Counter-Terrorism Capability: Preventing Radiological Threats

Abstract

Introduction of a New Phenomenon of Global Mini-Terror For many decades, terrorism was perceived as a contest between two sides: on the one hand, a group of people or an organization, and on the other, a sovereign state. However, during the course of the second half of the twentieth century, various countries began to use terrorist organizations to promote state interests in the international domain. In some cases, states have established “puppet” terrorist organizations, whose purpose is to act on behalf of the sponsoring state, to further the interests of the state, and to represent its positions on either the domestic or regional front. In other cases, states sponsor existing organizations on the basis of mutual interests. The patron state provides its beneficiary terrorist organization with political support, financial assistance, and the sponsorship necessary to maintain and expand its struggle. The patron uses the beneficiary to perpetrate acts of terrorism as a means of spreading the former’s ideology throughout the world, or in some cases, the patron ultimately expects the beneficiary to gain control of the state in which it resides or impart its ideology to broad sections of the general public. State-sponsored terrorism can achieve strategic ends in cases where the use of nuclear and conventional armed forces is not practical or effective. The high costs of modern warfare, and concern about non-conventional escalation, as well as the danger of defeat and the unwillingness to appear as the aggressor, have turned terrorism into an efficient, convenient, and generally discreet weapon for attaining state interests in the international realm. Now the main role in playing the card of radiological terrorism seems to belong to small mini-terror devices. For example, representatives or supporters of failed regimes, rogue states, and other non-state actors may take hand-grenades and connect them to bags filled with radiological materials. That is the simplest description of a so-called “dirty bomb.” Today the greatest threat for Russia, the U.S., and NATO is the possibility of a secret and sudden attack with radiological or improvised nuclear weapons. Many analysts have come to the common conclusion that from now on there is a new phenomenon in the arenas of global policy and economy, namely global terrorism. The actors of global terrorism possess a non-state status. It consists of failed and disaffected states, ethno-religious terrorists, greedy and socially irresponsible proliferators, narco-traffickers, and other organized criminals, who are taking advantage of the new high-speed information environment and other advances in technology to integrate their illegal activities and compound their threat to stability and security around the world. Radiological terrorism is one of the most potentially effective