The morphing terror threat: How AI, younger recruits, and evolving warfare are reshaping terrorism

Terrorism has morphed in myriad ways, making it more challenging than ever to analyze and defend against, Assaf Moghadam, the new head of the International Institute of Counterterrorism (ICT) at Reichman University, recently told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive first interview since taking the job.Moghadam joined ICT in 2011, served as ICT's director of academic affairs, and led the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy as dean from 2019 to 2024.He heads the university's MA Program in Counterterrorism and Intelligence and its BA track in Security Studies and Counter-Terrorism.The new ICT director came from the US Military Academy at West Point, where he directed terrorism studies, and has held fellowships at Harvard and taught at Columbia, West Point, and UMass Lowell.Replacing Boaz Ganor, who is now the university's president but founded ICT in 1996, Moghadam's research and multiple books have covered terrorism, global jihad, insurgency, relations between militant organizations, and proxy wars.In his interview with the Post, Moghadam traced the recent evolution of terrorism in its broader context along four trajectories, each of which involved the erosion of a former boundary of what constituted terrorism.How AI is lowering the barrier to terrorismThe first trajectory is how artificial intelligence and technology are changing terror and eroding an age boundary.“Regarding the impact of AI and technology, technology has always had…