Transnational Threat Indications and Warning: The Utility of Network Analysis

Contents

This paper uses the case of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo to illustrate how network constructions can aid in the development of indications and warning for transnational threats. Following a brief primer on Aum, the paper describes Aum’s organizational and transactional networks, and examines how analysts could have used these representations to generate indications and warnings. The main conclusions from this paper are that link analysis is that transactional networks are well suited to develop indications and warning for transnational threats, and that the Aum Shinrikyo case can suggest useful points of departure for link analysis.