NCJ Number
100599
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (1985) Pages: 113-126
Date Published
1985
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The United States and other Western democracies are particularly vulnerable to terrorist threat, and a multifacted response is needed to reduce this threat.
Abstract
Increasingly, terrorism has become a form of low-intensity warfare conducted by state-trained professionals. Distinctions among public and covert actions of nation-states, subnational groups, radical activist cells, and criminal undergrounds are becoming blurred. Motives range from sociopolitical aspirations to the religious. Virtually all types of weapons are available and used by terrorists. Using sophisticated weapons and with an increasing awareness of the vulnerability of the technological infrastructure of the industrialized world, terrorists now represent a threat to life-supporting physical networks. Adequate response to this threat will require reducing infrastructural vulnerabilities through protective enclosure, preventive maintenance, and deterrent laws and regulations. Risk analyses can determine planning priorities, and there is a need for specific risk-reduction approaches. Adequate intelligence and appropriate police and security forces and methods also are needed. Finally, international cooperation is essential, but fraught with difficulties.