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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 article: 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,(JaKdo) Austrian Jagdkommando, 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 article: 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

External links

Counterterrorism by country
Terrorism in the modern sense[1] is violence or other harmful acts committed (or threatened) against civilians for political or other ideological goals.[2]
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Few words are as politically or emotionally charged as terrorism. A 1988 study by the US Army[1] counted 109 definitions of terrorism that covered a total of 22 different definitional elements.
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The history of terrorism is a history of the various types of terrorism and terrorist individuals and groups.

Definition

For more details and the etymology of the word, see "Definition of terrorism"

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International conventions on terrorism set out obligations of states in respect to defining international counter terrorist offences, prosecuting individuals suspected of such offences, extraditing such persons upon request, and providing mutual legal assistance upon
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worldwide view of the subject.
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Anti-terrorism legislation designs all types of laws passed in the purported aim of fighting terrorism.
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Participants in operations
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Israel
 Canada
 Australia
 Poland
 Netherlands
 Iraq
 Afghanistan
 India
 Pakistan
 Philippines
 Somalia
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Red Terror in English refers to the campaign of mass arrests, deportations, and executions conducted by the Bolshevik government in Soviet Russia from 1918 to 1922 [1] [1].
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The Great Purge (Russian: Большая чистка, transliterated Bolshaya chistka
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In general, the term White Terror
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The following is a timeline of acts and failed attempts that can be considered non-state terrorism. Massacres more generally are listed chronologically at List of massacres; assassinations are listed by location at List of assassinated people.
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Agroterrorism, also known as Agriterrorism, is "the malicious use of plant or animal pathogens to cause devastating disease in the agricultural sector. It may also take the form of hoaxes and threats intended to create public fear of such events".
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Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French propagande par le fait) is a concept of anarchist origin, which appeared towards the end of the 19th century, that promoted physical violence against political enemies as a way of inspiring
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Bioterrorism is terrorism by intentional release or dissemination of biological agents (bacteria, viruses or toxins); these may be in a naturally-occurring or in a human-modified form.

Definition

According to the U.S.
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Christian terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant Christian character or influence[1]; to be considered religious terrorism the perpetrators must use religious scriptures to justify or explain their violent acts or to gain recruits
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Communist terrorism (or Communist terror
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Eco-terrorism or ecoterrorism is the concept of terrorism conducted for the sake of ecological or environmental causes. The term is controversial and arguments center in particular on whether "violence against property" is to be included in the definition.
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Islamist terrorism (also known as Islamic terrorism or Jihadist terrorism) is terrorism - an act of violence targeting non-combatants - done by a person or group identifiably Islamic, and/or to further the cause of Islamism as determined by the acts' perpetrators and
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Narcoterrorism is a term coined by former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru in 1983 when describing terrorist-type attacks against his nation's anti-narcotics police.
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Nationalist terrorism is a form of terrorism through which participants attempt to form an independent state against what they consider an occupying, imperial, or otherwise illegitimate state.
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Nuclear terrorism denotes the use, or threat of the use, of nuclear weapons or radiological weapons in acts of terrorism, including attacks against facilities where radioactive materials are present [1]
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Terrorism in the modern sense[1] is violence or other harmful acts committed (or threatened) against civilians for political or other ideological goals.[2]
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Ethnic violence (also known as ethnic terrorism or ethnically-motivated terrorism) refers to violence that is predominantly framed rhetorically by causes and issues related to ethnic hatred, though ethnic violence is more commonly related to political
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Religious terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant religious character or influence[1]; to be considered religious terrorism the perpetrators must use religious scriptures to justify or explain their violent acts or to gain recruits
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State terrorism is a controversial term, with no agreed on definition, used when arguing that there may be a similarity between terrorism and certain acts done by states.

The concept of state terrorism and indeed of terrorism
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Terrorist groups use various tactics to maximize fear and publicity.
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Aircraft hijacking (also known as skyjacking and aircraft piracy) is the take-over of an aircraft, by a person or group, usually armed. In most cases the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers.
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For other uses, see Car bomb (disambiguation).
A car bomb is an improvised explosive device that is placed in a car or other vehicle and then exploded.
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A suicide attack is an attack on a military or civilian target, in which an attacker intends to kill others, and knows that they will either certainly or most likely die in the process (see suicide).
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