Focusing on the past three decades, terrorists have committed acts of extreme violence to further a variety of goals. Terrorism may be the greatest threat our country’s critical infrastructure currently faces. In many cases the system is ageing and needs a sizable refit/refresh.
Terrorists have reached new levels of organization, sophistication, and violence. Their tactics and techniques will continue to evolve. An understanding of terrorist organizations and how they operate will enable us to better protect ourselves and our critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks.
We first need to understand terrorism and why they function the way they do.
Don’t think of a “terrorist” or their organization as any single faction, demographic or race. Terrorists can be members of a religious organization, have strong rooted beliefs in ideals that frame a person’s entire identity, or their indoctrination in a system that many may not understand or agree with just to name a few. Timothy McVeigh, Theodore (Ted) John Kaczynski, and Paul Jennings Hill were all US citizens and considered by many, including the FBI, as domestic terrorists.
According to the United States Marine Corps, in their Antiterrorism & Force protection document B1S5456, Terrorism is defined with it’s first known origins:
-"Terrorism is the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. A terrorist group is any element regardless of size or espoused cause, which repeatedly commits acts of violence or threatens violence in pursuit of its political, religious, or ideological objectives. This includes bad actors intentionally causing damage, that may include power outages, to our Power Grid’s infrastructure.
Terrorism has been a traditional tactic of the disadvantaged since the beginning of recorded history. In 50 B.C., Julius Caesar, who was himself held hostage as a young boy, practiced the taking of political prisoners to ensure obedience of conquered tribes. Other Roman emperors such as Tiberius (A.D. 14-37) and Caligula (A.D. 37-41) used banishment, expropriation of property, and execution as means to discourage opposition to their rule. History also shows that Americans have been subject to terrorist attacks since the birth of our nation.
On 30 November 1782, a tentative peace treaty with the British was signed, and the new nation quickly disbanded its military establishments. In September 1783, the last Continental Marine officer was discharged. The United States soon learned, however, that a nation unable to defend itself fell prey to every bully on the globe. In July of 1785, 21 American sailors were taken hostage in the Middle East. After ten years of secret negotiations had failed, the United States Congress appropriated $10 million (20 percent of the government's total revenue) to ransom those who had not already perished. That same year, Congress authorized the construction of six naval frigates, reestablishing the United States Navy. The commissioning of these ships and a 1798 congressional act "establishing and organizing a Marine Corps" were accomplished to project U.S. power abroad in response to piracy and terrorism on the high seas.
Modern terrorism has its roots in the French Revolution. The period from 5 September 1793 to 27 July 1794 is known as the "Reign of Terror." Terrorism was advocated as a method of encouraging revolutionary virtue. During this period, over 200,000 people were arbitrarily arrested; no fewer than 16,000 French men and women were executed by guillotine. This was the first time in history that the use of violence and fear to attain political goals was labeled as terrorism. Volumes could be written on the history of terrorism and its evolution toward the violent political tool it has become today."-
Four major events in post-World War II history have directly fueled present-day terrorism:
• The success of the communist insurgent movements in China, Cuba, Rhodesia, Angola, and Nicaragua, proving that relatively small, poorly equipped movements with proper leadership can defeat larger established powers. These countries now provide footholds in their respective regions for the spread of communism. Although the fall of the Soviet Union has lessened communist inspired terrorism, many movements worldwide are still seeking to create a "true" communist state. Examples are Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in Peru, Asala in Armenia, and the Red Brigade of Italy.
• The disastrous consequences, from the Pan-Arab point of view, of the Zionist movement and the resulting Arab-Israeli wars. The Arab defeats of the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated the futility of attempts to remove Zionists through conventional tactics. Arab nations used terrorism to attempt to destroy Israel through surrogacy.
• The civil unrest that was so pervasive during the 1960s and 1970s attracted many young people to radical causes. Issues such as human rights, environmental concerns, political radicalism, and anti-Vietnam war fervor amplified this unrest. Organizations that formed as a result of this social turmoil included the Weather Underground, the Japanese Red Army, and Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
• The rise of ethnic nationalism following the fall of the Soviet Union spawned a multitude of terrorist acts and movements. Examples include Serb state-directed terrorism in Bosnia, numerous incidents in Somalia and Rwanda, and terrorist campaigns in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
In addition to these four events, the development of the terrorist's most powerful tool, modern electronic media, greatly enhanced the impact of terrorism. Any act of violence is sure to attract millions of television viewers and social media posts. The terrorist is able to capitalize on this by gaining widespread recognition and intimidating large populations. They are able to insight an overreaction in their adversary as a result of their actions.
Perspectives and Ideologies
Terrorism can be an emotional topic because different people will view the same act and interpret it according to their own values, experience, and prejudice—"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." The differences between the freedom fighter and terrorist might sometimes appear clouded, but the philosophical differences are stark and fundamental. Terrorists deliberately target innocent noncombatants. A freedom fighter will likely adhere to international law and civilized standards of conduct. Freedom fighters will attack military/government targets; noncombatant casualties are an aberration, attributed only to the chaos of war. The Freedom fighter moniker are usually defined by the victors of a battle or effort.
Ideology is defined as a collection of beliefs or values characteristic of an individual, group, or culture. The ideology of a terrorist group is what binds together the members and justifies the use of violence to attain objectives. The ideology, which motivates a terrorist, can be broken into four general categories:
Political.
The beliefs of terrorist groups can range from the far left to the far right. The table below cites some examples of different political ideologies.
Nationalist-Separatist.
Nationalist-separatists are devoted to the interests or culture of a group of people or a nation. Typically, nationalists share a common ethnic background and wish to establish or regain a homeland.
Religious.
Throughout history, religion has provided the impetus for many violent excesses. Religious terrorist groups often view modernization efforts as corrupting influences on their society or traditional religious culture. Special Interest. Various other groups such as radical environmentalists, antiabortionists, and anti-vivisectionists (opposed to experimentation on live animals) resort to terrorism.
Support Mechanisms
Terrorist organizations can be labeled according to how they receive support. The three basic categories into which most terrorist organizations will fall are:
-State Directed
This organization's activities are conducted primarily at the direction of a controlling state. The group may even be an element of the state's security organization. These groups often represent the "establishment" in their long-range objectives.
-State Supported
This group receives substantial outside support, but its actions are autonomous. Its support may be conditional on certain political objectives, though the group has discretion on how these objectives will be achieved. Most terrorist organizations today are state supported.
-Non-State Supported
This terrorist organization receives no external support and is the most dangerous type of terrorist organization. The group must justify its actions only to itself; it has no obligation to adhere to any standards of conduct. The nonstate supported terrorist organization’s ability to sustain itself creates an extreme challenge to any attempt to eliminate the group. The New Peoples Army (NPA) of the Philippines and The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) in Peru are examples of non-state supported terrorist groups.
The Goals of Terrorism and or the terrorist activities:
The long-range goals of terrorism will generally fall into one of three broad categories:
• Revolutionary: Terrorism is used to force the complete overthrow of an existing government.
• Sub-revolutionary: Terrorism is used to influence the government against its will. Most nationalist terrorist movements around the world are this type. The changes sought are usually political, social, or economic in nature.
• Establishment: A regime directs terrorism against its enemies within its borders or abroad in order to protect the state from dissenting influence. Right-wing death squads in El Salvador prior to the Durate regime are considered establishment-type terrorists.
A terrorist group cannot expect to achieve its long-range goals by a single action. Terrorist groups, therefore, have typical immediate goals, which will support their long-range objectives. These typical immediate goals are to
• Obtain worldwide or local recognition for their cause
• Cause an overreaction by the government
• Harass, weaken, embarrass or delegitimize government security forces
• Obtain money and/or equipment
• Destroy facilities and disrupt lines of communication
• Discourage foreign investment and assistance programs
• Influence government decisions
• Free prisoners
• Satisfy vengeance
• Turn the tide in a guerrilla war
This then leads me to discuss the typical organization structure of most major terrorist groups. Because of the clandestine nature of terrorist groups, the driving consideration behind their organization is security. The basic operational unit within the organization is the cell. While the size of the cell varies, a working figure of three to five members is generally used. The number and size of individual cells are dependent on various factors:
• Function. The cell is task organized toward a specific job or mission. For example, a cell that constructs a bomb might only contain one or two members, while the size of the cell that will plant the bomb might be much larger, depending on the security posture of the target.
• Government security forces. The efficiency of security measures employed by the government in the terrorist's operational area will affect the organization's size. Typically, the larger a group is, the more susceptible it is to compromise.
• Sophistication of the group. The more experienced an organization is, the more efficiently it can operate. Because of their superior communication capability, sophisticated organizations generally have smaller cells than less experienced organizations.
The types of cells found in a well-organized terrorist group will normally include the
• Operational cell: The action arm of the group; it conducts the operational activities for the organization.
• Intelligence cell: The most highly trained and valuable of the group's cells; it performs reconnaissance and surveillance.
• Auxiliary cell: Generally provides logistical support for the group; it is normally larger and less compartmentalized than the other cells and may consist entirely of terrorist sympathizers rather than active cadre.
A typical terrorist group is organized in a pyramid configuration, similar to most military organizations. At the top will be a command responsible for ideological and political direction as well as operational planning. Sub-commands are responsible for cells within their area of influence. At the base are the individual cells. Communication between cells is clandestine. Members of adjacent cells will not know one another or the members from whom they take orders to ensure operational security.
How do we combat these people, their methods and their actions? Anti-terrorism measures are defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and property to terrorist acts, to include limited response and containment by local military forces. Counter-terrorism measures are offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism. Combating terrorism refers to actions including anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism taken to oppose terrorism throughout the entire threat spectrum. A seven-step model for planning operations to defeat terrorism has been developed which, regardless of your level of command, can assist your planning in a terrorist environment. The model covers seven basic areas:
• The first seven areas are proactive:
o Threat analysis
o Critical and vulnerability assessment (determine key assets)
o Operations security (more on this topic shortly)
o Personnel security
o Physical security
o Awareness education and training
o Planning crisis management
• The final area is reactive: Performing crisis management counter-action operations. Proactive steps are directed toward the planning and prevention of terrorist attacks. A study of terrorist operations shows that the best chance of success lies in the proactive phases; prevention is always the best posture. The reactive step involves your response once an attack has been initiated. Despite comprehensive preventative measures, a determined terrorist may attack a well defended target if the end result can justify the risk. Even the outcome of an unsuccessful attack may bring attention to the cause and efforts of the terrorist organization.
You must never become complacent. Some essential elements of the planning process are discussed in the following paragraphs:
Operational Security (OPSEC). Operational security is a process of identifying critical information and subsequently analyzing friendly actions attendant to operations and other activities to identify those actions that adversary intelligence systems can observe. OPSEC identifies indicators that hostile intelligence systems might obtain that could be interpreted or pieced together to derive critical information in time to be useful to adversaries. OPSEC allows you to select and execute measures that eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the vulnerabilities of friendly actions to adversary exploitation. OPSEC is probably the least expensive, but most overlooked, aspect of security. This is usually executed by proper and regular training of the people.
The foundations of a good operational security program are:
• Deny intelligence and information to those outside of the operational job requirements
• Avoid rigid operational routines
• Be familiar with techniques the terrorists use to collect information
• Integrate operational security into physical security and personal security programs
• Develop essential elements of friendly information to facilitate and focus efforts to deny information to terrorists
The overarching Goal in the security industry is to Deter, Detect, Delay, Asses, Communicate and Respond. This is the industry’s standard process to protect against potential bad actors.
Let’s break these down:
Deter: to inhibit undesired activity or actions. This can be viewed as “hardening” the target or targets. Using appropriate fencing materials that is not easily cut or climbable to gain entry. This is intended to buy time for the other protection methods to kick in.
Detect: early detection of abnormal or undesired activity also is intended to by time to evaluate the scenario on or around the facility. This can be done by people, systems, well trained AI and typically is supported by technology if the facility is not occupied 24x7 by trained and attentive security personnel.
Delay: another time savings protection. This is where layers of security devices or protections comes into play in the plan. You want to delay the success of the bad actors intrusion. This directly feeds into the responce plan. It buys time.
Assess: this can only be effective if your systems, processes and technology is well maintained, regularly tested and updated as needed. It is intended to scrub out false alerts of undesired activity.
Communicate: being able to discuss and convey any abnormal or undesired activity across the organization and to your first responders.
Respond: This is unique to locations and organizations involved. Creating, rehearsing, and testing your response plan should be done on a regular occurrence to ensure the bad actors can and hopefully will be apprehended