 from the Counterterrorism Office of the U.S. Department of State and elucidates the market effect of these attacks. A comprehensive understanding of the nature of terrorism and its effects is integral to the prevention of such attacks.