 The threat from Al Qaeda has evolved significantly since September 11, 2001. What began as a small group of Arab militants in rural Pakistan has since evolved into a terrorist network with global reach. CSIS has started the Al Qaeda and Associated Movements Futures project. This project will produce a series of scenarios on the future of Al Qaeda and its affiliates through year 2025. Earlier I spoke with project co-directors Rick Ozzie Nelson and Tom Sanderson to talk more about their study. Given the degree and nature of the threat today, governments are understandably focused on what's happening now. One of the benefits of our study is to look into the future, determine some of the currents of the threat so that we can help governments become more proactive in facing what's going to happen in 2025. We're looking out 10 years plus because that's what it takes for governments, for the international community to go ahead and build kind of relationships and build the kind of capabilities that are going to be required to mitigate this threat that we'll be facing for arguably the next coming decades. Well, the study has various phases. The first phase is what we call a baseline assessment. And that assessment gives us an overview of where we think Al Qaeda and the affiliated movements are today. That's a necessary step in order to figure out or determine where they will likely be in the future. In the second part of the project, we're going to evaluate a series of case studies, everything from Al Qaeda core to individual cells that are inspired by the Al Qaeda narrative, as well as some of the affiliated movements. We're also going to look at issues such as technology and how that influences the group. Clearly, we can see that technology has had a big influence on the evolution of Al Qaeda and the affiliated movements to this point. But how is it going to affect it going forward? As part of the study, the research team will travel extensively to gain perspectives from outside Washington. The team will engage in a series of field visits across Europe, West Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. And what this will do is provide much greater context and texture to the findings that we've developed back here in Washington through the research that we've been conducting. To supplement written publications, the AQAM Futures Project will produce a series of audio and video podcasts to provide interim findings from the study. In September, we will release the findings of our report and discuss the future of Al Qaeda and associated movements. This will include a discussion with some senior intelligence and foreign government officials who will be able to provide their insights as to where the threat is today and where it may be in 2025. We're not looking to predict the future. That's impossible. We're looking to determine some of the key factors, the fundamental conditions that may exist in the future and understand how we can mitigate this threat. To learn more about the Al Qaeda and associated movements Futures Project, visit aqam.csis.org.