Terrorists will increasingly act like modern day multi-national firms outsourcing mass atrocity attacks, a top military expert has warned.
Senior American military strategist Philip Bobbit has offered a chilling glimpse of the new potential for mass murder, with new threats including a disturbing rise in the risk of terrorists who might use biological weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking at the Hay Festival in mid-Wales, he also claimed that Osama bin Laden will be studied by future generations for his ability as an ace administrator.
He also warned that some in the military are so far failing to appreciate the nature of the new threat, adding that 21st century terrorists are harnessing the advantages of globalism in the same way as large corporations.
He said the emergence of "market states," as opposed to nation states, is giving rise to terrorists who act in the same way.
As the USA and other western countries have outsourced everything from Pentagon operations to transport, terrorists would do the same.
But he dismissed the idea of a war on terror as "absurd" as he detailed how the traditional military approach would not work.
Although he said the chances of dying in a terror attack are still low, he said that technological advance meant the know-how, cash and numbers of people needed had all radically reduced over time. "You can take Mouse Pox and alter it very little to make Small Pox - you don't have to be a genius. That is the real threat, seriously."
Of Osama bin Laden, Bobbit said the terror lord's lasting legacy will be his success in modernising and reorganising the business of mass murder.
Mass murderer bin Laden was assassinated by a crack American hit squad last month after living at a secret location in Pakistan for years. His legacy would be that he treated terrorism like a business, ensuring it used modern methods such as the internet.
