REGIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT - NORTH AMERICA

• NCJ Number: 63628
• Author(s): ANON
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 34 pages
• Corporate Author: Risks International, Inc
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT AND FUTURE TERRORIST RISKS IN NORTH AMERICA (U.S. AND CANADA) INCLUDES ANALYSIS OF TERRORIST ACTIVITY FROM 1970 THROUGH 1978, TACTICS USED, TERRORIST GROUPS, AND COMPARISONS WITH OTHER AREAS.

Abstract

THE ASSESSMENT IS BASED ON STATISTICAL INFORMATION IN THE RISKS INTERNATIONAL DATA BASE CONTAINING INFORMATION ON SIGNIFICANT TERRORIST ACTIONS IN THE U.S. AND OVERSEAS, EXCLUDING THE COMMUNIST COUNTRIES. GOVERNMENT, POLICE, AND PRESS REPORTS WERE USED TO COMPILE THE DATA. TERRORIST ACTIONS ANALYZED INCLUDED KIDNAPPING, HIJACKING, ASSASSINATION, MAIMING, ATTACKS AGAINST FACILITIES, AND BOMBINGS. NORTH AMERICA RANKED THIRD, BEHIND EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA, IN TOTAL TERRORISM, BUT IT LED THE WORLD IN TERRORISM DIRECTED AGAINST U.S. BUSINESSES. THERE WERE 590 TERRORIST INCIDEN IN NORTH AMERICA FROM 1970 THROUGH 1978, OF WHICH 266 HAD U.S. BUSINESSES AS TARGETS. EXCEPT FOR THE QUEBEC LIBERATION FRONT, ALL OF THE 55 TERRORIST GROUPS INVOLVED OPERATED IN THE U.S. IN CONTRAST WITH EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA, HOWEVER, TERRORIST ACTIVITY DECLINED IN NORTH AMERICA BETWEEN 1975 AND 1978. IN THE U.S., TERRORIST GROUPS INCLUDE FOUR ACTIVE RADICAL MARXIST GROUPS, SEVEN INACTIVE RADICAL MARXIST AND PRISON BASED GROUPS, TWO ETHNIC NATIONALIST GROUPS, SEVERAL PUERTO RICAN NATIONALIST GROUPS, AND ANTI CASTRO CUBAN GROUPS. AN INCREASE IN TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN THE U.S. IS NOT EXPECTED DURING 1979. MOST ACTIVITIES WILL BE BOMBINGS AGAINST U.S. CORPORATIONS. CANADA IS CURRENTLY ALMOST FREE OF TERRORIST VIOLENCE. THIS SITUATION WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE. THE QUEBEC LIBERATION FRONT, ACTIVE FROM 1963 THROUGH 1970, HAS BEEN INACTIVE SINCE 1970 WHEN ITS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE WAS DESTROYED AND ITS LEADERSHIP IDENTIFIED. BOTH CANADA AND THE U.S. MAY IN THE FUTURE BE VIEWED BY SOME EUROPEAN AND ASIAN TERRORIST GROUPS AS SAFE HAVENS FOR PEOPLE SOUGHT BY THE POLICE. EXTENSIVE TABLES, PROFILES OF INDIVIDUAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS, AND FOOTNOTES WHICH INCLUDE REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. FOR SIMILAR ANALYSES OF OTHER REGIONS, SEE NCJ-63625-63627. (CFW)