Ebook: Analyzing Different Dimensions and New Threats in Defence against Terrorism

The issue of new threats in terrorism is a constant worry for those engaged in counterterrorism and antiterrorism. Not only are the terrorists thinking of new tactics to use, they are also thinking of new weapons to use or new things to target. It has been said that the terrorists only have to be successful once to attain their objective whereas counterterrorist and antiterrorist forces have to be successful 100% of the time to achieve their goals. This course was designed to provide information on emerging trends in the field of terrorism.

This book presents the proceedings of the NATO Centre of Excellence – Defence against Terrorism (COE-DAT) Advanced Training Course entitled “Analyzing Different Dimensions and New Threats in Defence against Terror,” that was held in Kiev, Ukraine, on 23-27 May 2011. The course featured 12 expert speakers from 5 countries to update the students, mainly from the police and military forces of the Ukraine, on the latest in this area. Representing a significant contribution to furthering the science of counterterrorism, this book will be of interest to all whose work involves aspects of the terrorist threat.

The first article, “Understanding Terrorism,” by Dr. Ercan Çitlioğlu, starts off this book by looking at different definitions of terrorism, but then goes on to examine the human element in terrorism. In order to understand the reasons and justifications for terrorism, as well as to find a solution to this ongoing phenomenon, it is a must to understand the nature of humans because of their existence and role in every stage and step of terrorism.

Professor Dr. Marco Gercke authored the second article entitled “Strategy, Policy, Legislation, Prevention and Enforcement: Components of a Comprehensive Approach in the Fight against Cybercrime and Terrorist Use of the Internet” where he provides an overview of a comprehensive approach to respond to terrorist use of the Internet. This aspect is important because information societies rely on the availability of Internet service. Successful attacks against critical information infrastructures have led to an increasing discussion about strategies to respond to terrorist use of the Internet and cybercrime.

Next, “Winning Back Religion: Countering the Misuse of Scripture in Terrorism,” by Professor Dr. Şaban Ali Düzgün examines how the holy scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not give their members just spiritual sense but also create norms for daily life. However, these holy texts cannot speak for themselves; instead, their interpreters do so on behalf of the texts, but a proper interpretive context for each has a geohistorical, geocultural and geopolitical context that is rather different from the others. Considering this historical experience, this paper draws a difference between the scripture and historical phenomena it has created in order to criticize the essentialist approach that identifies the scripture with its members.

The fourth article by Larry White, J.D., deals with the subject of “Terrorism and International Law” because the fight against terrorism must rest on law. Although most actions can be prosecuted under national law, these are often based on principles of international law, which can lead to challenges and issues in fighting terrorism. The lack of a comprehensive mechanism is just but one, but this article shows how, by focusing on the basics, counterterrorism forces can be successful while conforming to the rule of law.

The next article, “The Role of Intelligence in Defense against Terrorism,” by Major Matthew Edwards of the British Army, analyzes how the fight against terrorism is highly dependent upon good intelligence. Intelligence has many different disciplines within that field – HUMINT, SIGINT, COMINT, ELINT, IMINT, MASINT, OSINT – each with their own strengths and weaknesses. However, intelligence support to counterterrorism cannot rely on one or two of these disciplines. This article explores the process and use of intelligence in counterterrorism, focusing on the need to fuse together information from all of them to produce actionable intelligence for the fight against terrorism.

Susan Sim provided the sixth article, “Captured Terrorists as Intelligence Sources and Counterradicalization Leverage: Lessons Learned from Terrorist Rehabilitation Programmes,” where she looks into terrorist rehabilitation programs. These usually start out as an interrogation program to extract intelligence from captured terrorists to neutralize current threats, then become a platform to involve the community in countering radicalization. Based on field research into national programs in three Southeast Asian countries and Afghanistan, this article draws out several lessons and good practices in using captured terrorists as HUMINT sources and in countering violent extremism.

“Crisis Management and Terrorism,” by Zeynep Sütalan, is the seventh article and deals with changes in the security paradigm with the end of Cold War, and how, together with globalization, they have dimished the likelihood of conventional wars. The growing unpredictability and complexity of security challenges highlights the importance of crisis management. Although countering complex threats like terrorism necessitates efforts broader than crisis management, reducing the impact of terrorist attacks and if possible preventing them before happening can be considered to be a part of these comprehensive efforts. In this context, the article is designed to elaborate on the concepts of crisis, terrorism, crisis management and NATO's approach to crisis management.

The next article examines how NATO became involved in the fight against terrorism. Also written by Zeynep Sütalan, “NATO's Defense against Terrorism Policy” discusses the NATO role in counterterrorism that started with the first NATO Article 5 action – the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Since then, starting with the 2002 Prague Summit, NATO has taken important steps to transform itself to adapt to the new security environment as well as establishing a defense against terrorism (DAT) policy. Within this framework, the article seeks to explain the evolution of NATO's stance towards terrorism in the post-Cold War era, the milestones in the development of NATO's DAT policy, its military concept for DAT and its operations and joint efforts related to DAT.

To address the interplay of “Terrorism and Human Rights,” Larry White discussed how the fight against terrorism is not just about protection of lives, but also about protection of values. Therefore, human rights concerns must be a consideration in all antiterrorism activities. In addition to the worldwide human rights establishment, counterterrorist forces, whether acting in a police or military capacity, must plan and execute actions consistent with the principles of human rights.

Mitat Çelikpala wrote the final article on “Energy Security and Terrorism” where he highlights energy security as an issue of great importance. As well as traditional aspects of energy security, a myriad of new aspects has emerged and continues to emerge, such as tight oil and gas markets, increasing prices, alternative energy sources and their role, the threat of terrorism, instability in some exporting and importing countries, geopolitical rivalries, and the increasing need for energy to the economic growth. Since the concept of energy security is vague, this article shows energy security is an umbrella term that covers many concerns linking energy, economic growth and political power.

Feedback from both students and lecturers indicated that this course was highly effective and achieved its goal of providing an update in the fight against terrorism. I would like to thank many people for their efforts – host nation liaisons, support staff, students, and lecturers – who worked to make this course a success.

Adil DUYAN

Colonel, Turkish Army

Course Director

There are several but different definitions concerning terrorism that have been stated by various specialists and scientists so far, but in order to understand the reasons and justifications of terrorism, as well as to find a solution to this ongoing phenomenon, it is a must to understand the human being because of its existence and role in every stage and step of terrorism.

The dependence of information societies on the availability of Internet service as well as successful attacks against critical information infrastructures has led to an increasing discussion about strategies to respond to terrorist use of the Internet and cybercrime. Very frequently a comprehensive approach is identified as an adequate response. The following article provides an overview about the necessary components of such approach and puts them into context.

Unlike Eastern religions, Western ones (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have a normative nature. Reciting the scripture does not just give its member just spiritual sense but also creates norms for daily life. They emphasize action to perform the will of God. Many ‘dos and don'ts’ of the scriptures are clear enough to see this normative character. These holy texts cannot speak; however, their interpreters must do so on their behalf. And they interpret them within an interpretive context that is geohistorically, geoculturally and geopolitically rather different from one another. This is the reason why there are conflicts, not just among those who believe and don't, but among the members of the same holy text, as well. Through out-of-context quotations some so-called devout members can easily distort the very meaning of the text, thus transforming it into a source of uproar and chaos rather than peace and serenity. Considering this historical experience, this paper draws a difference between the scripture and historical phenomena it has created in order to criticize the essentialist approach that identifies the scripture with its members.

The fight against terrorism must rest on law. Although most actions can be prosecuted under national law, these are often based on principles of international law. Not only are formal multilateral agreements (treaties) important, but so are regional and bilateral ones. However, these lead to challenges and issues in fighting terrorism. The lack of a comprehensive mechanism is just but one. However, by focusing on the basics, counterterrorism forces can be successful and while conforming to the rule of law.

The fight against terrorism is highly dependent upon good intelligence. Intelligence has many different disciplines within that field – HUMINT, SIGINT, COMINT, ELINT, IMINT, MASINT, OSINT – each with strengths and weaknesses. However, intelligence support to counterterrorism cannot rely on one or two of these disciplines, but must fuse together information from all of them to produce actionable intelligence for the fight against terrorism. This article explores the process and use of intelligence in counterterrorism.

In the last ten years, more than a dozen countries have embarked on what are loosely termed terrorist rehabilitation programs. These usually start out as an interrogation program to extract intelligence from captured terrorists to neutralize current threats, then become a platform to involve the community in countering radicalization. Based on field research into national programs in three Southeast Asian countries and Afghanistan, this article draws out several lessons and good practices in using captured terrorists as HUMINT sources and in countering violent extremism.

Today it seems that we are living in an age of crises rather than war. Changes in the security paradigm with the end of Cold War, as well as globalization, have diminished the likelihood of conventional wars. With the growing unpredictability and complexity of security challenges, ‘crisis’ has become an umbrella concept that is used for any significant event, be it national or international – be it economic, political, military, social or natural, with potentially severe consequences that require prompt action, including terrorist incidents. This highlights the importance of crisis management. Although countering complex threats like terrorism necessitates efforts broader than crisis management, reducing the impact of terrorist attacks and if possible preventing them before happening can be considered to be a part of the comprehensive efforts. In this context, the article is designed to elaborate on the concepts of crisis, terrorism, crisis management and NATO's approach to crisis management.

It was not until the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to the twin towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington that NATO was concerned about terrorism as a threat to the security of the Alliance. No matter how agile the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks was, NATO has confronted a lot of gaps to work on defense against terrorism (DAT). Since then, starting with the 2002 Prague Summit, NATO has taken important steps to transform itself to adapt to the new security environment as well as establishing a DAT policy. Although important gains have been made towards setting a vision, implementing such vision has a considerable way to go, let alone achieve success. Within this framework, the article seeks to explain the evolution of NATO's stance towards terrorism in the post-Cold War era, the milestones in the development of NATO's DAT policy, its military concept for DAT and its operations and joint efforts related to DAT.

The fight against terrorism is not just about protection of lives, but also about protection of values, so human rights must be a consideration in all antiterrorism activities. In addition to the worldwide human rights establishment, counterterrorist forces, whether acting in a police or military capacity, must plan and execute actions consistent with the principles of human rights.

Energy security has emerged as an issue of great importance. As well as traditional aspects of energy security, a myriad of new aspects has emerged and continues to emerge such as tight oil and gas markets, increasing prices, alternative energy sources and their role, the threat of terrorism, instability in some exporting and importing countries, geopolitical rivalries, and the increasing need for energy to the economic growth. The concept of energy security is vague. Energy security is an umbrella term that covers many concerns linking energy, economic growth and political power.