TERRORISM

Terrorism is the premeditated and unlawful use or threatened use of

violence against a non-combatant population or target having symbolic
significance, with the aim of either inducing political change through
intimidation and destabilization or destroying a population identified as an
enemy.
Terrorism is an extreme form of both crime and aggression. The social
costs and consequences of terrorism tend to be vastly greater than are
customarily associated even with serious acts of street crime and of
violent aggression, because of the scale of both the immediate harms
caused by the acts and the widespread fear produced by the acts and the
consequences of that fear.
The FBI defines terrorism as “… the unlawful use of force and 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.”
The U.S. Department of State defines terrorism as “… an activity,
directed against persons involving violent acts or acts dangerous to
human life which would be a criminal violation if committed within the
jurisdiction of the U.S.; and is intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian
population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or
coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or
kidnapping…”
The Department of Defense defines terrorism as “… the calculated
use of violence or threat of 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.
Terrorist act” means an act or threat of action—
(a) which—
(i) involves the use of violence against a person;
(ii) endangers the life of a person, other than the person committing the
action;
(iii) creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section
of the public;
(iv) results in serious damage to property;
(v) involves the use of firearms or explosives;
(vi) involves the release of any dangerous, hazardous, toxic or radioactive
substance or microbial or other biological agent or toxin into the
environment;

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(vii) interferes with an electronic system resulting in the disruption of the
provision of communication, financial, transport or other essential
services;
(viii) interferes or disrupts the provision of essential or emergency
services; (ix) prejudices national security or public safety; and
(b) which is carried out with the aim of—
(i) intimidating or causing fear amongst members of the public or a
section of the public; or
(ii) intimidating or compelling the Government or international
organization to do, or refrain from any act; or
(iii) destabilizing the religious, political, Constitutional, economic or social
institutions of a country, or an international organization:
Terrorist Activity can include but not limited to:
 The hijacking or sabotage of any conveyance (including an aircraft,
vessel, or vehicle).
 The seizing or detaining, and threatening to kill, injure, or continue
to detain, another individual in order to compel a third person
(including a governmental organization) to do or abstain from doing
any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the
individual seized or detained.
 A violent attack upon an internationally protected person.
 An assassination
 The use on any:
 (a) biological agent, chemical agent, or nuclear weapon or device, or
 (b) explosive or firearm (other than for mere personal monetary
gain), with intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of
one or more individuals or to cause substantial damage to property.
 A threat, attempt, or conspiracy to do any of the foregoing.
[The Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 30 Revised 2019 (2012)]
“Terrorist group” means—
(a) an entity that has as one of its activities and purposes, the committing
of, or the facilitation of the commission of a terrorist act; or
(b) a specified entity;
A radical is A person who adopts or promotes an extreme belief system for
the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance
political, religious or social change.
Forms of Terrorism:
1. International Terrorism

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International terrorism —means terrorism involving citizens or the
territory of more than one country.
2. Domestic Terrorism (e.g. Left-wing-liberals, Right wing-
conservatives, Special interest terrorists)
Domestic terrorism—means terrorism involving citizens or the territory
within the country.
• Left-wing (white leftists)
• Right-wing extremists
3. Cyber terrorism — The use of computer resources to intimidate and
infiltrate public, private, and government computer-based infrastructures
through the use of viruses or code breaking in an attempt to disrupt
service, destroy, or compromise data.
4. Political terrorism — An act or series of acts directed toward bringing
about political or policy change through the use of force, intimidation, or
threatened use of force.
5. Biological terrorism — The threat of use of biological or chemical
agents designed to injure, maim, or cause death.

Typologies
Given the virtually infinite variety of circumstances surrounding terrorist
events, every group or act that fits any conventional definition of
terrorism is unique, usually in several respects. Still, there are a few
generic dimensions that distinguish some terrorists, terrorist groups, and
terrorist acts from most others. Particular terrorist groups and individual
acts of terrorism fall into any of a variety of categories, based on the
following dimensions:
 Whether or not politically motivated (Political terrorism)
 Whether or not operating under state authority (State sponsored
terrorists)
 Degree of association with larger terrorist organizations or networks
(Small/Large Terror groups)
 Extent of organization and planning (Organised and Disorganised
Terrorism)
 Whether justified in religious or ethnic terms (Religious Terrorism)
 Whether aimed primarily at people or at symbolic targets
 The types of people targeted (Anti-semitic terrorism, islamophobia,
neo-nazis)
Politically and Non-politically Motivated Terrorism

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Acts of terrorism are generally carried out with a political agenda: to
induce the state or citizens in a state to act in ways that those who carry
out the acts perceive are unattainable through legitimate means.
Typically, a terrorist act achieves its aim by instilling fear in a target group
and thereby pressuring the state to act in accordance with the wishes of
the terrorists. It may aim to destabilize the political, economic, or social
order. It may attack symbolic targets, such as government buildings, a
venerable statue (e.g., those of Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan), or a
sacred shrine – a mosque, temple, or church – rather than people.
In some cases, however, the acts of terror are committed out of sheer
hatred, strictly with the goal of exterminating a group of people perceived
as undesirable – referred to euphemistically as “ethnic cleansing” by the
perpetrators and as “genocide” by objective observers – or inducing the
targeted group to flee the territory.
State Sponsored Terrorism
Some of the most devastating episodes of terrorism continue to be
committed by or sponsored under the authority of sovereign nations.
Among the most brutal examples are the following:
 The Khmer Rouge killing of nearly two million Cambodians under the
dictatorship of Pol Pot in the late 1970s
 The Baathist Army gassing of thousands of Kurds in Northern Iraq by
Saddam Hussein in 1988
 The Serbian killing of several thousand Muslims in Bosnia under
Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s
These three are all examples of state-sponsored acts of terrorism that
were ordered directly and monitored closely by the leaders who
sanctioned them. In other instances, the acts are carried out more along
the lines of patronage or assistance than direct control.
Iranian support for Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, and terrorist activities in Iraq and elsewhere throughout the
Middle East and other parts of the world all exemplify the patronage
model of state-sponsored terrorism. Cuba is also known to have supported
terrorist activities in South America and Spain, and Pakistan is known to
have supported such activities in Kashmir. Support of a prolonged
insurgency against communists by the United States and Britain during
the Cold War also qualifies.
The support can range from ideological encouragement and indoctrination
to training and assistance in insurgency, intelligence, operational support
in the form of providing false documents and safe havens, and financial
rewards to the families of suicide bombers.

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These various forms of support may have any one or a combination of
several aims:
 To destabilize a state to gain greater influence in the region
 To create international visibility for a persistent problem, such as
that of Palestine
 To retaliate against a target state in the region perceived as an
enemy
 To undermine the influence of a larger power operating in the region
Today, terrorism is widely thought to originate with groups like al Qaeda,
operating outside the official auspices of the state. Constitutional
democracies have taken particularly strong stands against terrorist
attacks on non-combatants, especially in the post-Cold War era. Leaders
of nondemocratic nations generally express opposition to terrorist
activities as well, especially when the targets of those activities are
people who are friends of the state or when the activities are aimed
directly against the state and its resources.
Although some nations provide covert support to terrorist groups and
activities, typically indirectly through intermediaries to obfuscate their
involvement, none officially acknowledge support of terrorism.
Ethnic Terrorism
Ethnicity is typically associated with unique combinations of genetics,
culture, language, religion, and common heritage, and ethnic terrorism is
terrorism involving an ethnic group. It occurs typically following long-
standing ethnic or tribal rivalries and is accompanied by slogans, such as
the following: you are not one of us, you interfere with our well-being and
thus threaten us, and we must defend ourselves against you and your
kind. Ethnic terrorism usually follows acts of persecution, with the
persecutor and persecuted often switching roles in episodes of mutual
retaliation. When a government supports one side in an ethnic dispute,
the other side often engages in acts of terrorism against the government.

Terrorism by Militant Religious Extremists

Much terrorism is conducted in the name of a religious mission. With the
9/11 attack, Islamic jihadism became the most prominent example of
terrorism motivated by religious extremists, but by no means the only
example of terrorist acts done in the name of religion. Millions of innocent
people were slaughtered as infidels by Christian Crusaders for some 200
years beginning in 1099, as were countless others by militant extremist
factions of all the major religions over the years.

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 Aggression: any act or threat of force by an individual or group against another

Crime: the intentional violation of a criminal statute by an individual acting either alone or with
others

Insurgency: the systematic use of subversion and aggression against a constituted government
by an organized group of individuals opposed to the government and acting outside of formal
sovereign authority; insurgents who succeed become heroic revolutionaries, whereas those
who fail are known as criminals

Terrorism: the premeditated and unlawful use or threatened use of violence against a non-
combatant population or target having symbolic significance, with the aim of either inducing
political change through intimidation or removing a population identified as an enemy

War: the systematic use of aggression or counter-aggression by one sovereign nation against
another sovereign nation, following a formal declaration by the nation’s legitimate rulers or
leaders

Differences between typical street criminals and terrorists

Terrorist
• Fighting for political objective
• Motivated by ideology or religion
• Group-focused
• Consumed with purpose
• Trained and motivated for the mission
• On the attack
Typical street criminal
• Crimes of opportunity
• Uncommitted
• Self-cantered
• No cause

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• Untrained
• Escape-oriented
Terrorism structure and management
Much like corporations, businesses, governments, and paramilitary or
military organizations, terrorist groups have a structure and management
component, as loose as it may appear to be. The National Strategy for
Combating Terrorism developed the basic structure of terror organization.
At the base, underlying conditions such as poverty, corruption, religious
conflict, and ethnic strife create opportunities for terrorists to exploit.
Terrorists use these conditions to justify their actions and expand support.
An organization’s structure, membership, resources, and security
determine its capabilities and reach. Open borders, and to some extent
technology, allow for access to international resources and new
recruitment arenas. But no matter what, an organization must have a
base of operation.
Some organizations receive such bases of support, either physical or
virtual, from states and countries all over the world. Groups such as al-
Qaeda were able to establish and maintain bases and terrorist training
camps in Afghanistan.
The leadership component becomes the catalyst for terrorist action.
Regardless of size or structure, most organizations tend to utilize a chain-
of-command style of management. Many terrorist groups, domestic and
foreign based, and hate organizations also tend to follow a paramilitary or
military organization when it comes to their training, structure, and
tactics. The corporation or business world component is often displayed
on the financial side of a terrorist organization.
A tremendous financial need exists for an organization to keep a handful
of operatives in the field, let alone to sustain the entire group. Therefore,
many groups have turned to traditional criminal methods for gaining the
capital they need to survive, committing crimes such as flimflams, credit
card fraud, Internet scams, and robbery. However, these methods bring
unwanted law enforcement attention to members of an organization.
Therefore, many groups turned to business world ventures, such as non-
profit organizations. Law enforcement personnel and scholars would
probably argue that these so-called business ventures are an exploitation
of a capitalistic and free society.

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1. Underlying conditions:
This includes; poverty, corruption, religious conflict and ethnic strife. It
creates opportunities for terrorists to exploit. Some of these conditions are
real and some manufactured. Terrorists use these conditions to justify
their actions and expand their support. The belief that terror is a
legitimate means to address such conditions and effect political change is
a fundamental problem enabling terrorism to develop and grow.
2. International environment:

This is the boundaries within which terrorists' strategies take shape. As a

result of freer, more open borders this environment unwittingly provides
access to havens, capabilities, and other support to terrorists. But access
alone is not enough.
3. States:

This can also be referred to as country. Terrorists must have a physical

base from which to operate. Whether through ignorance, inability, or
intent, states around the world still offer havens both physical (e.g., safe
houses, training grounds) and virtual (e.g., reliable communication and
financial networks) that terrorists need to plan, organize, train, and
conduct their operations.
4. Organization:

Once the terrorists have entrenched in a safe operating environment, their

organization can begin to solidify and expand. The terrorist organization's
structure, membership, resources, and security determine its capabilities
and reach.
5. Leadership:

This is at the top of the structure. The terrorist leadership provides the
overall direction and strategy that links all these factors and thereby
breathes life into a terror campaign. The leadership becomes the catalyst
for terrorist action. The loss of the leadership can cause many

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organizations to collapse. Some groups, however, are more resilient and
can promote new leadership.