Terrorism and Crime: from Middle Eastern Countries—Were Tried and Convicted in That Attack

Home , TWA Flight 847

TOPIC 4 erupted underneath New York City’s World Trade Center, killing six persons and injuring a thousand. Ultimately, almost a dozen Islamic fundamental- ists—all of whom had come to the U.S. Terrorism and crime: from Middle Eastern countries—were tried and convicted in that attack. Until its members were apprehended, fac- an increasingly tions in this terrorist cell were planning to mount a broader bombing campaign dangerous world here against such targets as the United Nations headquarters, as well as against U.S. jumbo jets ﬂying over the Paciﬁc. Coping with shadowy threats to security and civil order Two years later, another specter— poses some tough trade-offs for civil rights and convenience. that of large-scale, homegrown terrorism—was unleashed when the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma by David C. Morrison City was car bombed, killing 168 people and wounding more than 500. Two U.S. citizens, alleged members of the antigovernment “militia” movement, are now being prosecuted in that case. “Whatever happens,” Le Monde, the French daily, editorialized following that April 19, 1995, atrocity, “one con- clusion is already clear: The U.S. is no longer impervious to that urban terror-

REUTERS/GREG MARINOVICH/ARCHIVE PHOTOS ism which their West European allies have known for a long time.” Anyone who has passed through European airports, with their machine-gun-toting paramilitary police and protracted check-in procedures, understands the distinction. That is changing. Travelers on domestic flights are now routinely quizzed about their luggage and other time-con- suming security procedures are being enacted at U.S. airports. To stymie car bombs, Pennsylvania Avenue has been closed off where it passes in front of the White House. And, to forestall letter DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA, June 25, 1996: A bomb carried by a fuel truck exploded near bombs, the U.S. Postal Service has de- the apartment complex that housed nearly half the U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia, creed that parcels heavier than one killing 19 American servicemen and wounding several hundred. pound can be mailed only from postal stations, where they can be scrutinized. THE LONG COLD WAR with the Soviet war era, the danger confronting U.S. Along with new ways of coping with TUnion was often termed a “twi- policymakers is not only complacency potential terrorist acts, Americans are Tlight struggle.” Today, ironi- that “it can’t happen here.” Also to be also grappling with new ways of think- cally, a world freed of cold-war polar- avoided is an overreaction that treads ing about terrorism itself. However ization finds itself engaged in an even unduly on American civil liberties and shocking, the World Trade Center at- more shadowy struggle for security and principles. tack could be placed in a familiar con- order against terrorist cells and crime Until recently the U.S. had escaped text. The Middle East is inextricably cartels. The diffuse nature of the threat comparatively unscathed a scourge associated in the popular mind with ter- suggests the absence of easy or sweep- many other nations have learned to live rorism, and that bombing was quickly ing solutions. In this murky post-cold- with: terrorism and the justifiable para- laid to the followers of an Egyptian noia that its death and destruction sow. cleric. DAVID C. MORRISON, a contributing editor This relative American innocence That association is understandable. at National Journal, where he covered national security for a decade, is writing a was abruptly shattered on February 26, At least since the massacre of Israeli book about drug policy for Doubleday. 1993, when a 1,200-pound car bomb athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics,

GREAT DECISIONS 1997 37 TOPIC 4 TERRORISM Naturalization Service (INS) have at gence, law enforcement and protecting least some slight legal handle on ill-in- Constitutional rights. The same applies tentioned foreign nationals on Ameri- to efforts to cope with the mounting can shores in the form of deportation. power of transnational crime syndi- When U.S. citizens are the suspects, cates, particularly those operating out of dealing with this threat from within can Latin America and the former Soviet raise uniquely troubling civil-liberties states. “International organized crime REUTERS/ADREES A. LATIF/ARCHIVE PHOTOS questions. groups,” Richard A. Clarke, a senior National Security Council official, re- An increasingly murky threat cently asserted, “represent a major Increasingly attacks are being mounted threat to U.S. national security interests for which no party steps forward to lay and to the democratic world order.” claim. Last year witnessed two such These could be closely interrelated possible incidents. On July 17, TWA issues. “Future security is increasingly Flight 800 from New York to Paris threatened as terrorism becomes en- plummeted into the ocean, killing all meshed in the fabric of global organized 230 passengers and crew aboard. Fed- crime,” according to terrorism expert eral authorities have not yet been able to Robert Kupperman. “The growing glo- determine whether the plane was bal interconnectivity of organized downed by a missile, by a bomb or by a crime…has forever changed the way mechanical malfunction. And the July terrorists do business.” 27 bombing in Atlanta’s Centennial The starkest scenario arising from OKLAHOMA CITY, April 19, 1996: A year after a car bomb killed 168 people, family Olympic Park, which killed one person this mounting enmeshment is the possi- members of the victims place flowers at the and injured 111 others, has yet to yield a bility of Russian “mafias” peddling Murrah memorial site. suspect. (The “trial by media” endured high-tech arms to terrorist outfits. The by Richard Jewell, a security guard who former Soviet armed forces can barely territorial and religious grievances bred came under suspicion but was later ex- house and pay their service members. in the Middle East have been played out onerated, points suggestively to the Increasingly disgruntled, some Russian violently on the world stage. That 52 civil-liberties issues raised by efforts to soldiers have sold to the highest bidders U.S. embassy officials in Tehran were apprehend alleged terrorists.) certain items of hardware from their ar- held hostage by student radicals for 444 Terrorist bands today are “more ni- senals. The direst fear in this connec- days following the Iranian revolution of hilistic” than previous groups who were tion, of course, is that that hardware 1979 only further cemented this nexus, motivated by nationalist and economic might someday include nuclear war- as did the deaths of 241 U.S. Marines in grievances, terrorism expert Bruce heads. the truck bombing of a barracks near Hoffman suggests. “They are less inter- More immediately apparent ex- Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. The interven- ested in finding a place in the system amples of the criminal-terrorist nexus ing years have witnessed a spate of than in tearing it down.” can be found in South America. Remote other bloody Middle Eastern epi- Does it really matter whether the regions where coca and opium are sodes—Americans taken hostage and threat arises from here or abroad? How- grown, harvested and processed have one murdered on both the Achille Lauro ever troubling, so-called state-spon- fallen under the sway of revolutionary cruise ship and TWA Flight 847 in sored terror is more readily dealt with, insurgent organizations. In return for 1985, for instance. at least as a matter of setting policy. protecting drug-manufacturing opera- Not surprisingly, not only the popu- “Rogue nations” can be diplomatically tions, groups such as Shining Path in lar but the official mind, too, has been isolated and economically sanctioned. Peru and the Revolutionary Armed tightly focused on terrorism rooted in A recent Congressional Research Ser- Forces in Colombia earn monies with the tortured politics of the Middle East. vice (CRS) report, however, discusses which to mount guerrilla warfare and “The next 15 years may well be the age the advent of “boutique terrorism” per- terrorist attacks in their respective of superterrorism,” a grim, early 1995 petrated by “individuals who do not countries. Warring factions in Afghani- Pentagon study found. “Middle Eastern work for any established terrorist orga- stan and Myanmar (Burma) also arm terrorism represents the greatest threat nization and who are apparently not themselves with dollars reaped from the to America and American interests.” agents of any state sponsor.” heroin trade. When the Oklahoma City bomb— Traditional U.S. approaches to As with terror, it has grown increas- the deadliest ever on U.S. soil—went counterterrorism, which are sanctions- ingly difficult to view the perpetrators off, analysts and the public jumped to oriented and seek to peg responsibility of organized crime as monolithic enti- premature conclusions. Early reports for terrorist acts to a specific state spon- ties, vulnerable to frontal attack at cen- described two “Mideastern types” flee- sor, are far less useful in the face of such tral nodes of organization. When one ing the site. But the suspects eventually seemingly spontaneous freelance deeds Colombian cocaine-smuggling cartel is apprehended were right-wing “militia- of destruction. crippled, another takes its place. And men.” However porous U.S. borders Whatever the source of the terror, Russia boasts an estimated 4,000 “orga- may be, the Federal Bureau of Investi- dealing with it necessarily raises diffi- nized-crime groupings,” half of which gation (FBI) and the Immigration and cult questions for diplomacy, intelli- have only a handful of members. ■

38 GREAT DECISIONS 1997 TOPIC TERRORISM 4 viewed as a far riskier prospect. “Many members of international terrorist groups are reluctant to carry out an at- The nature of the tack in the U.S.,” the FBI reports, “due, in part, to the fear of jeopardizing their terrorist threat current immigration status; fund-raising capabilities; recruitment opportunities; TERRORISM, some partisans argue, is saults. In early 1995, two U.S. diplo- propaganda activities to support their Tmerely the means by which the mats were murdered in Karachi, Paki- cause; and freedom of assembly in the powerless must, perforce, wage war to stan, when their shuttle bus was raked U.S.” American willingness to retaliate achieve their objectives. With various with gunfire. Nearly 20 U.S. Air Force militarily against clearly defined acts of groups and governments ever exchang- personnel were killed last June when a state-sponsored terror has also likely ing heated charges and denials of en- U.S. dormitory was car bombed near played a deterrent role. gaging in “terrorism,” it is important to the Saudi city of Dhahran. The previous define precisely what sort of acts are November, five U.S. personnel had also Terror on the home front under discussion here. How does “war” lost their lives in a Saudi bombing. Which is not say that Americans have differ from terrorism? On the homefront, as already noted, unanimously been safe from the War, Karl von Clausewitz, the 19th- the U.S. thus far remains largely un- terrorist’s weapon of choice: the bomb. century Prussian tactician, famously scathed by, although hardly immune to, According to the FBI’s annual “bomb- observed, “always starts from a political terrorist attacks—especially when coming incidents” report, the use of explo- condition, and is called forth by a politi- pared to the industrial democracies of sive and incendiary devices (for all pur- cal motive. It is, therefore, a political Western Europe. In 1975, a bomb ap- poses, personal as well as political) has act.” So, too, is terrorism. But, whether parently planted by Croatian national- steadily increased over the past decade. formally declared or not, war is openly ists killed 11 at New York City’s In 1994, 3,163 incidents, in which 31 waged by a government or rebel fac- LaGuardia Airport. But, as the violent people were killed and 308 injured, tion, with largely military objectives in polarization that had marked the contro- were reported to the bureau’s bomb- mind (though noncombatants are all too versy over the war in Vietnam eased in data unit. By contrast, 803 bombing in- often targeted, even in traditional war- the mid-1970s, the LaGuardia bombing cidents in 1984 resulted in 6 deaths and fare). punctuated a steady decline in domestic 112 injuries. Terrorism, by way of contrast, terrorist incidents, an easing that contin- The infamous Unabomber, who “means premeditated politically moti- ued until quite recently. killed three people and maimed another vated violence perpetrated against non- While anti-American elements 23 in an 18-year campaign of mail- combatant targets [including unarmed might not hesitate to hit U.S. targets bomb terror, contributed to that casualty and off-duty soldiers] by subnational overseas, striking at the American count. A disaffected, reclusive math- groups or clandestine agents, usually homeland seems to have generally been ematician is facing charges in that case.

intended to inﬂuence an audience,” as STACY ROSENSTOCK, IMPACT VISUALS deﬁned by U.S. law. That last clause is key. The actual target of a terrorist atrocity is typically a secondary consid- eration, save for whatever symbolic value it might offer. Often the goal is to affect the politics and psychology of those, frequently living thousands of miles away, who will merely read about the incident or see it on television. As a global power with global interests and a global presence, the U.S. is no stranger to terrorist attacks against its facilities and interests. Indeed, in 1995, almost a quarter of all such incidents around the world were directed against U.S. citizens or property, overwhelm- ingly on foreign soil. The State Department’s most recent annual report charting “Patterns of Global Terror- ism,” interestingly, describes a general downward trend in all acts of international terrorism, but an increase in anti- U.S. attacks, from 66 incidents docu- NEW YORK CITY, February 26, 1993: The terrorist car bomb that exploded under the World mented in 1994 to 99 in 1995. Trade Center forced 50,000 people to evacuate their offices. Victims are interviewed by These include a wide range of as- local media at a triage center.

GREAT DECISIONS 1997 39 TOPIC 4 TERRORISM As for the sort of large-scale interna- responsibility has not firmly been estab- exacerbated the militia members’ ten- tional terrorist attacks that seem so lished for the 168 deaths, there is little dency to view themselves as at war with common overseas, Americans have ex- question that antigovernment “militia” a federal government that has targeted perienced periodic surges of fear in re- outfits have painted a bull’s-eye on the them for extermination. A controversial cent decades about the same thing hap- U.S. government. 1993 assault by the FBI and ATF fol- pening here. In 1986, after Libya was In July 1996, for instance, 12 mem- lowing a prolonged stand-off against punished with air strikes following the bers of the “Viper Militia” were the Branch Davidians, a heavily armed bombing of a Berlin dancehall fre- charged with conspiring to conduct Christian cult based near Waco, Texas, quented by U.S. troops, Washington attacks on federal facilities in Arizona. resulted in the deaths of 86 men, women officials worried that a “gathering of Also last summer, three members of the and children. No less controversial was dignitaries and citizens” on the Fourth “112th Georgia Militia” were appre- the heavy-handed 1992 move by federal of July “might make a tempting target hended on suspicion of planning to dis- marshals to arrest Randy Weaver, a for retaliation.” U.S. Army Delta Force rupt the Olympic Games in Atlanta, survivalist living in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, commandos from a counterterrorism Georgia, with pipe bombs. And, in which resulted in the deaths of his wife unit formed in the 1980s were dis- October, seven members of the “West and son. The Waco siege took place on patched to New York City, but the cel- Virginia Mountaineer Militia” were ar- April 19, fostering belief that the April ebration passed uneventfully. rested on charges of plotting to blow up 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah build- Five years later, with the onset of the an FBI fingerprint facility. The Anti- ing in Oklahoma City was an act of an- Persian Gulf war, the nation was awash Defamation League counts paramilitary tigovernment retaliation. with anxiety that Iraq might lash out. militia organizations in 40 states, with Some analysts point to a possibly Airports canceled curbside baggage active membership totaling about emerging threat of “single issue” terror- check-in, and the FBI aroused civil lib- 15,000. ism, sparked by such polarizing, hot- ertarians by interviewing hundreds of Although it has only recently moved button controversies as animal rights, Arab-American business and commu- to the forefront of public attention, the environmental preservation and abor- nity leaders in hopes of detecting poten- militia movement actually flows from a tion. (Absent definitive proof of a wider tial terrorist strikes. Again, though, the long-running extremist tradition in conspiracy, most violent attacks against home front remained peaceful. American politics. Imbued with a xeno- abortion clinics and providers have not That peace was broken deafeningly phobic suspicion of foreign influence in thus far met the FBI’s official definition in 1993. “The bombing of the World American affairs (marked in the post- of “terrorism.”) Overall, do the risks Trade Center,” the FBI reports, “shat- World War II era by fear of the posed by terrorists nurtured overseas tered the illusion that the U.S. is influence wielded by the UN), this outweigh the homegrown terrorist immune from international terrorism. movement also hews to a fierce indi- threat? This event could only embolden and vidualism (as expressed in a violent dis- A mid-1996 CRS report wonders inspire other groups who have hatred taste for federal taxation and regulation “whether recent terrorist acts within the for the U.S. and wish to bring violence of any kind). The Bureau of Alcohol, U.S. are flukes or the beginning of a new to this country.” Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), a Trea- and escalating trend of domestic terror- The even bloodier assault in Okla- sury Department agency responsible for ism.” There is some danger, that report homa City two years later further regulating guns and other weaponry, is proposes, of “overreacting to recent dra- demolished the illusion that only “for- seen as a particularly intrusive enemy of matic developments at home, thereby eign crazies” wish to bring political freedom. detracting policy focus from what some violence to this country. Although Two recent violent confrontations see as the real long-term terrorist threat: international foreign-supported and state-sponsored terrorism.” State-sponsored or freelance? This is no minor matter of debate. Whether the bulk of terrorism is state- sponsored or the work of scattered individuals helps determine the mobiliza- tion of specific resources. By act of Congress, the State Department is required annually to list terrorism-sponsoring states. The list includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria—all subject to some degree of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Some analysts contend that such sanctions amount to little more than a feel-good nostrum that has little real- world impact on other countries’ behav- JIMMY MARGULIES, THE RECORD (HACKENSACK, NJ) 40 GREAT DECISIONS 1997 TOPIC TERRORISM 4 ior simply because other countries often JAPAN’S GROUND SELF-DEFENSE FORCE VIA REUTERS/ARCHIVE PHOTOS do not cooperate with the U.S. in im- posing them. Others argue that in the cold war’s wake, rogue nations are more vulnerable than ever to U.S.-led international isolation. Information developed last fall by the Saudi government suggests that Iran, and possibly Syria, were involved in last June’s dormitory bombing in Dhahran. Both countries, albeit Syria to a far-lesser extent, have long been subject to U.S. sanctions. If these governments were, in fact, involved in the Dhahran bombing, it might point to the weakness of sanctions as a tool in altering the behavior of such states, especially when levied uni- laterally by Washington and ignored by U.S. allies. R. James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is a firm believer that state spon- TOKYO, JAPAN, March 20, 1995: Members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s antigas sorship is the central issue. If Washing- chemical warfare unit decontaminate subway cars after nerve gas killed 10 and poisoned ton would only deal firmly with Iran some 5,000 commuters during the morning rush hour. and Syria, Woolsey believes, “the [terrorism] problem would go from being as is the prospect of economically para- possess such significant resources that an extremely serious one to being an lyzing hacker attacks against massive, they can almost buy and sell govern- occasional one.” Philip C. Wilcox, who vulnerable, internetted computer sys- ments,” the National Security Council’s heads State’s counterterrorism office, tems, not to mention against power Clarke says. on the other hand, retorts that “the role grids, telecommunications networks The world boasts no shortage of un- of states in promoting terrorism is in and financial infrastructures. stable governments that are uniquely sharp decline.” Meanwhile, a range of factors sug- vulnerable to corruption. And, because Whatever the source of the attack, gests that the terrorism problem might of the vast amounts of money it can recent events have pointed to frighten- worsen in the years to come. One such generate, the drug trade has proved a ing new possibilities for mounting factor is the coming turn of the millen- particularly potent source of corruption. mayhem on a mass scale. In March nium, which holds great significance for Suspicion that the government of 1995, poison-gas attacks on the Tokyo religious zealots. “Even some nonreli- Colombia is under the influence of nar- subway system, apparently launched gious extremist groups have apocalyp- cotics traffickers has led to congres- by a bizarre religious cult—albeit one tic elements in their ideology that could sional calls for the imposition of eco- that had adherents, many of them be exaggerated by the approach of the nomic sanctions. Although it continues wealthy and well-educated, around the millennium,” terrorist expert Roy God- to provide drug-fighting funds to Co- world—left 10 dead and prompted son suggests. lombia, the Clinton Administration in New York City officials to run a sub- 1995 formally listed that country as way preparedness drill. The concern is International crime “uncooperative” in the war on drugs— real. A white supremacist group was Increasingly bloody deeds are required a category that also includes Bolivia, indicted in the mid-1980s after a raid to seize the attention of a jaded world, Lebanon, Pakistan, Paraguay and Peru. uncovered 30 gallons of cyanide and to cite another fact. And the dissolution Listed as “fully uncooperative” are plans to poison Washington’s and of multinational states, such as the So- Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Nigeria Chicago’s water supply. In 1987, Dal- viet Union and Yugoslavia, as well as and Syria. Nigeria is not a source of las skinheads plotted to dump cyanide the collapse of central authority in many drugs, but Nigerian traffickers have be- crystals into the air conditioners of a other nation-states, provides fertile come a major channel for transporting Jewish day-care center. ground for ethnic conflicts that in turn heroin from Southeast Asia to the U.S. Nor is gas attack the grisliest imag- give rise to terrorist and transnational A Nigerian network broken up last Oc- inable scenario. One of the overriding criminal activity. (See box, p. 44.) tober allegedly supplied some 400 national security concerns surrounding Russian crime groups, for instance, pounds of heroin a year to street dealers the breakup of the Soviet Union has now have a presence in some 50 coun- in the U.S. Midwest. been striving to ensure that its tens of tries, with an estimated 1,000 members The many nations around the world thousands of nuclear warheads and in the U.S. alone. The power and reach that have thrown off totalitarian govern- abundant atomic know-how do not fall of Latin American and Southeast Asian ments or dramatically liberalized their into the hands of terrorists. Terrorist use drug-trafficking organizations is well- economies over the past half-decade are of biological toxins is also of concern, known. “Organized-crime groups now also uniquely vulnerable to the depreda-

GREAT DECISIONS 1997 41 TOPIC 4 TERRORISM billion over four years. New security measures have been inaugurated at federal buildings across the nation, and the ATF (the apparent target of the Murrah building attack) is considering shifting its headquarters from downtown Wash- ington to a suburban site whose perim-

REUTERS/JEFF MITCHELL/ARCHIVE PHOTOS eter can be more closely monitored. All U.S. visas being issued at 221 consular posts overseas are now computer-readable, easing the detection of fraudulent entry permits and the screen- ing against more than 4 million undesir- able aliens now listed in a State Depart- ment data base. Among a welter of other measures, security forces are being doubled at American airports, the 50 largest of which may soon be pro- AN EXHAUSTED FIRE FIGHTER, one of the heroes of the deadliest terrorist attack on vided with bomb-sniffing dogs. American soil, receives a wreath of flowers from a grateful citizen, Sue Chambers. The FBI is moving to reassign 500 of Oklahoma City firemen searched the rubble of the Murrah federal building around the clock its 10,000-plus agents to counter- in search of survivors. terrorism duty. (The total number of tions of criminal organizations— for Mexican-produced heroin and agents working on terrorism is classi- especially, again, those trafficking in methamphetamine and Colombian-pro- fied.) The bureau is also dramatically narcotics. China’s Yunnan province has duced cocaine. Ranches and communi- expanding its presence overseas, with become a major pipeline for heroin ties along the Rio Grande have com- plans to double the number of offices it produced and processed in neighboring plained of a virtual “reign of terror” by maintains abroad to 46. A new FBI post Myanmar. Postapartheid South Africa increasingly aggressive drug traffickers in Beijing, China, will focus on criminal is a key transit point for South Ameri- moving their products across the U.S.- groups tied to U.S.-based ethnic Chi- can cocaine on its way to Europe and Mexican border. nese, for instance, while one in Kiev, Southeast Asian heroin on its way to the FBI Director Louis J. Freeh points Ukraine, will scrutinize organized eastern U.S. to the rapid expansion of global tele- crime and nuclear smuggling. Also be- The former Soviet republics, par- communications and travel spawned ing expanded is the bureau’s training of ticularly in Central Asia, are also wide by technology and the end of the cold foreign law-enforcement officials; a open to drug traffickers, as are many war as key factors in the rise of inter- school in Budapest, Hungary, for ex- Central and East European states. In national crime. “Criminals have used ample, replicates for former East Euro- 1995, for instance, a Greek freighter these changes to their advantage, pean Communist-bloc officers the train- docking in Poland was discovered to be diffusing their operations around the ing provided at the FBI’s National carrying almost 480 pounds of cocaine. world to avoid law-enforcement scru- Academy at Quantico, Virginia. Closer to home, the Mexican gov- tiny,” Freeh told Congress last year. Since 1992, the CIA has doubled ernment has shown itself incapable of “The relentless globalization of crime spending on its Counter-Terrorism coping with the economic clout and threatens America both at home and Center, established in 1986, where offi- armed might of powerful “drug lords” abroad—and all other law-abiding cials from 10 federal intelligence agen- who supply the vast American market nations as well.” ■ cies collate data about and coordinate strategy toward terrorist groups. In a speech in September 1996, CIA Direc- tor John Deutch asserted that the center had developed a particularly rich under- Choosing weapons standing of the doings of Hezbullah, the radical Islamic group sponsored by Iran, and had assisted foreign govern- for a shadow war ments in seizing terrorists five times in NO SURPRISE, the recent flurry of money laundering, terminating U.S. the past two years. Nterrorist activity has prompted a trade with “front companies” funded counterbarrage of reactive measures. In with narcotics dollars, and beefing up Needed: timely intelligence his October 22, 1995, speech at the U.S. counterterror and countercriminal More than any other element, securing UN’s 50th anniversary assembly, Presi- assistance and training for foreign timely and accurate intelligence is the dent Bill Clinton addressed these issues countries. key to combating terrorism. “Of course, at length. The same day, he issued a di- Nationwide, the drawbridges are be- we strive to provide warning of all at- rective aimed at cracking down on ing raised. Antiterrorism funding for tacks before they occur, but this is an countries and banks that engage in federal agencies has been boosted by $1 enormously difficult task,” Deutch has

42 GREAT DECISIONS 1997 TOPIC TERRORISM 4 conceded. “This type of tactical ROB ROGERS REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. information depends upon access to dedicated terrorist groups who are well- financed, skillful and determined to commit atrocities. Such individuals have learned to keep their planning secret and confined to small cells.” In such situations, the vast and costly space and electronic surveillance networks developed by the U.S. intelligence community are not as handy as covert agents on the ground. Recurring controversies over the CIA’s use of politically and morally repellent individuals to collect intelligence have prompted the adoption of stricter guidelines designed to exclude flagrant human-rights abusers. Although failure to prevent the bombing in Dhahran appears to have followed more from bureaucratic inertia than an outright intelligence failure, the retired general who investigated that it in this way conflicts with the 19th- guidelines were loosened. But follow- tragedy suggested that new covert- century, Reconstruction-era Posse ing controversy over the FBI’s surveil- activity rules “hamper the efforts of Comitatus Act, which bars the military lance of the leftist U.S. Committee in national intelligence agencies.” from engaging in domestic law- Solidarity with the People of El Salva- Asserting that “the CIA has substan- enforcement activities. Former Defense dor, the bureau was reined in again. tially increased the number of new in- Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, for While the World Trade Center and telligence sources reporting to us about one, has asserted that Clinton’s pro- Murrah building bombings pointed to- terrorist groups,” Deutch, who imple- posal would “needlessly undercut civil ward once again giving the FBI a more mented the current guidelines, has liberties guaranteed by the Constitu- “proactive” investigative role, uproar strongly dissented from that assess- tion.” Similar complaints have been over heavy-handed federal action ment. “Those who say that these rules made about proposals to use active-duty against religious zealots in Waco and are incompatible with effective intelli- troops within U.S. borders in the “war survivalists at Ruby Ridge prompted gence gathering are just plain wrong,” on drugs.” “another crackdown on law enforce- he contended in September. “We all ment, creating a situation which made it know that we must deal with unsavory Civil disorder, civil liberties difficult for the government to do what characters in the intelligence business. Much of the debate over how best to was necessary to protect its citizens,” The question is, will we do it in a counter terrorism hinges on the tensions complained former FBI official Buck smart…way? The answer is yes, and inherent in preserving prized American Revell. our performance proves it can be done civil liberties while enhancing the The American Civil Liberties Union successfully.” government’s ability to root out often (ACLU) argued against allowing the Controversy has also been aroused obscure threats to the civil order. FBI more extensive wiretap authority. by the degree to which the U.S. military Congress’s rejection of President “Even the government’s own reports should be mobilized in the struggle Clinton’s proposal to expand federal concede that 80% of all the con- against terrorism. Military might is the emergency wiretap authority to track versations overheard during a wiretap most fearsome retaliatory stick the U.S. suspected terrorists offers a textbook are not related to any criminal activity,” has to wield when its interests are at- example of the issues that come into ACLU President Nadine Strossen tacked. In early 1993, for instance, the play. opined last fall. “In light of the FBI’s U.S. Navy launched cruise missiles at The heated wiretap debate actually sorry history of illegitimately tapping Iraqi intelligence facilities as punish- originated two decades ago in the scan- innocent people, any proposal to en- ment for an alleged Iraqi plot to assassi- dals and congressional investigations of large the agency’s discretion…should nate former President George Bush dur- federal infiltration and surveillance of be opposed.” ing his visit to Kuwait. radical domestic political groups. The Intelligence analyst Joseph Finder, More recently, President Clinton result has been to strap the FBI to some- by contrast, has maintained that wire- proposed that the military’s expertise be thing of a policy seesaw. In the mid- taps, which must be continually moni- drawn upon to assist civilian law-en- 1970s, the so-called Attorney General’s tored, are unlikely to be abused simply forcement agents with terrorist inci- Guidelines were drawn up, restricting because they are so expensive to oper- dents involving chemical or biological the bureau’s freedom to wiretap, infil- ate. “And the punishment for violating weapons. The military is really the sole trate and harass political groups. Early wiretap laws is so onerous,” he adds, repository of such expertise. But to use in the Reagan Administration, these “that the FBI would much sooner err on

GREAT DECISIONS 1997 43 TOPIC 4 TERRORISM “The imaginary sanctity of the nation-state tyrannizes our An Intelligence Officer Looks behavior, while terrorists, drug traffickers, resource pirates, Through a Glass Darkly and post-Soviet crime networks dance across continents and oceans,” Peters writes. “Criminal organizations, to stress only REIGHTED as it was with the potential threat of devastat- one of the growing and largely ignored threats to our national ing nuclear world war, the U.S.-Soviet standoff posed security, increasingly have more power than do failing states. Fno shortage of dire policy dilemmas. The shadow We refuse to face the consequences, insisting that all crime is struggle against transnational terrorists and crime cartels, too, a ‘law-enforcement problem.’ But the veil of illusion is dis- fills many decisionmakers with dark foreboding. In a stark integrating.” essay in the summer 1995 issue of Parameters, a quarterly Addressing these issues, Peters adds, will necessarily in- journal published by the U.S. Army War College, Major volve entanglement in “filthy missions that will never entirely Ralph Peters, a U.S. Army intelligence officer, paints a grim succeed and which will lend endless ammunition to those portrait of what these unconventional threats mean for those who loathe the institution [the U.S. military] that has given in his profession: worth to my life. I wish that it could be otherwise.”

the side of caution than risk slipping Clinton has also asserted that “we may broached by the Antiterrorism and Ef- up.” have to have some discipline in doing it fective Death Penalty Act signed into The civil libertiesÐcivil order conun- so we can go after people who want to law last year, which seeks to secure drum can be a tough circle to square. destroy our very way of life.” prompt capital punishment of convicted “To take away the liberty of the Ameri- Clinton last fall signed into law a terrorists by sharply limiting habeas can people while fighting terrorism,” measure that, once implemented, is sure corpus review of convictions and sen- the Republicans warned in the 1996 to arouse civil-liberties disputes. tences sought by state and federal pris- presidential platform, “is repugnant to Among a raft of legislation designed to oners on death row. (This measure ap- the history and character of our nation.” pump up airport security, a new bomb- plies to all condemned prisoners, not Deciding where to draw the line will detection procedure will require airlines just those convicted of terrorism.) That always be a matter of individual judg- to run computer checks on passengers law also enlarges the government’s au- ment. While reassuring the public that to access government-created “profiles” thority to deport suspected terrorists traditional freedoms of speech and as- that will help determine whether their without disclosing the evidence against sociation must be retained, President luggage should be singled out for par- them. ticular scrutiny. These measures affecting convicted In 1990, Congress ordered the criminals and suspected alien terrorists installation of sophisticated bomb- have yet to excite much public outcry. detection gear at airports nationwide. It is thus unclear precisely how far the But, besides being extremely expen- American people are willing to go in sive, the technology has proven too ceding civil liberties in the fight against slow and cumbersome to be trained on terror. “Our society is unique in that

REUTERS/GREG BOS/ARCHIVE PHOTOS each piece of the torrent of luggage we’re a democracy,” Frank Cilluffo, a passing through U.S. airports. Thus, terrorism expert with the Washington- the need for targeted examinations. based Center for Strategic and Interna- But, civil libertarians wonder, do tional Studies, remarks. “It’s important Americans really want to give the air- to strike an appropriate balance be- lines access to any kind of sensitive tween freedoms and civil liberties and computer files, perhaps eventually emerging national-security require- even those containing criminal ments and concerns.” records? Controversy has also been generated Even the airlines’ new insistence by proposals to tag high-power and that passengers present a driver’s li- smokeless explosive substances with cense or other identification before chemicals that would help track down boarding a plane has sparked privacy bomb culprits. This technology has concerns. This requirement “serves been available for almost two decades. only to lead the public to believe that Driven by the National Rifle Associa- somehow we are more secure on an air- tion’s worries that the chemicals might plane if our ‘papers are in order’ before affect the performance and stability of boarding,” Robert Ellis Smith, pub- the gun powder, Congress ordered the lisher of Privacy Journal, has written. termination of the program in 1980. The AFTER THE SECOND terrorist attack on U.S. “Probably the only effective conse- question about the use of chemical tags military personnel in Saudi Arabia in less quence of such requirements is to get us has climbed back on the policy agenda, than a year, the U.S. beefed up security in used to the idea of presenting identifica- but practical and Second Amendment Dhahran and moved personnel to a more- isolated part of the country. A U.S. Army tion in all aspects of our lives.” considerations continue to generate sniffer dog checks a fuel truck for bombs. Constitutional questions are also resistance.

44 GREAT DECISIONS 1997 TOPIC TERRORISM 4

RICK REINHARD, IMPACT VISUALS Similarly, proposals have been ten- come to pass yet. “Try to put it in pro- dered to dilute the nitrogen-based fertil- portion,” Nahum Admani, a former Is- izers used in the homemade bombs that raeli secret-service chief, remarked in a devastated the World Trade Center and recent interview. “As painful as these the Murrah federal building. But that events have been, America has not suf- measure could be circumvented by sim- fered terribly from terrorism, partly be- ply increasing the amount of fertilizer cause you took, in time, good mea- loaded into the truck bomb. “There is no sures…. The U.S. has put a lot of intel- absolute solution to the problem,” cau- ligence efforts into preventing attacks. tions a research physicist with the U.S. And you have had success. This is ex- Bureau of Mines. “We can only strike a tremely important. And don’t forget the balance between making life more dif- U.S. has the power to retaliate in many ficult for ourselves and making life ways. Therefore, you are not an easy more difficult for a terrorist.” target.” Similar cost-benefit questions also arise in relation to counterterrorist mea- U.S. policy options sures such as heightened airport secu- The Administration and the Congress rity. Robert W. Hahn, an economist have enacted numerous recent mea- with the American Enterprise Institute, sures to cope with the perils of interna- a Washington-based think tank, for in- tional crime and terrorism. But there stance, pegs the time-cost of a half-hour remain a number of controversial areas SECRETARY OF STATE Warren delay in processing the 500 million pas- that are sure to be debated heatedly in Christopher’s department is required by act sengers who annually embark on flights future years, especially if a new round of Congress to prepare an annual list of within or from the U.S. at some $5 bil- of terrorist atrocities occur. Following countries that sponsor terrorism. The list lion a year. With an annual average of are three issues likely to be subjects of includes Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. 23 Americans having been killed in air- discussion. line sabotage since 1982, that figure ❏ 1. The U.S. should concentrate Con: It would be a fatal mistake to suggests that the national economy is more on punishing and changing the overreact to the dangers posed by ter- being taxed roughly $200 million per behavior of countries such as Iran rorism by shredding the Constitution life saved per year by increased security and Sudan, which harbor and sup- and established legal procedures. This measures. port terrorist elements. sort of response is precisely the goal of “Terrorism is likely to be with us for Pro: Ample evidence exists to sup- many terrorist groups. The best way to the foreseeable future,” Hahn cautions. port the notion that terrorism-sponsor- avoid playing into their hands is to stand “Moreover, in a more open world, it ing states offer a vital network of sup- fast on American principles. becomes more difficult to contain. We port to some of the most actively violent ❏ 3. Airports and public buildings should zealously attempt to contain it, political groups—particularly in the must be safeguarded against terrorist but we should be wary of giving up our Middle East. This is warfare under the attacks, even at the cost of inconve- freedom or our time before having a cloak of concealment, and should be niencing the public. reasonable idea of what we will get in dealt with as such. Pro: Terrorism should be considered return for these sacrifices.” Con: Although state-sponsored ter- a preventable source of casualty. The It seems safe to say that the majority rorism remains a factor, it is changing citizens of Israel, France and other na- of Americans would tend to favor and growing more scattered and diffuse. tions with high rates of terrorism have eschewing sacrifice in favor of It is illusory to believe that action all grown accustomed to cumbersome convenience—and their civil liberties. against Iran or Sudan will solve the security measures. Besides loss of life, As The New York Times has observed, problem. Moreover, the U.S. seems to major bomb detonations exact enor- when 42,000 Americans died in 1993 face an increasing challenge posed by mous losses in property damage and from automobile accidents, and 31,000 homegrown terrorist “militia” groups. disruptions of vital economic activities. killed themselves, the loss of life from ❏ 2. Terrorism represents so dire a These losses and disruptions should be terrorist incidents thus far pales by danger to American life and property prevented, if at all possible. comparison. that much more aggressive measures Con: Because of the shadowy and Given a succession of new outrages, than those currently employed secretive nature of terrorism, it is sim- of course, all such bets would be off. If should be justified for combating it. ply impossible to prevent outrages from Americans are made to feel truly under Pro: Terrorism is simply war under occurring 100% of the time. Rational siege—and such is precisely the goal of another name. It is perverse to allow cost-benefit analyses must be employed the prototypical terrorist act—there may global gangsters and international ter- to determine which measures are worth be few limits to convenience and free- rorists to shield their activities behind taking to ensure against so uncertain a doms currently enjoyed that the public the very American civil liberties that danger. Americans must not become might not be willing to dispense with in they seek to destroy. When appropriate, prisoners of their fear. ■ exchange for a measure of security. wiretaps, covert assassination, sum- But, as ugly and distressing as the mary deportation and so on are all valid Opinion Ballot ➠ recent atrocities have been, that has not weapons in this shadow war. on page 87

GREAT DECISIONS 1997 45 TOPIC 4 TERRORISM stances or systems of belief under proof that another country has spon- DISCUSSION which the use of terrorism might be jus- sored a terrorist attack against Ameri- tified? cans or American interests, is the U.S. QUESTIONS justified in mounting a retaliatory strike, 4. If so, do you think terrorism would as it did against Libya in 1986? Should be a successful method and tactic of retaliation be proportionate to the 1. The U.S. has always had a compara- achieving your goals? offense? tively high rate of criminal violence. Do you feel personally more threatened by 5. Do you agree with the cost-benefit 8. How much inconvenience are you the possibility of random violence in the argument over the CIA’s hiring of unde- willing to accept to increase your secu- street or by getting hurt in a terrorist niably “unsavory characters,” if those rity against the possibility of terrorist bombing? characters provide information that aids attack? Would you be willing to wait the fight against terrorism? many hours at the airport because of 2. Is the threat of domestic, “militia”- extra security procedures? directed violence exaggerated? Which 6. Economic sanctions and diplomatic do you think presents the greater threat isolation have been a time-honored 9. How many civil liberties are you to American life and property—interna- means of punishing states accused of willing to concede in the war against tional or homegrown terrorism? sponsoring terrorism. What is your im- terrorism? Are you comfortable, for in- pression of how successful such mea- stance, with the idea of airlines access- 3. How does terrorism differ from war- sures have been? ing government-compiled computer fare as a means of achieving political data about your spending and travel objectives? Can you imagine circum- 7. If Washington has incontrovertible habits every time you book a flight?

CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, 1800 K READINGS AND St., NW, Washington, DC 20006; (202) 887-0200; Fax (202) 775-3199. ■ Studies international terrorism and has mounted RESOURCES a “program on global organized crime” cochaired by former FBI and CIA director William Webster.

Cilluffo, Frank J., and Raine, Linnea P., eds., Global Orga- CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA), Public Affairs Office, nized Crime: The New Empire of Evil. Washington, DC, CIA, Washington, DC 20505; (703) 482-0623. ■ Source for Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1994. 185 pp. such agency assessments as director John Deutch’s March $24.95. This CSIS report provides essential background on 1996 Senate testimony on the threat of nuclear-weapons di- the nature and scope of global organized crime. version and his September 1996 Georgetown University speech on fighting foreign terrorism. “Fighting Terrorism: Challenges for Peacemakers.” U.S. Department of State Dispatch, January 3, 1996, pp. 277Ð MERSHON CENTER, Ohio State University, 1501 Neil Ave., 79. The text of an address given by Secretary of State Warren Columbus, OH 43201-2602; (614) 292-1681; Fax (614) 292- Christopher that focuses on the special ramifications of ter- 2407. ■ A multidisciplinary resource for the study of war and rorism in the Middle East. peace. Offers curricular materials, conferences and seminars on a variety of related topics. Leitzel, Jim, et al., “Mafiosi and Matrioshki: Organized Crime: The New Empire of Evil. The Brookings Review, NATIONAL STRATEGY INFORMATION CENTER, 1730 Rhode Is- Winter 1995, pp. 26Ð29. Charts the origins and rise of orga- land Ave., NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, (202) nized crime in post-Soviet Russia, which is described, inter- 429-0129; Fax (202)659-5429. ■ A nonprofit, nonpartisan estingly, as “a necessary evil” under current political and eco- and nongovernmental source for information about both ter- nomic conditions. Back editions are available for $4.50. Call rorism and international organized crime. Produces the quar- (800) 275-1447. terly Trends in Organized Crime, various monographs and books. Patterns of Global Terrorism. Washington, DC, U.S. De- partment of State, April 1996. Free. A comprehensive federal NUCLEAR CONTROL INSTITUTE (NCI), 1000 Connecticut Ave., report published every spring detailing terrorist incidents NW, Suite 804, Washington, DC 20036; (202) 822-8444; Fax worldwide. To obtain a copy, contact the Public Affairs Of- (202) 452-0892. ■ An independent nonpartisan, nonprofit re- fice (202) 647-4000; Fax (202) 647-5939. search and advocacy center specializing in the problems of nuclear proliferation. Monitors domestic and foreign nuclear Terrorism in the United States. Washington, DC, Federal activities, pursuing strategies to halt the spread and reverse Bureau of Investigation, 1996. Free. An annual report pre- the growth of nuclear arms. Publications include books on pared by the FBI’s Terrorist Research and Analytical Center. nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Most current edition provides trends assessment for 1994 and a projection of current threats. To obtain a copy, contact the Visit the Foreign Policy Association’s web site at Public Affairs Office (202) 324-3691; Fax (202) 324-6490. http://www.fpa.org

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