Heh, I used some of Robb's work on this subject for a recent Master's paper.

The conservative estimate was $80B, with $500B being the highest figure.

I think he's on to something - the costs of waging high tech war, whether conventional or not, is becoming unsustainable even for us. If AQ or other terror groups continue to attack us with cost/benefit ratios similar to 9/11, then we are in trouble.

The good news is that these kinds of attacks are exceedingly rare, and there are very few that I can imagine that would have the same impact as the 9/11attacks.


Quote Originally Posted by Granite_State View Post
Yup. Robb's big on talking about ROI (return on investment), isn't he? The figure that always gets me, don't remember where I got it but it was somewhere reputable, was that 9/11 cost Al Qaeda about $500,000 and did, at conservative estimates, $500 billion in damage to the U.S. economy.