(Redirected from Counter terrorism)'Counter-terrorism' or 'counterterrorism' refers to the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that
governments,
militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight
terrorism. Counterterrorism is not specific to any one field or organization; rather, it involves entities from all levels of society. For instance, businesses have security plans and sometimes share commercial data with the government. Local
police,
firefighters, and emergency medical personnel (often called "first responders") have plans for dealing with terrorist attacks.
Armies conduct
combat operations against terrorists, often using
special forces. Building a counterterrorism plan involves all segments of a society or many government agencies. Because
propaganda and
indoctrination lie at the core of terrorism, understanding their profile and functions increases the ability to counter terrorism more effectively.
Counterterrorism tactical units
Main articles: Special forces
Today, many countries have special units designated to handle terrorist threats. Besides various security agencies, there are elite tactical units whose role is to directly engage terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks. Such units perform both in preventive actions, hostage rescue and responding to on-going attacks.
These units are specially trained in
tactics and are very well equipped for
CQB with emphasis on stealth and performing the mission with minimal casualties. The units include take-over force (assault teams),
snipers,
EOD experts, dog handlers and intelligence officers.
Examples include: The British
Special Air Service,
United States Marine Corps Anti-Terrorism Battalion and
Force Recon, the U.S.
FBI HRT,
American Police
SWAT teams, the French army (
gendarmerie) unit
GIGN and police units
GIPN and
Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion,
British,
Australian and
New Zealand SAS regiments, Australian
Tactical_Assault_Group (East and West),
Brazilian Army Special Forces,
Israeli
YAMAM,
Spanish GEO and
UEI,
Taiwan's Thunder Squad,
India's ATS,
Canadian JTF-2 and the
German Police
SEK /
MEK and Border Guard
GSG 9.
However, it is rare that military units such as the
Israeli
Sayeret Matkal,
German KSK, the
U.S. Navy's DEVGRU or the
U.S. Army's Delta Force, actually engage in counter-terrorism operations, as they are largely prevented by either
jurisdiction or laws like the
Posse Comitatus Act from operating in their own country.
Thus, the majority of counterterrorism operations at the tactical level, are conducted by state, federal and national
law enforcement agencies or
intelligence agencies, such as the
FBI, MI5
[1], Scotland Yard SO15
[2],the
ATF, or the
Mossad. Obviously, for countries whose military are legally permitted to conduct
police operations, this is a non-issue, and such counter-terrorism operations are conducted by their military.
The majority of counterterrorism operations actually take place at the
intelligence level, through the use of covert surveillance (
HUMINT), signals intelligence (
SIGINT), satellite intelligence (
GEOINT or SATINT), and electronic intelligence (
ELINT). According to the U.S. Army's anti-terrorism level 1 training brief, the majority of
terrorist cells are exposed during their
surveillance attempts as it is the only time they are visible. By the time they carry out the actual operation, it is usually too late.
Some famous counterterrorist actions of the 20th century include the
Entebbe raid by
Israel, the response to the
Achille Lauro hijacking, the
Munich Olympics hostage rescue attempt and subsequent assassinations, the
Iranian embassy siege and the
Battle of Mogadishu.
Anti-terrorism
The concept of 'anti-terrorism' emerges from a thorough examining of the concept of
terrorism as well as an attempt to understand and articulate what constitutes terrorism in
Western terms. Anti-terrorism was bound to emerge as the stakes for a concise definition of terrorism are raised. Unlike counterterrorism, the prefix "" suggests a diplomatic and less confrontational line than counterterrorism. Like its mirror terminology, it is a broad term, though it is invoked far less often.
Since the
September 11, 2001 attacks, leaders in Western nations have emphasized the importance of living a full life with no undue fear, burden, no less valor. This is commonly posited as an average citizen's way to help "defeat terrorism". Prescription of such
reactive behavior has faded from the public discourse in more recent years. In the
United States, the
Department of Homeland Security was created and the
War on Terrorism has shifted to
diplomatic and other
fronts like
Iraq. There had been numerous cases made for the abuse of the term Anti-terrorism as a general umbrella under which cause is formulated to stifle civil liberties and dissipate dissent.
Anti-terrorism legislation
Main articles: Anti-terrorism legislation
In the wake of the
London bombings of
7 July and
21 July 2005, the term has been used to describe legislative measures in both the
United Kingdom and
Australia which extend unprecedented powers to law enforcement. Such powers facilitate more aggressive methods of detainment and investigation of persons suspected of terrorism.
The legislation in Australia allows police to detain suspects for up to two weeks without charge, and to electronically track suspects for up to a year. In both countries, with entrenched
liberal democratic traditions, the measures have been controversial and have been criticised by
civil libertarians and
Islamic groups.
Counterterrorism in Popular Culture
★ The counterterrorism espionage operations of Section One (ambiguously set) are the main focus of the plot of ''
La Femme Nikita'', created by
Joel Surnow.
★ The award-winning TV series
24, also created by Surnow, is about the
Los Angeles branch of the fictional
Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU).
★ The book and video game series
Rainbow Six is about a fictional counterterrorist team in various fictitious conflicts.
★ The video game series traditionally features fictitious counter-terrorist operations conducted by the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
★ The popular video game ''
Counter-Strike'', developed by
Valve Software, pits a team of terrorists against a squad of counter-terrorists.
★
Public Security Section 9 is a group in the anime/manga
Ghost in the Shell,that can be considered a counter-terrorist group.
Further reading
★ Ivan Arreguín-Toft, "Tunnel at the End of the Light: A Critique of U.S. Counter-terrorist Grand Strategy," ''Cambridge Review of International Affairs'', Vol. 15, No. 3 (2002), pp. 549–563.
★ Ivan Arreguín-Toft, "How to Lose a War on Terror: A Comparative Analysis of a Counterinsurgency Success and Failure," in Jan Ångström and Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Eds., ''Understanding Victory and Defeat in Contemporary War'' (London: Frank Cass, 2007).
★ Stathis N. Kalyvas,
''The Paradox of Terrorism in Civil Wars'' (2004) in ''Journal of Ethics'' 8:1, 97-138.
★ Ariel Merari, "Terrorism as a Strategy in Insurgency," ''Terrorism and Political Violence'', Vol. 5, No. 4 (Winter 1993), pp. 213–251.
★ James Mitchell, "Identifying Potential Terrorist Targets" a study in the use of convergence. G2 Whitepaper on terrorism, copyright 2006, G2. Counterterrorism Conference, June 2006, Washington D.C.
★ Marc Sageman, ''Understanding Terror Networks'' (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), ISBN 0-8122-3808-7.
★ Dan Sommer, "SD Agent - The ass fucking" (Reykjavik, Iceland) "A Surveillance Detection Manual aimed at detecting the terrorist planning process" available at www.Surveillance-Detection.biz
★ Kuriansky, Judy, Editor, "Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" (2006, ISBN 0-275-99041-9, Praeger Publishers).
See also
★
Counterinsurgency
★
State terrorism
External links
★
A Legal Theory of International Terrorism Ali Khan
★
The Institute for Counter-Terrorism Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
★
Countering Global Terrorism International Security Instructors
★
Terrorism and Homeland Security RAND Corporation
★ Agentura. Ru Studies and Research Centre
Terrorism prevention in Russia: one year after Beslan Retrieved
September 3,
2005.
★
The World's Specialists Online SpecEncyclopaedia
★
Categories Special Forces Search Engine
★
Your Source for Special Warfare SpecWarNet
★
Premier Counter Terrorism Site! Shadowspear
★
Can Math Help in Terror War? Wired
★
Counter Terrorism Manual Dan Sommer
★
U.S. Department of State Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. Retrieved
November 21,
2006.
★
Guerrero De Sombra Academia Counter-Terrorism Training
★
Counter-terrorism-law.org
★
''Operational Krav Maga'' International Security Counter-terrorism Academy
★
Athena Intelligence Advanced Research Network on Insurgency and Terrorism
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