Facing the Threat of Terrorism
IN THE late 1980’s, terrorism appeared to be on
the decline. However, a new breed of terrorist has
emerged. Today’s terrorist threat comes primarily from
extremists who have established their own funding
networks—through traffic in drugs, private business,
independent wealth, charities, and local financial support. And they continue to be as ruthless as ever.
Recent years saw a proliferation of senseless acts of
terrorism. The World Trade Center in New York City
was bombed, killing 6 people and injuring some 1,000.
A cult released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway
system, killing 12 and injuring more than 5,000. A
terrorist leveled a federal building in Oklahoma City
with a truck bomb, killing 168 and injuring hundreds.
As the chart on pages 4 and 5 shows, terrorist acts of
various kinds have continued up until now.
In general, terrorists seem to exhibit less restraint
than they did in the past. The convicted bomber of the
Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 was quoted as
saying that in order to get the level of attention he
needed, he wanted “a body count.” The ringleader of
the group responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center
bombing in New York City wanted to knock one building into the other, killing everyone in both.
Also new is the choice of weapons at the disposal
of terrorists. Louis R. Mizell, Jr., an expert on terrorism, stated: “We live in an age of unimaginable rage
and apocalyptic arsenals: nuclear, chemical, and biological.” Extremists who want to make a greater impression are turning to the more lethal weapons that
technology has made available.
Attacking With Zeros and Ones
What has been called cyberterrorism involves the
use of modern technology, such as computers. One
weapon is the computer virus, which eats data or
freezes up systems. There are also “logic bombs” that
fool computers into trying to do something they can’t,
thereby forcing them to malfunction. As the economy
and the security of nations increasingly depend on information networks, many feel that the public is more
open to such terrorist attacks. And while most armies
have systems to keep their communications up even
during a nuclear war, civilian systems—power supplies, transportation, and financial markets—may be
more vulnerable to sabotage.
Not long ago, if a terrorist wanted to cause a blackout in, let’s say, Berlin, he might have sought a job as a
utility worker so that he could sabotage the electrical
system. But now, some say, it might be possible for a
trained computer hacker to darken the city from the
comfort of his home in a remote village halfway
around the world.
Not long ago a hacker from Sweden invaded a
computer system in Florida and put an emergencyservice system out of commission for an hour, impeding the responses of police, fire, and ambulance services.
“In essence we’ve created a global village without a
police department,” observed Frank J. Cilluffo, director
of the Information Warfare Task Force of the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). And
Robert Kupperman, senior adviser to CSIS, stated in
1997 that if terrorists choose to use high-tech methods,
“no government agency currently exists to cope with
the repercussions of their attack.”
Some analysts believe that computer terrorists have
the technological tools available to outwit any protection devices that security forces come up with. “An
adversary capable of implanting the right virus or accessing the right terminal can cause massive damage,”
said George Tenet, director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Terror by Chemicals and Germs
Concern also exists over the use of chemical as
well as biological weapons. The world was shocked in
early 1995 to hear of the terrorist poison-gas attack in
the Tokyo subway system. Responsibility for the incident was laid at the doorstep of an apocalyptic sect.
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