Somehow the assumption always seems to be that terrorists are stupid. They&#x27;re not stupid, they have seen some plots foiled so they adapt until they make it through the next time. Footsoldiers they can afford to lose, just like the drug trade can afford to lose shipments and mules. Getting guns and grenades is relatively easy in Europe, many ordinary criminal gangs much less well funded manage to get these. Making bombs is a bit more difficult but that&#x27;s one of those things that you only really need one guy for and some basic tradecraft to get them into the hands of the people that will use them.<p>&#x27;Chatter&#x27; is a sign of stuff <i>not</i> working as expected, if terrorists are half as intelligent as I give them credit for they&#x27;ll know to stay off the phone and off the internet. You&#x27;d have a bigger chance locating them by the absence of traffic than by traffic assuming they are not as dumb as we&#x27;d like them to be.<p>Incidentally, and violating my own rule, that&#x27;s why I don&#x27;t believe in the whole &#x27;snooping makes us safer&#x27; rubbish. If anything it just increases the size of the haystack for a constant number of needles.