Check out the netwar and networks book that they put out and i linked above. they talk about current leaderless networks already in existence. everything from Battle in Seattle activists and the Zapatistas to terrorists and drug cartels. with a rapidly de-polarizing geo-political/economic system and the rise of non-state actors, their main concern how to deal with leaderless movements and networks.

Globally this is already happening. it’s happened around Islamic fundamentalism and global justice movements. it’s now just catching on in U.S. social movements [and when i say social movement, i am using a very broad definition].

The frame, tactics and strategies known as the “Global War On Terror” [GWOT] originated at RAND. the GWOT has been applied to domestic enviro/global justice/anti-war groups now as well.

The more networked, empowered and organized we get on a global level, the more we’ll see the RAND Corp develop strategies and scenarios to counter us.

Its funny they don’t seem to mention anything about the price of energy in a future where we’ve failed to address fossil fuel consumption. That would be the biggest thing to work in here – how much does a business response to rising energy correspond to these ‘terrorists’ one?