Terrorists Don't Have to Win – They Just Have to Survive: Counterterrorism in 2016

Editor’s Note: Over the coming days, The Cipher Brief presents some of our most incisive coverage on key issues of 2016 and a look ahead at what is yet to come in 2017.

This past year brought no relief to those fighting the scourge of terrorism. Terrorists carried out horrific attacks at airports in Brussels and Istanbul, at crowded festivals in Berlin, Nice, and Baghdad, at restaurants in Bangladesh, and at various locations throughout Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan. The world also faced the growing phenomenon of the radicalized, lone-wolf assailant, as demonstrated by the shooting at a nightclub in Orlando and more recently by a stabbing spree at the Ohio State University.