Understanding How Security Works Against Terrorism
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Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare Susan W
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 97 Article 2 Issue 2 Winter Winter 2007 At Light Speed: Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare Susan W. Brenner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Susan W. Brenner, At Light Speed: Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare, 97 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 379 (2006-2007) This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/07/9702-0379 THE JOURNALOF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 97. No. 2 Copyright 0 2007 by NorthwesternUniversity. Schoolof Low Printedin U.S.A. "AT LIGHT SPEED": ATTRIBUTION AND RESPONSE TO CYBERCRIME/TERRORISM/WARFARE SUSAN W. BRENNER* This Article explains why and how computer technology complicates the related processes of identifying internal (crime and terrorism) and external (war) threats to social order of respondingto those threats. First, it divides the process-attribution-intotwo categories: what-attribution (what kind of attack is this?) and who-attribution (who is responsiblefor this attack?). Then, it analyzes, in detail, how and why our adversaries' use of computer technology blurs the distinctions between what is now cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwarfare. The Article goes on to analyze how and why computer technology and the blurring of these distinctions erode our ability to mount an effective response to threats of either type. -
In Defense of Cyberterrorism: an Argument for Anticipating Cyber-Attacks
IN DEFENSE OF CYBERTERRORISM: AN ARGUMENT FOR ANTICIPATING CYBER-ATTACKS Susan W. Brenner Marc D. Goodman The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States brought the notion of terrorism as a clear and present danger into the consciousness of the American people. In order to predict what might follow these shocking attacks, it is necessary to examine the ideologies and motives of their perpetrators, and the methodologies that terrorists utilize. The focus of this article is on how Al-Qa'ida and other Islamic fundamentalist groups can use cyberspace and technology to continue to wage war againstthe United States, its allies and its foreign interests. Contending that cyberspace will become an increasingly essential terrorist tool, the author examines four key issues surrounding cyberterrorism. The first is a survey of conventional methods of "physical" terrorism, and their inherent shortcomings. Next, a discussion of cyberspace reveals its potential advantages as a secure, borderless, anonymous, and structured delivery method for terrorism. Third, the author offers several cyberterrorism scenarios. Relating several examples of both actual and potential syntactic and semantic attacks, instigated individually or in combination, the author conveys their damagingpolitical and economic impact. Finally, the author addresses the inevitable inquiry into why cyberspace has not been used to its full potential by would-be terrorists. Separately considering foreign and domestic terrorists, it becomes evident that the aims of terrorists must shift from the gross infliction of panic, death and destruction to the crippling of key information systems before cyberattacks will take precedence over physical attacks. However, given that terrorist groups such as Al Qa'ida are highly intelligent, well-funded, and globally coordinated, the possibility of attacks via cyberspace should make America increasingly vigilant. -
How Sophisticated Are Terrorist Attacks on Passenger Rail Transportation
How Sophisticated are Terrorist Attacks on Passenger Rail Project SP 0520 Transportation June 2020 Brian Michael Jenkins and Bruce R. Butterworth Executive Summary Summary of Key Findings Terrorist attacks on passenger rail transportation are statistically rare events in the developed world— only about seven attacks per year are carried out against all of the economically advanced countries combined. However, uncovered plots and attempts indicate continuing terrorist interest in attacking transportation targets. The vast majority of terrorist attacks on passenger rail transportation are aimed at disrupting travel or causing casualties. Most of the attacks (87%) and 100% of the casualties result from attacks on passengers aboard trains and in stations, i.e., where the people are. We have defined sophistication by identifying four criteria, of which at least one must be met: The attack must (1) involve the recruitment of inside assistance, the use of insider knowledge, or the acquisition of specialized skills through training; (2) require the penetration of manned or closely monitored security systems; (3) involve the use of sophisticated weapons, devices, or means (for an IED to be considered sophisticated, it must do more than simply explode—it must have a timing or remote detonating system that guarantees detonation at a remote time or in a specific location, or it must be miniaturized or disguised so as to evade detection); and (4) must be complex—it must involve multiple actors with individual roles or coordinated simultaneous or near-simultaneous attacks at different locations. Using those criteria, we find few of the terrorist attacks on public surface transport are sophisticated. -
Lessons from Colombia for Curtailing the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria
Lessons From Colombia For Curtailing The Boko Haram Insurgency In Nigeria BY AFEIKHENA JEROME igeria is a highly complex and ethnically diverse country, with over 400 ethnic groups. This diversity is played out in the way the country is bifurcated along the lines of reli- Ngion, language, culture, ethnicity and regional identity. The population of about 178.5 million people in 2014 is made up of Christians and Muslims in equal measures of about 50 percent each, but including many who embrace traditional religions as well. The country has continued to experience serious and violent ethno-communal conflicts since independence in 1960, including the bloody and deadly thirty month fratricidal Civil War (also known as the Nigerian-Biafran war, 1967-70) when the eastern region of Biafra declared its seces- sion and which claimed more than one million lives. The most prominent of these conflicts recently pitch Muslims against Christians in a dangerous convergence of religion, ethnicity and politics. The first and most dramatic eruption in a series of recent religious disturbances was the Maitatsine uprising in Kano in December 1980, in which about 4,177 died. While the exact number of conflicts in Nigeria is unknown, because of a lack of reliable sta- tistical data, it is estimated that about 40 percent of all conflicts have taken place since the coun- try’s return to civilian rule in 1999.1 The increasing wave of violent conflicts across Nigeria under the current democratic regime is no doubt partly a direct consequence of the activities of ethno- communal groups seeking self-determination in their “homelands,” and of their surrogate ethnic militias that have assumed prominence since the last quarter of 2000. -
Kamikazes! When Japanese Planes Attacked the U.S. Submarine Devilfish
KAMIKAZES! When Japanese Planes Attacked the U.S. Submarine Devilfish by NATHANIEL PATCH he image of desperate Japanese pilots purposely flying their Tplanes into American warships in the closing months of World War II figures prominently in American popular culture. When most people hear the term kamikaze, they think Fortunately, the Devilfish was close to the surface when of swarms of planes flying through a torrent of antiaircraft the explosion occurred, and the submarine took only mi fire and plowing into the decks of aircraft carriers, battle nor damage that the crew could control. ships, cruisers, and destroyers, taking the lives of sailors and The officers and crew in the control room took quick ac damaging or sinking the ships in this desperate act. tion to prevent the submarine from sinking and to mitigate Out of the hundreds of these attacks, one was quite un the damage done by the incoming saltwater. They leveled usual: the only kamikaze attack on an American subma off the submarine at 80 feet, and the drain pumps were rine, the USS Devilfish (SS 292). barely keeping up with the incoming water. The bilges of Why was this submarine attacked, and why was there the conning tower filled rapidly, and water began pouring only one attacker? The story of the attack on the Devilfish into the control room. A constant spray of saltwater from seems to be a fragment of a larger story, separated by time the conning tower splashed onto the electrical panels and and distance, occurring on March 20, 1945. If kamikazes consoles in the control room. -
Foreign Military Interventions and Suicide Attacks
Article Journal of Conflict Resolution 2017, Vol. 61(2) 271-297 ª The Author(s) 2015 Foreign Military Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022002715576575 Interventions journals.sagepub.com/home/jcr and Suicide Attacks Seung-Whan Choi1, and James A. Piazza2 Abstract This study examines the effect of foreign military interventions on the incidence of suicide attacks. It presents three theoretical explanations. Foreign military inter- ventions may boost insurgent use of suicide attacks by (a) fomenting a nationalist backlash that sanctions the use of more extreme and unconventional tactics like suicide attacks, (b) providing more and better targets against which suicide attacks can be launched, or (c) prompting insurgents to use suicide tactics in order to overcome their power asymmetries and to confront better defended targets that are enhanced by interventions. We test these competing explanations using a bat- tery of statistical tests on cross-national, time-series data for 138 countries during the period from 1981 to 2005. We find that only foreign interventions with specific features—pro-government interventions involving larger numbers of ground troops—boost suicide attacks in countries experiencing interventions. This finding suggests that by tipping the balance of power against insurgents and hardening targets in the context of assisting a local government, foreign military interventions are likely to increase the use of suicide attacks by regime challengers. Keywords terrorism, suicide bombings, military intervention, international security 1Department of Political Science (MC 276), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 2Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA Corresponding Author: James A. -
Hard Targets: Theory and Evidence on Suicide Attacks*
Hard Targets: Theory and Evidence on Suicide Attacks* Eli Berman – Department of Economics, UCSD; NBER David D. Laitin – Department of Political Science, Stanford University For inclusion in Eva Meyersson Milgrom, ed. Suicide Bombing from an Interdisciplinary Perspective (to be submitted to Princeton University Press) *We thank Barak Bouks for research assistance. This version benefited from discussions with Larry Iannaccone, Gershon Shafir and Mahmoud Al-Gamal. James Fearon, Peter Katzenstein, Alan Krueger, Howard Rosenthal, and participants in a Stanford conference commented on earlier versions, compelling revisions. Berman acknowledges support of National Science Foundation grant 0214701 through the NBER. Mistakes are our own. Berman and Laitin, “Rational Martyrs” p. 2 Abstract: Why suicide attacks? Though rebels often kill coreligionists, they seldom use suicide attacks to do so. Though rebels typically target poor countries, suicide attacks are just as likely to target rich democracies. Though many groups have grievances, suicide attacks are favored by the radical religious. We model the choice of tactics by rebels. We first ask what a suicide attacker would have to believe to be deemed rational. We then embed the attacker and other operatives in a club good model which emphasizes the function of voluntary religious organizations as providers of local public goods. The sacrifices which these groups demand solve a free-rider problem in the cooperative production of public goods, as in Iannaccone (1992). These sacrifices make clubs well suited for organizing suicide attacks where defection by operatives (including the attacker) endanger the entire organization. Thus radical religious groups can be effective dispatchers of suicide bombers if they chose to do so. -
Applying Traditional Jurisdictional Frameworks to a Modern Threat
PROSECUTING CYBERTERRORISTS: APPLYING TRADITIONAL JURISDICTIONAL FRAMEWORKS TO A MODERN THREAT Paul N. Stockton* & Michele Golabek-Goldman** The United States faces a growing risk of cyberterrorism against its finan- cial system, electric power grid, and other critical infrastructure sectors. Senior U.S. policymakers note that building U.S. capacity to prosecute cyberterrorists could play a key role in deterring and disrupting such attacks. To facilitate pros- ecution, the federal government is bolstering its technical expertise to attribute attacks to those who perpetrate them, even when, as is increasingly the case, the perpetrators exploit computers in dozens of nations to strike U.S. infrastructure. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to another prerequisite for prosecuting cyberterrorists: that of building a legal framework that can bring those who attack from abroad to justice. The best approach to prosecuting cyberterrorists striking from abroad is to add extraterritorial application to current domestic criminal laws bearing on cyberattack. Yet, scholars have barely begun to explore how the United States can best justify such extraterritorial extension under international law and assert a legitimate claim of prescriptive jurisdiction when a terrorist hijacks thousands of computers across the globe. Still less attention has been paid to the question of how to resolve the conflicting claims of national jurisdiction that such attacks would likely engender. This Article argues that the protective principle—which predicates prescrip- tive jurisdiction on whether a nation suffered a fundamental security threat— should govern cyberterrorist prosecutions. To support this argument, the Article examines the full range of principles on which States could claim prescriptive ju- risdiction and assesses their strengths and weaknesses for extending extraterrito- rial application of U.S. -
Force Protection and Suicide Bombers: the Necessity for Two Types of Canadian Military Red Teams
E 21ST CENTURY H N T I WARFARE Reuters photo RTR23HIF by Ahmad Masood by RTR23HIF photo Reuters People run from a suicide car bomb blast outside the German embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, 17 January 2009. FORCE PROTECTION AND SUICIDE BOMBERS: THE NECESSITY FOR TWO TYPES OF CANADIAN MILItary RED TEAMS by Robert J. Bunker Introduction and Background show how to determine and prioritize the types of likely sui- cide bomber threat scenarios a deployed force will face, and his article will discuss why the use of two types c) show how to conduct the physical red teaming of these of red teams - analytical and physical - to iden- identified higher priority suicide bomber threat scenarios. It tify and then simulate ‘suicide bomber threat will conclude with some general observations concerning the scenarios’ is necessary for the force protection value both forms of red teaming provide for the force protec- training of deploying Canadian military units. tion requirements of deploying Canadian military units TRed teaming as a discipline can be divided into two basic against the threat of suicide bombings. forms: (1) analytical red teaming, which is diegetic in nature; that is, based upon descriptive products and decision support A brief overview of the threat suicide bombings repre- functions and (2) physical red teaming, which is mimetic in sent to military forces and the globalization of this terrorist nature; that is, derived from live-action and role playing-based and insurgent technique needs to be provided for context. training with an opposing force (OPFOR) deployed against a Contemporary suicide bombings have been taking place since friendly military unit.1 These forms of red teaming are inti- the early-1980s, and have been directed at both military and mately linked, create synergies when utilized together, and should be fully harnessed for Canadian military force protec- Dr. -
Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan: Why Now?
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Political Science Department -- Theses, Dissertations, and Student Scholarship Political Science, Department of Spring 5-2013 SUICIDE ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN: WHY NOW? Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/poliscitheses Part of the Comparative Politics Commons, and the International Relations Commons Mujaddidi, Ghulam Farooq, "SUICIDE ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN: WHY NOW?" (2013). Political Science Department -- Theses, Dissertations, and Student Scholarship. 25. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/poliscitheses/25 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Department -- Theses, Dissertations, and Student Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SUICIDE ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN: WHY NOW? by Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: Political Science Under the Supervision of Professor Patrice C. McMahon Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2013 SUICIDE ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN: WHY NOW? Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi, M.A. University of Nebraska, 2013 Adviser: Patrice C. McMahon Why, contrary to their predecessors, did the Taliban resort to use of suicide attacks in the 2000s in Afghanistan? By drawing from terrorist innovation literature and Michael Horowitz’s adoption capacity theory—a theory of diffusion of military innovation—the author argues that suicide attacks in Afghanistan is better understood as an innovation or emulation of a new technique to retaliate in asymmetric warfare when insurgents face arms embargo, military pressure, and have direct links to external terrorist groups. -
Martyrdom, Suicide, and the Islamic Law of War: a Short Legal History
\\server05\productn\F\FIN\27-1\FIN102.txt unknown Seq: 1 31-DEC-03 14:19 MARTYRDOM, SUICIDE, AND THE ISLAMIC LAW OF WAR: A SHORT LEGAL HISTORY Bernard K. Freamon* INTRODUCTION Religion is the mother of war. Conflicts involving religion are among the most intractable of human disputes. Yet, until recently, wars motivated or influenced by religious ideologies have been confined to small well-defined theaters. Europe’s Thirty Years War, which ended in 1648, appears to be the only exception in the modern history of warfare.1 Indeed, in the last three millennia the world has seen much war but it has not seen a full-scale religious war of global proportions since the end of the Crusades. There is reason to believe that this state of affairs is about to change. The horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, as well as the Western military incursion in Afghanistan, the invasion and conquest of Iraq, and continuing Islamist guerilla attacks and terrorist violence against military and civilian targets in a variety of countries with signifi- cant Muslim populations makes one wonder whether the West2 * Professor of Law and Director, Program for the Study of Law in the Middle East, Seton Hall Law School. Professor Freamon is a Doctor in the Science of Law (JSD) candidate at Columbia Law School. Research support provided by the Seton Hall Law School Faculty Development Fund is gratefully acknowledged. Special gratitude is owed to George P. Fletcher for his vision in suggesting the pursuit of this topic and for his insightful comments on earlier drafts. -
The War in Iraq and International Humanitarian Law Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Last Updated April 7, 2003
The War in Iraq and International Humanitarian Law Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Last Updated April 7, 2003 The war in Iraq has raised a number of important issues of international humanitarian law (IHL), also known as the laws of war. IHL consists of the rules during armed conflict that seek to protect civilians and captured or incapacitated combatants, and restrict the methods and means of warfare. The following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) address some of the legal issues brought to public attention by official government statements and media reports. The FAQ do not attempt to assess the validity of any factual assertions made; instead they provide a legal analysis on the basis of assumed facts. This set of FAQ is not exhaustive and will be added to as necessary. The responses below are based on IHL as derived from international treaties and customary international law (practices broadly accepted as legally binding). The main sources of treaty law are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (to which all warring states are party) and the Hague Convention of 1907 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land. Customary IHL is drawn from state practice, decisions of international tribunals, scholarly works, and international treaties to which the United States and Iraq are not party (particularly Protocols I and II of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions), many provisions of which are accepted as reflecting customary international law. At its core, international humanitarian law seeks to limit the harm to people and property during wartime. Human Rights Watch urges all parties to the conflict in Iraq to abide scrupulously by its obligations under IHL.