Chapter 10

1. Chapter 10 Terrorism: The Newest Threat to our National Security

2. The Terrorism Research Center notes: “One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.” • Terrorism is “the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of the United States for purposes of intimidation, coercion or ransom.”

3. Most definitions of terrorism include the systematic use of physical violence, either actual or threatened, against noncombatants to create a climate of fear and cause some religious, political or social change.

4. Classification of Terrorists Acts • Domestic: • 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. • 1996 Summer Olympic Games • Domestic terrorists represent extreme right or left wing and special interest beliefs. • Many are anti-government, antitaxations and engage in survivalist training to perpetuate a white, Christian nation.

5. International Terrorism: • Foreign-based or directed by countries or groups outside the US against the US • Three categories: • 1. foreign state sponsors of international terrorism using terrorism as a tool to foreign policy, for example: Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. • 2. Formalized terrorist groups such as Lebanese, Hezballah, Egyptian Al-Gamm’s. Al-Qaeda. • 3. Loosely affiliated international radical extremists who have a variety of identities and travel freely in the US, unkonw to law enforcement and the government.

6. The Dual Threat: • The treat from domestic terrorism is as serious as the international threat. • Motivations for Terrorism: • Most terrorist acts result from dissatisfaction with a religious, political or social system or policy and frustration resulting from an inability to change it through acceptable, nonviolent means.

7. Domestic Terrorists groups include white supremacists, black supremacists, militia groups, other right-winged extremists, left-wing extremists, pro-life extremists, animal rights activists and environmental extremists. • One of the oldest American terrorist organization is the Ku Klux Klan.

8. Black Supremacists: • The Black Panther Party was established in 1966 during a time of racial turmoil. • Today, a newly reconstructed Black Panther Party has been organized, and it qualifies as a hate group. • Heavily armed, advocate violence against whites, and like their 1960’s predecessors, see cops as the enemy.

9. Left Wing Extremists: • “the left wing extremists believes in a Pro Marxist stance where the rich must be brought down and the poor elevated. Presently the largest groups of supporters for this cause are the Anarchist. • Pro-life: • Animal Rights: Animal Liberation Front (ALF) Clandestine and decentralized group has claimed credit for attacks on meat packing plants, furriers, and research labs. • Tries to avoid hurting people in it’s attacks. • Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC): Feel that people who make animals suffer should also be made to suffer. • Justice Department: Send surprises to people it calls “animal killing scum” such as an envelop sent to researcher and hunting guides that contact razor blades dipped in rat poison positioned to cut the finger of anyone opening the envelope with out a letter opener.

10. Environmental Extremists: • Eco-Terrorisms seeks to “inflict economic damage to those who profit from the destruction of the natural environment. • Earth Liberation Front (ELF) often works with Animal Liberation Front (ALF) • Arson is a favorite weapon • Vandalism of equipment, package bombs, destruction of research data, arson of buildings, obliteration of experimental plants and animals

11. Terrorists may use arson, explosives and bombs, weapons of mass destruction (biological, chemical or nuclear agents) and technology. • Suicide bombers: • Most believe the act makes them martyrs and assures them a place in their version of heaven. • Their families are usually held in reverence and taken care of. • Try to kill as many people as possible.

12. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) • Nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons. • Biological Agents: • Anthrax, botulism, smallpox. • CIA reports that at least 10 countries are believed to possess or to be conducting research on biological agents.

13. Chemical Agents: • Chemical agents are not as lethal as biological agents, and they are easier to control. The four common types of chemical weapons are nerve agents, blood agents, choking agents and blistering agents. • Nuclear Terrorism: • What is happening right now with Nuclear weapons?

14. Technological Terrorism: • Modern societies are susceptible to two methods of technological terror. • 1) the employment of mass destruction weapons or the conversion of an industrial site-for example, a chemical plant – into a massively lethal instrument through sabotage. • 2) attack a source that supplies technology or energy. The result of either type of attack could be catastrophic.

15. September 11, 2001 • Where were you? • US immigration policies made it relatively easy for terrorists to enter the US. • Permissiveness in allowing knives and small cutting instruments on board planes.

16. As a result of 9/11 the Department of Homeland Security was established, reorganizing the departments of the federal government. • USA Patriot Act • Gave the police the ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists, saying: “This government will enforce this law with all the urgency of a nation at war.”

17. USA Patriot Act allows: • Investigators to use the tools already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking • Facilitating information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so they can better “connect the dots.” • Updating the law to reflect new technologies and new threats. • Increasing the penalties for those who commit or support terrorist crimes

18. Law Enforcement and Homeland Security: • It is vital that patrol officers correctly see themselves as the country’s first defense against terrorists attacks. • The officer in the field, perhaps by transmitting the details of a seemingly routine traffic stop to a centralized data system, could potentially help avert a national desaster.

19. Al-Qaeda training manual: • Lesson 1: A call to “holy war” (jihad) • Lesson 2: focuses on the qualities of individual members. • Lesson 3: teaches forgery • Lesson 4: focuses on safe houses and other hiding places, including instructions for establishing a clandestine terrorist network • Lesson 5: concentrates on secret transportation and communication. • Lesson 6: training and security

20. Lesson 7: covers weapons, one of the keys to terrorism, including building an arsenal and safely storing explosives. • Lesson 8: discusses secrecy and members safety. • Lesson 9: discussion of security, emphasizing planning and operations. • Lesson 10 & 11: reconnaissance, including methods for clandestine spying and capturing prisoners. • Lesson 12: discusses intelligence gathering, but focuses specifically on covert methods and counter-intelligence

21. Intermediate sections between lessons are tips on handling recruited agents and dealing with countermeasures. • Lesson 18: provides instructions about behavior when arrested. • The key to combating terrorism lies with the local police’s investigation of terrorist acts and the intelligence they obtain to help prevent future attacks.

22. The technological issue that most challenges state and local participation in any national anti-terrorism intelligence efforts can be summarized by one word- interoperability (the ability to exchange information seamlessly). • Two concerns related to the “war on terrorism” are that civil liberties may be jeopardized and that people of Middle Eastern descent may be discriminated against or become victims of hate crimes.