Terrorist Targets Research Articles

Protecting the Urban

Urban areas are prime targets for international terrorists given the array of valuable physical and social infrastructure they contain. Whereas traditionally governmental, financial, critical infrastructure or military targets have been attacked, increasingly terrorism is targeted at everyday crowded urban spaces which are by their very nature difficult to defend. Subsequently this has led to a wave of pre-emptive and anticipatory counter-terrorism policy in the West in an attempt to secure the defence of the future city. In such policy-making urban terror attacks are viewed as inevitable and unavoidable, but the nature of such attacks is seen as fluid. Notably, recent commando-style attacks against non-western cities — in Mumbai and Lahore in late 2008 and early 2009 respectively — and against soft, unprotected targets has led to a reassessment of western urban security strategies and an assumption that such terrorist modus operandi will migrate to western cities. Such an uncritical reading, as exemplified by the western bias in media reporting in the aftermath of these events, highlights the need for scholars and policy-makers to engage with alternative readings of these events and illuminate the contextual factors underlying terrorism and its tactics, and target selection in particular locations. In developing a more rounded and reflexive understanding of terrorism as a method, planners and policy-makers might be in a better position to progress more nuanced security strategies that aim to tackle the underlying causes of terrorism rather than simply reacting through militarizing an increasing array of urban spaces.

뉴테러리즘과 국가위기관리

21세기 국가위기환경은 변화의 탬포가 빠르고 유동적이면서 국가안보위협의 유형과 주체가 다양해지고, 그 결과 위협의 진단과 대처가 과거에 비해 훨씬 큰 불확실성 속에서 이루어진다는 특징을 가지고 있다. 폭력에 의하여 인간의 고귀한 생명과 그들이 가진 재산을 송두리째 파괴하는 테러리즘은 세계화 정보화 시대의 기술발전과 맞물리면서 이 세상 거의 모든 국가나 공동체 그리고 개인이 테러리즘으로부터 안심할 수 없는 잠재적 공격대상이 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 전통적 테러리즘의 개념과 뉴테러리즘의 특징을 살펴보고, 테러리즘의 실태를 분석함으로써, 언제든지 우리나라도 테러리즘의 대상이 될 수 있고, 국민들 역시 테러리즘의 타겟이 될 수 있다는 현실적인 상황에서 국가위기관리 차원에서 테러리즘에 대한 대비와 정책적 제언을 하고자 한다. Changes in the environment of the 21st century, national crisis, national security threats taempoga yimyeonseo type of fast, flexible and diverse, principal, resulting in a diagnosis of a threat far greater than in the past and deal with uncertainty in the features have done. That this study, the traditional concept of terrorism and to examine the characteristics of new terrorism, terrorism by analyzing the actual conditions of, any country to be a target of terrorism, and terrorism, people also can become the target of a real national crisis management in situations In contrast with the policy dimensions of terrorism is to the recommendations.

Democracy, Foreign Policy, and Terrorism

This article takes a closer look at the relationship between democracy and transnational terrorism. It investigates what it is about democracies that make them particularly vulnerable to terrorism from abroad. The authors suggest that states that exhibit a certain type of foreign policy behavior, regardless of their regime type, are likely to attract transnational terrorism. States that are actively involved in international politics are likely to create resentment abroad and hence more likely to be the target of transnational terrorism than are states that pursue a more isolationist foreign policy. Democratic states are more likely to be targeted by transnational terrorist groups not because of their regime type per se but because of the type of foreign policy they tend to pursue. The empirical analysis provides support for the argument.

Trajectories of terrorism

Research Summary Although researchers began to assemble open‐source terrorism event databases in the late 1960s, until recently most of these databases excluded domestic attacks. This exclusion is particularly misleading for the United States because, although the United States is often perceived to be the central target of transnational terrorism, the domestic attacks of foreign groups targeting the United States are often ignored. We began this article with 53 foreign terrorist groups that have been identified by U.S. State Department and other government sources as posing a special threat to the United States. Using newly available data from the Global Terrorism Database composed of both domestic and transnational terrorist attacks, we examined 16,916 attacks attributed to these groups between 1970 and 2004. We found that just 3% of attacks by these designated anti‐U.S. groups were actually directed at the United States. Moreover, 99% of attacks targeting the United States did not occur on U.S. soil but were aimed at U.S. targets in other countries (e.g., embassies or multilateral corporations). We also found that more than 90% of the non‐U.S. attacks were domestic (i.e., nationals from one country attacking targets of the same nationality in the same country). We used group‐based trajectory analysis to examine the different developmental trajectories of U.S. target and non‐U.S. target terrorist strikes and concluded that four trajectories best capture attack patterns for both. These trajectories outline three terrorist waves—which occurred in the 1970s, 1980s, and the early 21st century—as well as a trajectory that does not exhibit wave‐like characteristics but instead is characterized by irregular and infrequent attacks. Policy Implications Our results underscore the importance of proximity for terrorist targeting. Terrorists, like ordinary criminals, are likely to choose targets close to their operational base. However, when attacks occur further from the terrorists' home bases, they are more deadly. Approximately half of the terrorist organizations studied here exhibited wave‐like boom and bust attack trajectories. Given that most attacks by groups identified as threats by the U.S. government are in fact aimed at non‐U.S. domestic targets, the United States should pursue efforts to strengthen the capacity of local governments to combat terrorism and to communicate to them our understanding that groups that are anti‐United States are also a threat to local governments. In framing counterterrorism policies, the United States should put threats into perspective by acknowledging that we are the exception and local governments are the rule. Terrorism is not just about us.

The Softest of Targets: A Study on Terrorist Target Selection

What factors may lead a terrorist organization to attack undefended and unaware civilians—or as we style them, “soft targets”? We examine two distinct processes in choosing to attack soft targets: the one-time decision to begin attacking soft targets and the continued use of violence against such targets. Our analysis points to ideology—specifically religion—as the decisive factor in turning to target civilians, while organizational factors such as group size and network centrality are related to the number of incidents perpetrated.

Gender Variation in Partner Abuse

This study examines three areas of intimate partner violence in a conservative Christian denomination, noting gender differences in patterns of abuse among men and women. Specifically investigating patterns of victimization, the study identifies women as targets of intimate terrorism. Women who experienced escalating violence and sexual violence also reported emotional abuse, controlling behaviors, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that are typical of intimate terrorism. Women who endured potentially lethal violence had the added associated action of calling the police or 911. Although factors that are associated with male victimization also feature controlling behaviors, the control is not associated with PTSD or associated fear behaviors that are typical of intimate terrorism.

National and Global Efforts to Enhance Containerized Freight Security

In recent years it has become apparent that seaports have the potential to be a prime terrorist target, as the volume of trade that passes through ports is essential to a functioning, healthy and growing economy. Therefore, our research provides an overview of the policies, programs and procedures used to manage the security of containerized freight at U.S. seaports. This analysis is guided by the following questions: How consistent and compatible are efforts to secure the transport of international containerized freight? How systematic are these efforts? What and where are the gaps in security implementation, and how might these gaps be filled? Based on over two years of extensive fieldwork and literary analysis, our article identifies the strengths and weaknesses of existing policies on containerized freight security so as to inform the evolution of such policies. From this, we develop a list of elements relevant for a comprehensive containerized freight security system. These elements serve as an assessment tool for gauging the degree of security at domestic and international seaports. Our findings suggest that the supply chain is much safer today than it was ten years ago. Security measures in the form of advance manifest requirements, threat assessments, and verification protocols have achieved a certain amount of success with freight security and continuing operability. Areas in need of improvement depend on government ability to engage private industries in relevant security policy formulation, and on governmental success in utilizing past cooperative experiences when framing policy implementation internationally.

Sudden desistance from terrorism: The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide

In this paper we examine the trajectories of two Armenian terrorist groups: the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG). Both groups began in the mid-1970s and by the early 1980s had become extremely active. However, shortly afterwards, attacks and fatalities attributed to ASALA and JCAG plummeted, and by 1988 both groups had effectively disintegrated. The pivotal historical event in our analysis is an especially brutal attack on Paris's Orly Airport in 1983, which we believe undermined the legitimacy of ASALA among its supporters in the Armenian diaspora and in the West. We use data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) from 1975 to 1988 as well as extensive qualitative evidence to examine these issues. Based on Cox proportional hazard models, we find that both total ASALA attacks and ASALA attacks on non-Turkish targets significantly increased until the Orly incident, but significantly decline thereafter. Although JCAG was not involved in the Orly bombing and in general had a much more disciplined approach, JCAG attacks also declined rapidly following Orly. The results suggest that when a terrorist organization depends heavily on a diaspora, overreaching in terrorist targeting offers a strong opening for discrediting terrorism as a tactic, even discrediting terrorists who have not overreached.

DHS AND CHEMICAL SECTOR CONVENE

STRESS LEVELS of chemical companies remain high as deadlines approach for facilities that are preliminarily deemed to be potential terrorist targets to submit data to the Department of Homeland Security. The data, which include elaborate details on facility location, on-site chemicals, security regulations, and consequence analysis, will be used by DHS to determine appropriate federal regulations. To facilitate data collection and ease growing tensions, DHS and the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council—an organization representing 18 trade associations—hosted a two-and-a-half day meeting last month in Bethesda, Md. Approximately 400 stakeholders attended the 2008 Chemical Sector Security Summit. The meeting’s main goal was to solidify the public-private partnership between DHS and the chemical industry by addressing industry questions and concerns about data collection and DHS’s regulatory processes. A secondary goal of the conference was to remind the chemical sector that the imminent regulations are mean...

Identification of potential target locations and attractiveness assessment due to terrorism in the freight transport

Recent terrorist attacks on transportation means and related implications have established a threat of extreme severity. The freight sector, whilst being less attractive to the terrorist than the passenger one, demands equal attention. Supply chains play the key role for global commerce and are potentially attractive targets for terrorism. Since complete protection is unrealistic and economically unfeasible, there is need for identification and prioritisation of the attractiveness of locations. This paper presents a screening/evaluation methodology based on a multi criteria analysis, which will essentially assess the degree of attractiveness of a specific location as target to a terrorist attack employing freight transportation, either as means for launching the attack or by using cargo itself as the weapon. Thus, it will provide a tool for the authorities to develop countermeasures ensuring that these will be appropriately allocated to such potentially target locations.

Mega Events, Fear, and Risk: Terrorism at the Olympic Games

Since 1972, there has been an association between terrorism, violence, and the Olympic Games. The events of September 11, 2001, however, clearly reescalated concerns about the Games being a terrorist target. This conceptual article discusses the theories of the risk society and the precautionary principle to understand and interpret how visitors to the most recent Summer Games, Athens 2004, framed their decision to attend. Consistent with risk theory, a strong public and financial commitment to safety at the Games was evident, with the organizers undertaking wide-ranging large-scale risk management initiatives. Athens attendees, while displaying tenets of risk aversion and engagement with a discourse of fear, also showed resilience, resistance, and indifference to potential terrorism threats. Implications for both theory and practice are noted.

Optimal Resource Allocation for Defense of Targets Based on Differing Measures of Attractiveness

This article describes the results of applying a rigorous computational model to the problem of the optimal defensive resource allocation among potential terrorist targets. In particular, our study explores how the optimal budget allocation depends on the cost effectiveness of security investments, the defender's valuations of the various targets, and the extent of the defender's uncertainty about the attacker's target valuations. We use expected property damage, expected fatalities, and two metrics of critical infrastructure (airports and bridges) as our measures of target attractiveness. Our results show that the cost effectiveness of security investment has a large impact on the optimal budget allocation. Also, different measures of target attractiveness yield different optimal budget allocations, emphasizing the importance of developing more realistic terrorist objective functions for use in budget allocation decisions for homeland security.

International Outcry Follows Attacks on Neuroscientist's Home

International Outcry Follows Attacks on Neuroscientist's Home

It Is Time to Take a Stand for Medical Research and Against Terrorism Targeting Medical Scientists

It Is Time to Take a Stand for Medical Research and Against Terrorism Targeting Medical Scientists

Offshore Threats: Liquefied Natural Gas, Terrorism, and Environmental Debate in Connecticut

Broadwater Energy is one of a number of recent proposals to construct a liquefied natural gas facility along the East Coast of the United States. The proposal calls for the construction of an import and regasification terminal in Long Island Sound, roughly halfway between the states of New York and Connecticut. First made public in 2004 by its sponsors, TransCanada and Shell, the Broadwater proposal has inspired opposition from a range of interest groups. An examination of the Broadwater debate with a focus on arguments made by Connecticut residents in the months leading up to the release in late 2006 of the proposal's Draft Environmental Impact Statement reveals explicit and implicit points of overlap between concerns about the facility's environmental impacts and concerns about its status as a potential terrorist target. Discussions about terrorism deployed in the Broadwater debate have initiated and informed a politics of scale through which themes common to environmental debates have been transformed. This transformation, in turn, highlights the discursive and material influence of terrorism in contemporary U.S. society. Concerns about terrorist attacks have been deployed by activists to enhance the strength of an otherwise environmental debate and, in the process, those concerns have developed the potential to shape land use policy in Long Island Sound.

Collaboration and Homeland Security Preparedness: A Survey of U.S. City Managers

This article examines collaboration and homeland security preparedness in city governments in the United States. This is done through a survey of city managers in cities serving populations of 100,000 residents or greater. Based on a survey of the perceptions of city managers on homeland security preparedness from across the United States, these officials believe that there is high level of collaboration in their cities. The survey responses from city managers indicate that there is the most collaboration occurring in city government and the least with organizations statewide. City managers believe that they have a high capacity to coordinate and control homeland security preparedness; but they believe that there is a low probability of their city actually being a future terrorist target. The most prominent factors that explained homeland security preparedness were a city having a favorable economic and political climate. In a regression model, current homeland security preparedness is explained by the median family income of a city, the gender of the city manager, and the city manager having a graduate degree.

Developing a New Curriculum in Sport Security Management

High profile sporting events in the United States have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as potential terrorist targets (Lipton, 2005). However, there has been an identified lack of training and education for key personnel responsible for sport security operations (Cunningham, 2007). Recognizing the demand and need for a specialized area in sport event security management, the University of Southern Mississippi School of Human Performance and Recreation developed an emphasis area in sports event security management as part of the Master of Science in Sport Management program. The sport security emphasis area includes three graduate level courses – 1) introduction to sport security management, 2) risk assessment of sport venues, and 3) sport event emergency response planning. These courses were developed by an interdisciplinary team composed of faculty from the USM School of Human Performance and Recreation, individuals from the Center for Spectator Sports Security Management, a curriculum design specialist, and several professional sport security experts. The goal of the emphasis area is to equip current and future sport and entertainment managers with the specialization skills and knowledge needed to address the challenges of homeland security in the sports industry.

The Logic of Terrorist Target Choice: An Examination of Chechen Rebel Bombings from 1997–2003

The current article seeks to add to the quantitative approach to understanding terrorism by examining the logic underlying terrorist choice of targets and timing within the context of the Chechen–Russian conflict. Using data on Chechen rebel bombings in Chechnya and Russia from 1997–2003, the analysis revealed support for a logic underlying terrorist choice of targets. The results indicated that civilian targets were more likely to be targeted in Russia than in Chechnya, illustrating the importance of examining contextual effects within quantitative approaches to terrorism. The results also implicated an affect of weather and urbanization. Implications of the results and future directions for research are discussed.

A Supply-Side View of Suicide Terrorism: A Cross-National Study

The recent literature on the root causes of suicide terrorism yields several testable hypotheses, most notably that suicide attacks are a strategic response by terrorist groups confronting foreign occupation by democratic states. This study does not find empirical support for this and other common hypotheses and instead demonstrates that suicide terrorism is a product of political and organizational features of the terrorists themselves. While foreign occupation, religious diversity, and group typology do predict suicide attacks, democracies are not more likely to be targets of suicide terrorism. Terrorists, however, who are nationals of nondemocracies are significantly more likely to launch suicide attacks.

Emergency management and planning at major sports events

High profile sporting events in the United States have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as potential targets of terrorism (Lipton E: New York Times. March 16, 2005: A1). Other potential threats to major sports events include natural disasters and crowd management issues. It is therefore imperative that agencies involved in security planning at sports venues are trained in threat/risk assessment practices and engage in multiagency collaboration to ensure effective development and coordination of game day security plans. This article will highlight the potential threats to sports events, provide an overview of research conducted on sports event security, and outline some measures that can be utilized by emergency managers in their planning and preparation for managing major sports events.