By Wyn Rees
Contemporary terrorism represents a global security challenge. To address this threat, the international community requires a global framework of counter-terrorism measures to prevent an adversary thriving in, what FBI Director Robert Mueller described as, the ‘seams of our jurisdictions’. Some analysts have called for such a world-wide institutional architecture to be created, yet they appreciate that such a goal is still a long way off. What exists presently is more of a patchwork of counter-terrorism governance embodied in a variety of settings and operating at a relatively embryonic stage. No dedicated international organisation has emerged in this field with an all-embracing body of rules.