The above image tells you pretty much everything you need to know about network density as it relates to illicit cells. The best paper I've read on the topic is Rational Terrorists and Optimal Network Structure by Walter Enders and Xuejuan Su. In this highly readable but occasionally math heavy paper, Enders and Su synthesize a network analytical model with a behavioral economics model to anticipate how a terror cell might act as its operational environment changes. Authorities crackin' down? Sparse up the network! New discrete communication technologies? Fatten up the network! I love this paper. There is a printed copy of it under my pillow at night.
I promise to deliver my "Why Dense Networks Fail" portion of this Network density as soon as I finish my masters thesis which, surprisingly, incorporates SNA. But rest assured, a good amount of my own material on this topic is informed by Enders and Su, so I wanted to share their paper in the meantime.
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