Knowing the right questions can be difficult, so
the new project’s database automatically pushes
information to relevant counterterrorism agencies.
While it’s more difficult to design and manage, it
could deliver more value. But even with better IT
infrastructure in place for collecting and sharing
sensitive data, securing buy-in remains an outsized
challenge. “A lot of it comes down to trust,” Mr.
Lawson says, “and that often takes a combination of
time and an imperative to cooperate.”
LINKED UP
Looming terrorism threats would seem to compel
full cooperation between intelligence agencies, but
these organizations can have deeply entrenched
notions that information shared is information
made vulnerable. “One wonders if Paris and
Brussels won’t be enough to start to change that
culture, but nation-states don’t surrender their
sovereignty over national security very easily,” says
William Braniff, executive director, START, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Transparency was baked in from the beginning
of START’s database project: Intelligence agencies, military groups and researchers alike can
download not only the data but also the project’s
codebook, which makes gathering data more
efficient by explaining the exact requirements
for coding certain incidents. It’s now the largest
such data set in the world, spanning more than
140,000 terrorism incidents dating back to 1970.
Government agencies around the globe tap into
the database to study terrorism networks, analyze attacks and strengthen their prevention and
response plans.
The project team also included a variable to
track incidents in which there’s a lingering doubt
whether terrorism was actually at play. This allows
counterterrorism analysts to take as narrow or
broad a definition as they need to. “When you’re
talking about economic data or demographic data
or labor data, there are some pretty finely tuned
instruments to measure these things. That is just
not the case in terrorism,” says Mr. Braniff. At
least, not yet. —Kate Rockwood
Sources: The World Bank; World Economic Outlook, International Monetary Fund, 2016; Nikkei Asian
Review; The Sun Daily; Hydrocarbons-technology.com
2015 2016 2018 2017
Malaysia Revs Up
With megaprojects underway, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy is
poised for a construction boom.
GDP GROWTH AT A GLANCE
Malaysia’s economy is projected to grow faster than the global average:
SPANNING SECTORS
Malaysia’s government is backing megaprojects to help power future growth.
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
4.4% 4.5% 4.7% 5.0% 3.1%
2015 GDP growth global average
8.4%
Malaysia’s construction industry
growth rate in 2016 (projection)
MYR260 billion
MYR22 billion
Amount the Malaysian government will allocate for the country’s five-year
(2016-2020) infrastructure-focused economic plan.
Value of government contracts handed out in 2015
MYR32
billion
Cost of Kuala Lum-
pur’s Mass Rapid
Transit, a multiphase,
rail-based transit
project
MYR57
billion
Cost of Johor state
government and Petro-
nas Chemicals’ Refin-
ery and Petrochemical
Integrated Develop-
ment crude oil refinery
project in Pengerang,
Southern Johor
MYR200
billion
Projected cost of the
486-acre (197-hect-
are) Bandar Malaysia
city project, which
will feature residen-
tial and commercial
facilities, transit and
public spaces
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
