Strengthening intelligence operations by monitoring the steps preceding a terrorist attack

Before a terrorist organization can execute an attack, it needs to perform a number of preparatory activities. Although each of these activities provides opportunities for security services to detect and prevent the terrorist plot, the existing literature on intelligence operations research has mainly focused on the final step only: the attack itself. 
I propose to investigate how security services can better detect and prevent terrorist attacks by scanning the preparatory steps in a terrorist plot. In particular, I will address the following three questions: (i) how should authorities allocate their limited budget for monitoring?; (ii) which quantity of information suffices for the authorities to intervene?; and (iii) how to include game-theoretic interaction in the previous two research questions?
To answer these questions, the research will extend and apply quantitative methods from the domain of operations research and management science. The novel approach of considering a ‘project view’ of terrorist plots combines elements from the, previously separately treated, domains of search theory and project management, and the models to be developed will therefore contribute to both fields of study. The better understanding of the different steps preceding an attack could allow for an early and adequate response that not only prevents the attack, but that ultimately avoids the need for a violent intervention altogether.