Data and information of the highest quality are critical to understanding and countering acts of terrorism. As a tool, database technologies are becoming integral to the field of terrorism studies. The intelligence failings of September 11th 2001 illustrate the need for timely, relevant and accurate data, derived from a plethora of complex intelligence sources. This thesis will argue that, at least until 9/11, the academic study of terrorism and counter-terrorism databases has been limited and that the subject lacks an overall coherency and direction. The thesis asks: what is the quality and practical value of database technologies in the field of terrorism and counter-terrorism post 9/11? The study will provide a cross-disciplinary approach, specifically from the disciplines of political science and computer science. It will present an understanding of the conceptual, design, operation, strengths and weaknesses of terrorism and counterterrorism databases. The ramifications of post 9/11 and its impact upon the intelligence community, and the areas of security, privacy and emerging technologies in data mining and terrorism informatics are assessed. This study will examine mainly open source information on terrorism and counterterrorism databases. The research methodology will be carried out using a series of case studies, from the ITERATE, RAND/MIPT, WITS, and GTDB data sets. Primary sources, for example, codebooks, and secondary source materials such as Library of Congress and GAO reports are used. A comparative sampling of relational databases and terrorism data sets is undertaken. The thesis will illustrate that with increased federal funding, new terrorism database technologies, post 9/11, operate under sophisticated schemata, requiring complex and systematic synthesis. In addition, issues of data sharing, fusion, interoperability and ethical concerns will be addressed. Implications for future terrorism database technologies will be articulated. These require rigorous design methodologies be adopted, while safeguarding ethical and privacy concerns. The thesis provides a coherent systematic analysis of terrorism and counter-terrorism databases, from what to date has been a disaggregated subject field.

The present research investigates the socio-political factors that have transformed the post 9/11 Olympics into a 'top priority', 'the biggest security challenge since the WW II' or even an 'inevitable' terrorism target. By using a constructivist approach, our research explores the Olympics' vulnerability to terrorism and the reasons for governments' preoccupation with the emergent Olympic security transformation and planning at an international level. The terrorist attacks on America on 11 September, 2001 informed the prevalent discourse of terrorism within the Olympic mega event and propagated the need for increased Olympic security planning and management. Although there were some attempts from previous researches to interpret the Olympics risks and governments' tendency to secure the Olympics with high precautionary measures, it seems that there was no similar research that has internalised criminological and sociopolitical concepts of security within Olympic environment. One of the most significant contributions of the current research is the Olympics' periodisation, as well as, the investigation of their vulnerability to terrorism from their early lifetime. Through the Olympics' sociopolitical periodisation, it becomes evident that the Games were always vulnerable to international politics and diplomacies. They constituted a means of diffusing the ideologies of a homogenised western culture and politicised concepts and structures of 'one world'. While, their historical background provides a panoramic view of their political and ideological role, it shows further that the urgency of the 'new' security challenges reflects a wider sense of insecurity and vulnerability that defines contemporary society.

This thesis examines whether and how the EU counter-terrorism (CT) policy reconciles the demands of security with adequate protection of human rights. It starts from the assumption that human rights and security are mutually reinforcing and interdependent objectives in the CT fight where the erosion of one objective leads automatically to negative consequences in respect of the other objective. It specifically argues that the reconciliation of these two objectives has to be addressed at two distinct levels: first, in the framework of the EU primary law and, second, in the content of each EU CT provision. Consequently, the thesis examines both levels in order to respond to the research question. In the course of this investigation, the research has demonstrated that the legal framework resulting from the Treaty of Lisbon provides a basis for better addressing the human rights protection and security objectives of the EU CT policy. However, the analysis of three specific instruments – two in force and one at the level of a legislative proposal – provided contrasting results regarding the simultaneous fulfilment of the two imperatives outlined above. Moving beyond questions pertaining to the advancement of preventive criminal law and the possible reinforcement of a surveillance society, the thesis advances the hypothesis that, in the field, we are confronted more and more with what we could term ‘grey laws’ – following Dyzenhaus, Lynch and Reilly – due to their frailties as regards the tests of proportionality and legal certainty. Moreover, the thesis explores the EU’s stance as an actor in the field and the applicability of Wallace’s ‘pendulum model’ for CT decision-making, as well as the position of an individual subject to all the three measures indicated above. Solutions in order to overcome the identified shortcomings as well as further potential areas of research are also explored.