# Terrorist Network **Entity class:** Operational network concept ## Definition A **terrorist network** is the changing relational system through which people, cells, facilitators, financiers, recruiters, propagandists, couriers, devices, accounts, locations, resources, and operational events support terrorist activity. It may contain formal membership, weak ties, indirect support, transient coordination, and compartmented subgraphs. The network is larger than the set of attackers. Counterterrorism therefore studies communication, finance, travel, recruitment, logistics, co-location, access, and shared intermediaries as distinct edge types whose significance changes over time. ## Relationships - **theory:** [[wiki/Netwar|Netwar]], [[wiki/Dark Network|Dark Network]], [[wiki/Cell Structure|Cell Structure]], and [[wiki/Social Network Analysis|Social Network Analysis]]. - **operational analysis:** [[wiki/Counterterrorism Predictive Graph|Counterterrorism Predictive Graph]], [[wiki/Network Illumination|Network Illumination]], and [[wiki/Network Disruption|Network Disruption]]. - **master collection:** [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [RAND, *Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy*, 2001](https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/www/external/congress/terrorism/phase1/netwars.pdf). **As of:** 2026-09-23