What is Terrorism

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Understanding
Sept 11.
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Terrorism
What is it? Where does it come from? Why is it
used? What do we fear about Terrorism?
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Terrorism

• Is an unlawful act of violence
• Intimidates governments or societies
• Goal is to achieve political, religious or
  ideological objectives

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warfare seeks to conquer territories and
capture cities terrorism seeks to hurt a few
people and to scare a lot of people in order to
make a point NYTimes, 1/6/2000
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Educational Deterence
Fear always springs from ignorance.
Emerson, 1837
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Early History of Terrorism

• Terror has been used to achieve political ends
  and has a long history
• As early as 66 72 A.D. Resistance to Roman
  occupation, terrorists killed Roman soldiers and
  destroyed Roman property.
• Terror was used to resist occupation.

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Early History of Terrorism

• Suicidal martyrdom represented being killed by
  invaders which resulted in rewards in heaven.
  It dates back thousands of years in most
  societies and religions.
• Terrorism against the enemy is often viewed as a
  religious act.

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Modern History of Terrorism

• The term terrorism was coined in the French
  Revolutions Reign of Terror (1793 1794). .
• This was the birth of Government-Sponsored
  Terrorism
• Goal of State terrorism was to eliminate
  opposition, consolidate power, e.g., the Vanished
  in Argentina

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Modern History of Terrorism

• Anarchists were seen in the late 19th century
• Individual terrorism
• The use of selective terror against an individual
  in order to bring down a government, e.g. Lincoln
  assassination
• Propaganda by deeds terrorists acts
• Terrorism became tool of communication,
  propaganda
• An act of terrorism could rapidly spread a
  message world wide, e.g. the Kennedy killing

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Modern History of Terrorism

• Middle 20th century, terrorism became a tool to
  end colonialism especially in Africa.
• The last 20 years of of the 20th century brought
  religious based terrorism in Northern Ireland,
  the Middle East, East Timor and many other
  places.

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Modern History of Terrorism

• Terrorism is Asymmetric Warfare.
• Asymmetric warfare is the use of apparently
  random/unpredictable violence by an weak military
  against a stronger military to gain advantage.
  (Allen, 1997).
• The key of Asymmetric warfare is using using
  unexpected, unconventional tactics in combat
  (Craig, 1998).

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Terrorism conclusions

• Terrorism is an ancient tactic.
• Terrorism is a mode of communication.
• Terrorism is a special type of violence and
  Asymmetrical warfare.
• Terrorism is used in times of peace, conflicts
  and war.
• Terrorism is designed to make a point, through
  psychological means, fear.
• Terrorism is a political act.

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Anatomy of a Terrorist Attack
Terrorism takes much Time and planning
Preparation 5 years
Execution 1 day
Diagnosed case 3 days
First Death
Multiple deaths
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Types of Terrorism

• Domestic terrorism involves groups whose
  terrorist activities are directed at elements of
  our government without foreign involvement.
  Oklahoma City is a primary example.
• International terrorism involves groups whose
  terrorist activities are foreign-based and/or
  directed by countries or groups outside the
  United States. Sept. 11 is an example of
  International Terrorism.

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Methods of Terrorism

• Nuclear Weapon
• Biological Agents
• Chemical Agents
• Explosive and Incendiary Devices

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Nuclear Terrorism

• Spreading of radioactive materials through
  ventilation system or explosion
• Disable nuclear reactor cooling system and cause
  leakage of radioactive materials
• Detonate a nuclear weapon

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Biological terrorism

• Dispersal of microbes or their toxins to produce
  illness, death and terror
• The paths of infection can be contaminated water,
  food, air and packages.
• Microbes
• Bacteria
• Viruses
• Toxins

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Is this something new?

• 14th Century Kaffa
• City on Crimean Peninsula
• Hurled plague infested corpses over walls of city
  to infest it

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Is this something new?

• 18th Century French and Indian War
• British Officers gave blankets from smallpox
  victims to Indians aligned with French
• Caused an epidemic in tribes
• Effective means of incapacitating group

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Motives for bioterrorism
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Responses to Bioterrorism

• Emergency measures to save lives
• Early detection of active and potential cases
• Prevention and management of secondary
  contamination

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Chemical Agents

• Chemical agents kill or incapacitate people,
  destroy livestock or ravage crops
• Some agents are odorless and tasteless
• They can have an immediate or a delayed effect

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Example of Chemical Terrorism

• Sarin nerve agent attacked the Tokyo subway
  system in March 20, 1995
• 12 people were killed and 53 were seriously
  injured

www.jal.co.jp/information/ branch/index-e.html
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Example of Explosion Terrorism
From Emergency Net NEWS Archives, 1994 Document
Courtesy of the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office
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In an Emergency

• IF you believe that you have been exposed to a
  biological or chemical agent please your
  teacher, or parents who will contact local health
  departments and / or your local police or other
  law enforcement agency

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Proportion of death from terrorism in total death
in the United States
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Risk of Dying
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Why did terrorism draw considerable attention in
2001?

• No evidence that terrorism is increasing
• The risk of dying from terrorism was extremely
  low in 1990s, and was still relatively low
  compared with some diseases in 2001
• But the risk increased by 500 times in 2001 due
  to Sept. 11
• Overall the risk of terrorism has not been high
• Despite the low risk, shock, surprise and fear
  engulfed our country and world

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Conclusion

• Terrorism is unlawful act
• Terrorism has a long history of been used to
  achieve political, religious and ideological
  objectives
• Terrorism can be conducted through nuclear,
  biological, chemical agents and explosive devices
• The risk of dying from terrorism is much lower
  than that from motor vehicles, smoking, and
  alcoholic beverage.

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The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
FDR, 1937
Fears are educated into us can, if we wish, be
educated out. Karl A. Menninger