As perverse as it may seem, imagine you are running a successful terrorist cell - be it Islamist, Irish Republican Army or communist revolutionary. Just think of the range of skills and character traits required. A cold-blooded ruthlessness? Undoubtedly. Cunning and creativity? Certainly. An ability to spot and exploit human weakness? Tick. A charisma that commands not just loyalty but inspires extreme belief and sacrifice? Definitely.
If that list looks formidable, just consider the more routine skills also required. Your ability to manage logistics must be first-rate, too. It is more than likely you and your team are constantly on the move, shifting location every night, all the while avoiding detection, inspiring new recruits and plotting seamless attacks.
Fortunately, very few people fit that bill. Many try but few succeed for any length of time. Unfortunately, Noordin Mohamed Top - Asia's most wanted man - is apparently one such figure.
He may have trained as an accountant in his Malaysian home province of Johor, just across the causeway from Singapore, but he is no ordinary bookkeeper.
Within hours of the bombings that ripped through restaurants at breakfast in Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on Friday last week, Indonesian security forces named Noordin a prime suspect.
With nine people killed and 53 injured in the heart of Jakarta's main business district, the use of suicide bombers and choice of target had all the hallmarks of Noordin's cell, a hardline breakaway from the al-Qaeda-inspired Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant Islamist group.