Speculation continues regarding the future of al-Qaida’s leadership following the killing of its leader Osama bin Laden. There are rules governing who is next in line, explains Leah Farrall. Farrall is the former Senior Counter-Terrorism Analyst for the Australian Federal Police and currently the author of the blog, All Things Counter-Terrorism. In a recent article for Foreign Policy magazine, she writes that “like any good corporation, the terror network has a strict series of rules and regulations it must adhere to in naming a successor. Rules that provide insight into how any future power struggles may play out.” And these rules point to number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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