Randy Rogan, a Wake Forest University communication professor, is an expert and leading researcher in both international and domestic terrorism, and hostage negotiation. He has been quoted in national media on the Boston Marathon bombing and the Alabama hostage ordeal last February where a child was kidnapped and held in a bunker. Rogan's analysis of written documents in 1996 assisted in the investigation that resulted in the arrest of the Unabomber.

Rogan says:

The terrorists are winning in terms of our need to prevent and guard against possible attacks. All we need do is look at all of the security preparations for major events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics to see the impact of terrorism on our collective finances, our psyches and our lifestyles.

The Russians are spending millions upon millions of dollars to prevent an attack, with tens of thousands of troops ringing the Olympic site. But it is the region outside that is most vulnerable, including airports, train stations and buses. If an attack or attacks were to occur, they would rock the Olympics and our global sense of security and safety.

Doku Umarov, the presumed leader of the Caucasus Emirate group threatened in July to attack the Olympics. Two bombings in Volgograd that killed 34 were simply a shot across the bow, a warning about the dangers to athletes and spectators.

In a video aired Jan. 19 two men warned those attacks were only a taste of what was yet to come. The threat itself was enough for some athletes to discourage family and friends from attending.

Though its end goal may be politically motivated, threats are terroristic in themselves, as the purpose of terrorism, to quote Vladimir Lenin, is to terrorize.