Terrorism is too often fought after the fact, with security services reacting to attacks. Instead, measures must be taken to actually stop terrorists before they can attack. Here, the authors argue that U.S. government anti-terrorism policy must pay much more attention to reducing opportunities for terrorist attacks by protecting vulnerable targets, controlling the tools and weapons used by terrorists, and by removing the conditions of everyday life that make these attacks possible. While some of this work is done on an ad hoc basis, there are no recognised methods to guide the work, there is limited experience on which to draw, and the government has no trained professionals to oversee the work. In this book, the authors address these deficiencies, and lay out a systematic approach for reducing opportunities for terrorism. The authors take readers through the methods for preventing terrorism and the policies that will assist in this important work. They show that in order to protect the public from terrorists, security forces must do what the terrorists do: identify vulnerable targets, analyse their specific weaknesses, consider the tools and weapons needed to attack, and assess access to the targets. Once these steps are taken, security agencies can then provide appropriate protection, limit accessibility, anticipate the forces needed to combat a potential attack, and plan carefully for an attack if it does occur. By "outsmarting the terrorists" security forces undertake the same analysis of vulnerabilities and opportunities that terrorists themselves undertake in planning their operations, and can more effectively defeat them before they strike.