Terrorism/Force Protection

“Freedom and fear are at war…Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

President George W. Bush

20 September, 2001

• History

• Definitions

• Impact of Terrorism

• Objective of Terrorism

• Tactics of Terrorism

• Effects of Terrorism on National Security

• Force Protection

Overview

• Found as early as biblical times– Jewish and Palestinian groups opposed Roman

rule in 66-73 A.D.

• Word terrorism has roots in French “Reign of Terror”– 1773-1794, Jacobins under leadership of

Maximilien Robespierre

• Huge explosion in incidents of terrorism in latter part of 20th century

History

• FBI Definition - Terrorism is 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. 

Terrorism

• Brian Jenkins - Terrorism is the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change.

• Vice-President's Task Force, 1986 - Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives. It is usually intended to intimidate or coerce a government, individuals or groups, or to modify their behavior or politics.

Terrorism

• Walter Laqueur- Terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted.

• US State Department- The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

Terrorism

Terrorism

• The calculated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or idelogical.

– Joint Publication 3-07.2, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Antiterrorism

Domestic Terrorism– Terrorism perpetrated by the citizens

of a country against their fellow citizens• Includes acts against citizens of a

second country when they are in the host country, and not the principal or intended target

Terrorism

Oklahoma City bombing of Murrah Federal building on 19 April 1995 in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.

Centennial Olympic Park bombing on 26 July 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One killed, 100+ injured

Sarin gas attack on March 20, 1995 in the Tokyo subway: Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth) cult deposited two containers containing Sarin poison gas in the Tokyo subway system.– 12 killed and up to 5000 hospitalized

– Could have been much worse…air circulation evacuated most of the gas

International terrorism– Terrorism in which planning and

execution of the terrorist act transcends national boundaries

Terrorism

• 5 April 1986 Bombing of Le Belle Disco, a nightclub in West Berlin frequented by U.S. servicemen– Killed two American soldiers and one Turkish

woman. 200 others wounded – Libya was implicated in the bombing.

• Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie, Scotland: Pan Am Flight 103, outbound from London for New York with 259 people aboard

• Destroyed by a bomb on December 21, 1988 while over Lockerbie, Scotland.

• All aboard were killed as were eleven persons on the ground at Lockerbie.

• 1993 World Trade Center Attack: Islamic terrorists detonated a truck bomb under the towers killing six and damaging the building.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

• 11 Sept 2001, Islamic terrorists hijacked four airliners. – Two were crashed into the World Trade Center

Towers– One was crashed into the Pentagon in Washington,

DC– The fourth crashed in Western Pennsylvania.

• Terror Threat– The impact on the actual victim of the

terrorist attack is often secondary to the emotional or psychological impact on an audience far larger than the victims

– The true target of the terrorist is society as a whole.

Terrorism

Terrorism• Objectives

– Attract attention for groups cause– Demonstrate groups power– Show the existing government’s lack of

power– Extract revenge– Obtain logistical support– Cause a government to overreact

Terrorist Tactics–Assassination. A term generally applied

to the killing of prominent persons and symbolic enemies as well as traitors who defect from the group.

•On October 6, 1981, President Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated during an annual military parade celebrating the "successful" campaigns during the 1973 Egypt-Israeli war.

• Less dramatic than most tactics

• Has the advantage of low risk to the perpetrator and requires only a low level of technical knowledge.

• Arson is often associated with environmental terrorists.

Arson

                                                              

• Vail, Colorado: The arson attack at a Colorado ski resort October 19, 1998, was apparently carried out by members of the so-called Earth Liberation Front. • Destroyed a ski patrol headquarters

building, a skier shelter, a mountaintop restaurant and several chairlifts

• Caused some $12 million in damage• Set to protest the Vail ski resort's

880-acre expansion.

• The improvised explosive device (IED) or Bomb is the terrorist’s weapon of choice. – Inexpensive to produce – Various detonation techniques available, may be a

low risk to the perpetrator.– Suicidal bombing cannot be overlooked.

• Other advantages include their attention-getting capacity-ability to control casualties through time of detonation and placement of the device. – Easily deniable should the action produce undesirable

results. – From 1983 through 1996, approximately half of all

recorded terrorist incidents involved explosives.

• MARINE BARRACKS, BERIUT, LEBANON: On 23 October 1983, terrorists, using a truck bomb destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut Lebanon. 245 Marines, soldiers, and sailors were killed, and 146 wounded.

• Pan Am Flight 103

• KHOBAR TOWERS: On June 25, 1996 nineteen USAF Airmen were killed by a truck bomb at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

• DAR ES SALAAM/NAIROBI EMBASSIES: On 7 August, 1998, bombs exploded almost simultaneously at the U.S. Embassy buildings in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

• Killed 153 and left over 4,500 injured …two bombs• Severely damaged both installations, and surrounding

buildings.

• USS COLE: The October 12, 2000 suicide attack on the U.S.S. "Cole" marked the first time a modern American warship was successfully targeted by terrorists. – 17 sailors killed and 39 others injured. – Destroyer refueling in the port of Aden in Yemen

Hostage Taking. • This usually is an overt seizure of one or

more individuals with the intent of gaining publicity or other concessions in return for release of the hostage.

• On November 4, 1979, student militants stormed the US Embassy grounds in Teheran, Iran and held 52 American diplomats and Marines hostage for 444 days.

• On February 17, 1988 Lt Colonel Rich Higgins, USMC, was taken hostage while serving as the Chief, Observer Group Lebanon and Senior Military Observer, United States Military Observer Group, United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.

Hezbollah released a videotapein July 1988 claiming to have hanged Col. Higgins.

Hijacking or Skyjacking • Sometimes employed as a means for

escape, hijacking is normally carried out to produce a spectacular hostage situation. – Although trains, buses, and ships have been

hijacked, aircraft are the preferred target because of their greater mobility and vulnerability.

– 2001 World Trade Center Attack Hijackings– First time hijacked aircraft used as weapons

• On Friday, 14 June 1985, TWA Flight 847 left Athens for Rome. Lebanese terrorists seized the plane and forced it to land in Lebanon. – US Navy diver Robert Stethem killed…body

tossed out on tarmac. – Hostages released in small groups over the next

two weeks, with the final group released on 1 July, after Israel agrees to release several hundred Palestinian detainees.

• Seizure usually involves a building or object that has value in the eyes of the audience. – Some risk to the terrorist because security forces

have time to react and may opt to use force to resolve the incident.

Seizure

• In March1977, several Hanafi Muslim members seized three buildings in Washington, D.C., the District Building (City Hall), the B'nai B'rith Building and the Islamic Center. – They took several hostages. Several were injured

(Marion Barry shot) and one was killed.

• Armed attacks on facilities are usually undertaken for one of three purposes: – To gain access to radio or television

broadcast capabilities in order to make a statement;

– To demonstrate the government’s inability to secure critical facilities or national symbols;

– To acquire resources (e.g., robbery of a bank or armory).

Raids or Attacks on Facilities

• During the 1970’s, the Symbionese Liberation Army conducted a 22-month reign of terror in California during which time 2 people were murdered and 3 others were wounded. – Gained most of their notoriety by

kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst

– Majority of their crimes, which they financed by robbing banks, involved bombings.

• The objective in most sabotage incidents is to demonstrate how vulnerable society is to terrorist actions.

• Industrialized societies are more vulnerable to sabotage than less highly developed societies.

Sabotage

• Eco-Terrorists have long used sabotage as a form of attack. – Spiking trees (the process of placing a spike in a

tree so that a logger will hit it when downing the tree)

– Burning buildings under construction, such as the Vail, Colorado attack

• Any terrorist group that has established credibility can employ a hoax with considerable success. – A threat against a person’s life causes that

person and those associated with that individual to devote time and effort to security measures.

– A bomb threat can close a commercial building, empty a theater, or delay an aircraft flight at no cost to the terrorist.

– False alarms dull the analytical and operational efficiency of key security personnel, thus degrading readiness.

Hoaxes

• Terrorists to date have used chemical weapons and there is potential for the use of both chemical and biological weapons in the future. – Relatively cheap and easy to make, could be used in

place of conventional explosives in many situations.

• Sarin gas attack in March 1995 in the Tokyo subway

• 2001 Anthrax attacks

Use of Special Weapons

• Although this tactic has not been widely used, the increasing accessibility of sophisticated weapons and explosives to terrorists has the potential to threaten damage to the environment. – Examples would be intentional dumping of

hazardous chemicals into a city’s water supply or the destruction of an oil tanker.

Environmental Destruction

• Infrastructure technologies provide attractive targets for terrorists who can apply a range of rudimentary and advanced attack techniques to disrupt or undermine confidence in a range of systems. – National infrastructure, transportation,

telecommunications, energy, banking, public health, and water supply are becoming increasingly dependent on computerized systems and linkages

Use of Technology

• Today, we face a new enemy…one who wages a different kind of war

• Asymmetric Warfare– As the single remaining large superpower, most

of our enemies know that challenging the United States symmetrically carries too much risk…therefore, they hit and run…generally soft targets

Terrorisms Affect On National Security:

•US Strategy…

• Current US policy on countering terrorism was first stated by the Reagan Administration and has been reaffirmed by every president since.

Counter Terrorism Policy National Security Strategy

1. The US will make no concessions to terrorists 2. The US will treat terrorists as criminals and apply

the rule of law 3. The US will apply maximum pressure on state

sponsors of terrorism

• The Clinton Administration added a corollary to these rules:

4. The US will Help other governments improve their capabilities to combat terrorism.

Department of Homeland Security

• Cabinet level department…Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania first secretary– Charged with coordinating the response

capabilities of over 40 agencies

• Not a new concept– Costal forts– Alert fighters– Ballistic Missile defense

• The DOD program adheres to this policy while addressing acts of terrorism from two perspectives: – Counter-terrorism (offensive measures) – Antiterrorism (defensive measures)

Counter-terrorism/Antiterrorism:

• The offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism– US launched attacks against Libya after the La

Belle disco bombing …El Dorado Canyon– Attacked targets in Sudan and Afghanistan in

response to the involvement of Usama Bin Laden in the bomb attacks against the two US embassies in Africa

– Article 51 of the UN Charter entitles a nation to defend itself against attack

– “War on Terrorism”

Counter-Terrorism

• Defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and property to terrorist acts– Includes limited response and containment by

local military forces– Setting new buildings back from roads and

parking lots • Khobar Towers actions

– Army limiting access to all of their CONUS posts…completely open in past

Antiterrorism

•Counter and Anti terrorism both rely on intel…

– (1)  US forces will continue to perform our missions; and

– (2)  Force protection will be a major consideration in future actions• US v Allies approach

•US military policy on Responding to Terrorism:  

• For our counter-terrorism and antiterrorism measures to be effective, we must have some idea of what particular terrorist groups are attempting to accomplish. – We gain this insight through an active

counterintelligence program.– FBI, CIA, NSA, OSI, CID, NIS, ATF,

DEA…

Counterintelligence

• Force Protection

– The use of forces to protect resources and personnel with thorough force protection measures.

– After the Khobar Towers bombing, the USAF relocated all of our forces in theater out of heavily populated areas to an isolated, defensible, base in the desert

Force Protection

– After the USS Cole bombing, the US Navy instituted plans to deploy a floating barrier around its warships in high risk areas

• History

• Definitions

• Impact of Terrorism

• Objective of Terrorism

• Tactics of Terrorism

• Effects of Terrorism on National Security

• Force Protection

Summary

Questions