Common Elements of Terrorism

The Meaning of Terrorism

The word terror derives from the Latin word terrere , meaning “to frighten.”

The word and its derivatives have been applied in a variety of contexts — from a sobriquet for a vicious despot (as in Ivan the Terrible), to eras of violent political turbulence (as in the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution), to the sporadic outbursts of violence the world knows today as international terrorism. Violence is not the key characteristic, however, sincesuch violent confrontations as World Wars I and II are not considered terrorism.
Rather than being an end in itself, violence is a means to instill fear into (i.e., to terrify) whole populations.
Instilling fear can be purposeful for criminal or political ends malevolent in nature. Yet populations can be frightened without terrorism being involved, for example, the cause may be disease, such as the west Nile-type avian virus that plagued the northeastern United States, the “mad cow” virus that struck England and continental Europe, and the deadly ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1990s and early 21st century. There are those who believe that the outbreaks of those diseases were not entirely natural but were intentionally spread by human intervention; in which case, they would be acts of bio-terrorism.
Since the intention of all terrorists is to instill fear into the population at large, there is a common motivation to the criminal acts they perpetrate.
Because there is a common element to terrorism, counterterrorism has a foundation on which to base defensive strategies and tactics. Anything that can be done to reduce fear and anxiety among the general population is an effective defense against terrorism.

Brian Jenkins of the Rand Corporation has said terrorism is “the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change,” while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has defined terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
Jenkins has identified the three most serious types of conflict short of nuclear war:

1. Conventional warfare
2. Guerrilla warfare
3. International terrorism

In the first two types of conflicts, noncombatants are usually able to distinguish themselves from combatants. This is not to say that noncombatants are never killed, because they are. It is just that these are isolated or unusual incidents, because in both guerilla and conventional warfare the major focus of killing is one armed force against another. Conflicts can be either high intensity, or low intensity in nature, such as the more than 90 confrontationsm currently taking place around the globe involving everything from former republics of the Soviet Union and former colonies of European countries to ages-old ethnic hatreds and narcotics trafficking.
However, the exploitation of noncombatants (i.e., their suffering and death) is the essence of international terrorism. Because of the covert nature of the activity, terrorist attacks are carried out by a small cohort of operatives who receive financial and logistical support from radical political and activist organizations, which can include governments of rogue nations. Political and other activist groups may be suspected of acting in support of terrorist goals, if not actually fostering and furthering those goals. Questions have been raised, and continue to be, concerning the integrity of some persons and groups or whether, in fact, they are being exploited or misused.

The U.S. Department of Defense has described terrorism as a phenomenon in transition and indicated that the nature of the terrorist threat has changed dramatically. The Defense Department attributed these changes to five factors:

1. Collapse of the Soviet Union
2. Changing motivations of terrorists
3. Proliferation in technologies of mass destruction
4. Increased access to information and information technologies
5. Accelerated centralization of vital components of the national infrastructure, which has increased vulnerability to terrorist attack
Much of the thrust of terrorism will continue to be directed toward U.S. targets, whether in North America or overseas. The attacks will be concentrated in urban locations, perpetrated by those acting on behalf of religious and ethnic causes and, as in the past, political points of view.

List 1.  Areas of Incidents

List 2. Terrorists’ Targets

Western Hemisphere 93

U.S. Government 4

U.S. Business 86

U.S. Private 3

Europe 22

U.S. Government 7

U.S. Business 15

Sub-Saharan Africa 7

U.S. Government 3

U.S. Business 2

U.S. Private 2

Neareast Asia 7

U.S. Government 3

U.S. Business 1

U.S. Private 1

Other U.S. 2

South Asia 3

U.S. Business 3

East Asia and the Pacific 18

U.S. Government 3

U.S. Business 15

According to the U.S. Department of State, in the last year of the 20th century, more than 135 terrorist attacks were directed at U.S. targets (List 1 and List 2).

Terrorism for political purposes is usually a form of theater, and as such there are a number of elements which are almost universal in modern terrorist activities.

         1.The use of violence to persuade, where bombings or other attacks are employed to “make a point” with target victims. The target victims are not necessarily those who are injured or killed. Rather, the attack may have been carried out to influence a government, or a group of governments, to take a certain course of action or perhaps to terminate or cease a course of action.

         2.Selection of targets and victims for maximum propaganda value means choosing targets and victims which will assure the heaviest possible media coverage. This consideration was particularly evident with terrorist attacks such as the World Trade Center bombing in New York City in 1993 and the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. These were followed by terrorist activity including the bombing of the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City and U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

        3.The use of unprovoked attacks , which, truth be told, is just about any terrorist attack, because they were “provoked” is only the convoluted rationale offered by the terrorists themselves.

        4. Maximum publicity at minimum risk is the principle behind many terrorist actions, particularly those involving explosive devices. Bombings typically generate a good deal of publicity, depending upon time and placement, so targets are usually selected for symbolic value, such as embassies, internationally known tourist attractions, and similar facilities. The use of sophisticated timing elements allows detonation
to be programmed well in advance, reducing the risk to the bomber or bombers, who can be long gone by the time the devices are discovered or exploded. Moving up on the list of favored terrorist activities, kidnapping or assaults and assassinations may generate greater or prolonged publicity, but they also present a higher risk for the attackers. There is something of a cyclical pattern to terrorist activities. That is,
if there has been a rash of kidnappings, the public may become somewhat inured, and subsequent abductions may not generate the same degree of front-page coverage, television news exposure, or Internet buzz. Bombings, just because they have been less frequent during the same period, may well generate more publicity than another kidnapping. A change in tactics, then, would produce more publicity than another kidnapping. Terrorists always want to remain in the forefront, so they will switch tactics in order to maximize publicity.

          5. Use of surprise to circumvent countermeasures is one way terrorists try to attack hardened targets. Even though there are guards, detection devices, and increased perimeter security, the element of surprise can be employed to undermine the hardware and overwhelm the human factor in a fortified security system. Time is the terrorist’s best friend. Even a well-protected and hardened target will experience slackened security measures during long periods of terrorist inactivity. Unless a suicide attack is planned, terrorists will wait to strike when security is relaxed.

         6. Threats, harassment, and violence are tools terrorists use to create an atmosphere of fear. On occasion terrorists have planted small bombs or incendiary devices in public locations, such as department stores and movie theaters. In recent years, anti-government terrorists in Egypt have attacked groups of tourists visiting the Pyramids and other monuments. To the public, there is no rhyme or reason to the time
or placement of the devices, and soon the mere threat of such activity is sufficient to send waves of fear through the populace.

          7. Disregarding women and children as victims , often to the extent that locations with innocent victims are selected specifically to heighten the outrage, and fear, at the boldness of the terrorists’ actions. This is yet another tactic to garner wider publicity and media coverage of the suffering and death of noncombatants. This characteristic differentiates the terrorist from a soldier or guerrilla. A soldier fights with the authority of a government for the protection of that government. A guerrilla fights the same kind of warfare as the soldier in technique and code of behavior, i.e., women and children are not specifically targeted. A terrorist, on the other hand, will focus on women and children, specifically, just to create a greater atmosphere of fear. Thus, the ethnic cleansing evidenced in Bosnia and Kosovo involving various population factions of the former Yugoslavia crossed the line from warfare to terrorism by militia.

          8. Propaganda is used to maximize the effect of violence , particularly for economic or political goals. To carry out a particular operation without getting any publicity out of the action would be wasteful to a terrorist’s cause. Thus, Black September, at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, and all those groups that mimicked that hostagetaking by claiming responsibility for attacks in other high-profile circumstances, wanted worldwide publicity for both political and economic goals. From a political standpoint, a group wants to show that it is a viable organization, a power to be reckoned with, and a force to be feared. On the economic level, the group shows sympathetic governments and others who support different terrorist groups that it, too, is worthy of funding. Even when terrorists do not publicly claim responsibility for an attack, many leave a signature or obvious clues during the action.

         9. Loyalty to themselves or kindred groups  is a common element of  terrorist groups, existing among Armenians, Croatians, Kurds, Tamils, and Basques, to name a few. With these, and similar groups, the loyalty is so intense — distorted is not too strong a word — that the more radical elements of an otherwise peaceful movement will commit unspeakable criminal acts on behalf of that loyalty and associated cause. For the most part, however, second- and third-generation terrorists have diminished loyalty to the original cause, the sense of pride associated with it, and a reduced vision of the original goal. Many of them engage in terrorism as a form of gratification and perpetuate criminal activity as an end in itself. They have thus become nihilistic and interested primarily in financial remuneration for themselves.

Terrorism of the 1960s and 1970s was carried out, for the most part, by college-age individuals and educated political activists. Now much of thelow-intensity conflict and terrorist actions is being perpetrated by child soldiers, children, many of whom have not even reached puberty, who have
become inured to violence and human emotion.

Urmeaza

• Characteristics of Terrorists
• Counterterrorist Tactics