The issue of technological developments in both the threat of terrorist attacks and the defense against them continues to feature prominently. The need to exploit technological developments is an on-going process because the various terrorist threats have shown themselves to be more than willing to adapt and use technology in the conduct of terrorist attacks; counterterrorism forces cannot afford to be any less willing.

This book presents the proceedings of the NATO Centre of Excellence – Defence against Terrorism (COE-DAT) Advanced Research Workshop entitled the “Technological Dimensions of Defence against Terrorism,” held in Ankara, Turkey, on 2-3 November 2011. The workshop brought together 37 participants from 21 countries and consisted of four sessions: Understanding the Challenges, The Role of Technology in Terrorist Attacks, The Role of Technology against Terrorist Attacks and Conclusion. During these sessions, presentations by 17 expert speakers – military and civilian practitioners, business leaders, researchers and academics – from 4 countries were followed by a detailed discussion and debate. The workshop concluded with a summary of all the topics reflected in the individual papers presented.

The first article was written by Professor Herbert K. Tillema of the University of Missouri (US) and is entitled “A Brief History of Terrorism and Technology Revisited.” In this article, Professor Tillema examines the extent of terrorism and counterterrorism in a historical context. He then discusses the marriage of technology with these phenomena, focusing particularly on transportation, communications and weapons. Professor Tillema ends the discussion by stressing how both terrorism and counterterrorism are dependent on, and change with, technology.

After this excellent introduction, the second article on “Current Technological Advances and their Impact on Terrorism and Counterterrorism Efforts” is from Professor Ahmet Ş. Üçer of Middle East Technological University (TR). Professor Üçer focuses on the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science to predict great leaps forward in this century. He then details how the NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) is matching these developing technologies to counterterrorism requirements in the NATO DAT program of work. He concludes by stating that we must assume that the terrorists will take advantage of technological developments and we must ensure that counterterrorism takes advantage of these developments as well.

Commodore Patrick Tyrrell (RN, Ret) in his article, “The Role of the Commercial World in Defence against Terrorism,” discusses the interplay of technology, people and organization in technological development, where a change in one factor necessitates a corresponding change in the other two to keep things in balance. He specifically advocates for an expanded role for SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) to stay on the cutting edge of technology because of their small size. He also advances the concept that any developments in counterterrorism must try to understand terrorist intent and capability so as to deny them opportunity in order to prevent terrorists attacks.

Eric Lukosi and Mark Prelas of the University of Missouri authored the fourth article on the “Weaponization and Delivery Systems that Terrorists Use for Biological and Chemical Agents.” This article examines the theory and practical aspects of the weaponization and delivery of chemical and biological agents. Not only does it discuss military-type agents, but also toxic industrial chemicals that could be used by terrorists. This article points out that although all these agents could pose problems for use by terrorists, these problems are not insurmountable, particularly to achieve the low-level of results that is only necessary for a successful terrorist operation. With technological capabilities always improving, although the chances of a terrorists attack using chemical or biological weapons are remote, the effects would be so catastrophic that we must plan to counter and respond to such an attack.

The fifth article is from Professor Mustafa Kibaroğlu of Ozan University who writes of “Measures to Counter the Threat of WMD Terrorism.” After giving a brief introduction to WMD, Professor Kibaroğlu advances a concept to counter WMD terrorism in the long term, medium term and short term. With a long-term goal of ‘zero’ weapons, we can eliminate this category of threat. In the medium term, we can strengthen existing WMD treaties and develop enforcement protocols in the short term. Professor Kibaroğlu believes that WMD terrorism would present a tempting opportunity for terrorists so we must do as much as possible to keep such weapons out of terrorist hands.

The interconnection between transportation and terrorism is developed by Professor Joseph S. Szyliowicz in his article “Transportation Technology and Its Effect on the Speed, Distance and Magnitude of Terrorist Attacks.” After an introduction regarding the historical development of transportation system, he evaluates intermodal passenger and intermodal freight systems with regards to their implications for terrorism. However, in his conclusion he addresses the broader issue of how transportation has contributed to the globalization of the world that has allowed terrorism to go from a localized or regional phenomenon to an international one by changing the gap between social distance and physical distance.

The seventh article, entitled “Terrorist Threat to Critical Energy Infrastructure Technology and Protection Systems,” by Associate Professor Dr. Mitat Çelikpala of Kadir Has University, addresses the vulnerability of the global energy system to terrorist acts. After first defining the concept of energy security, he discusses a number of terrorist acts within Turkey and the infrastructure to protect this supply. Turkey is critical to Europe and, therefore the world, as a transit country for energy supplies from Eurasia.

Next is an article “Terrorist Use of Communication Technology and Social Networks,” by a team from Georgia Institute of Technology (Craig Espeseth, Jessica Gibson, Andy Jones, and Seymour Goodman). This article looks at the use of communications within terrorist groups and how this is specified used in eight key areas: recruitment, radicalization, training, communication, tactical use, command and control, fundraising, and cyberattacks. The article concludes by stating that ICT plays a central role in the entire life cycle of a terrorist organization and as hierarchical terrorist groups become disrupted from targeted operations against them, terrorist networks have become flatter and more diffuse with the use of communications technology.

Professor Ahmet Koltuksuz wrote the ninth article on the “Use of Cyberspace and Technology by Terrorists. He states that terrorist want to work in cyberspace for the anonymity and low risk of detection or harm to themselves, coupled with an abundance of targets and the low investment in equipment and other resources. Cyberterrorists can be international terrorist groups, transnational criminal organizations, extremists, lone wolves or other individuals; their goals are to devastate data integrity, disrupt critical system availability, destroy confidentiality, and harm systems to cause deliberate malfunctions. Although recent exercise activity shows that NATO and NATO nations are starting to address this threat, there is still a long way to go.

Commander Bora Uzer, a very experienced explosives expert from the Turkish Navy assigned to COE-DAT, outlines how improvised explosive devices are used by terrorists, and the NATO plan to deal with that, in his article “The IED Threat and Its Relevance to Technological Development.” He specifically addresses the counter-IED concept of countering IEDs as weapons systems rather than as individual devices.

“The Role of Information Technology in Responding to Terrorism” is the title of a summary of a presentation by Associate Professor Salih Bıçakçı of Işık University. The presentation dealt with how information technology is implicated in counterterrorism, focusing on the use of IT in biometrics, data mining and smart surveillance. By combining the identification of individuals, with material that can be gathered and fused, coupled with information as to intentions of persons of interest, we can prioritize the vast sea of information to better focus our counterterrorism efforts.

The last article is by Professor Ashok K. Vaseashta of Norwich University Applied Research Institutes. He examines the “Ecosystem of Innovations in Nanotechnologies in Support of Counterterrorism” to argue that the advancements in nanotechnology have been very helpful in developing new classes of sensors for use in counteterrorism. He also addresses the concept of advanced sciences converging to fuse technologies and develop even more innovative tools.

Representing a significant contribution to furthering the science of counterterrorism, this book will be of interest to all whose work involves the relationship between technology and terrorism.

U. Feyyaz Aydoğdu

Major, Turkish Jandarma

Workshop Director