Anti-terrorism versus Counter-Terrorism

Operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, preempt, and respond to terrorism.

Defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of individuals and property to terrorist acts, to include limited response and containment by local military and civilian forces. Sri Lankan Civil War, and Colombian Civil War. are examples of conflicts where terrorism is present, along with other tactics, so that a participant uses counter- and anti-terrorism to limit the opponent's use of terror tactics.

Planning for Detecting and Neutralizing Potential Terrorist Acts

Building a counterterrorism plan involves all segments of a society or many government agencies. In dealing with foreign terrorists, the lead responsibility is usually at the national level. Because propaganda and indoctrination lie at the core of terrorism, understanding their profile and functions increases the ability to counter terrorism more effectively. See the series of articles beginning with intelligence cycle management, and, in particular, intelligence analysis. HUMINT presents techniques of describing the social networks that make up terrorist groups. Also relevant are the motivations of the individual terrorist and the structure of cell systems used by recent non-national terrorist groups.
   Most counter-terrorism strategies involve an increase in standard police and domestic intelligence. The central activities are traditional: interception of communications, and the tracing of persons. New technology has, however, expanded the range of military and law enforcement operations. Domestic intelligence is often directed at specific groups, defined on the basis of origin or religion, which is a source of political controversy. Mass surveillance of an entire population raises objections on civil liberties grounds.
   To select the effective action when terrorism appears to be more of an isolated event, the appropriate government organizations need to understand the source, motivation, methods of preparation, and tactics of terrorist groups. Good intelligence is at the heart of such preparation, as well as political and social understanding of any grievances that might be solved. Ideally, one gets information from inside the group, a very difficult challenge for HUMINT because operational terrorist cells are often small, with all members known to one another, perhaps even related. Counterintelligence is a great challenge with the security of cell-based systems, since the ideal, but nearly impossible, goal is to obtain a clandestine source within the cell. Financial tracking can play a role, as can communications intercept, but both of these approaches need to be balanced against legitimate expectations of privacy.

Legal contexts

In response to the growing threat of international terrorism many countries have introduced anti-terrorism legislation.

• United Kingdom
  • The United Kingdom has had anti-terrorism legislation in place for more than thirty years. The Prevention of Violence Act 1939 was brought in response to an Irish Republican Army (IRA) campaign of violence under the S-Plan. This act had been allowed to expire in 1953 and was repealed in 1973 to be replaced by the Prevention of Terrorism Act a response to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. From 1974 to 1989 the temporary provisions of the act annually.
  • In 2000, the Acts were replaced with the more permanent Terrorism Act 2000, which contained many of their powers, and then the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.
  • During The Troubles, authorities in Northern Ireland were accused of employing a shoot-to-kill policy
  • The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was formally introduced into the Parliament November 19 2001 two months after the September 11, 2001 attacks in America. It received royal assent and went into force on December 13 2001. On December 16 2004 the Law Lords ruled that Part 4 was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, but under the terms of the Human Rights Act 1998 it remained in force. The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was drafted to answer the Law Lords ruling and the Terrorism Act 2006 creates new offences related to terrorism, and amends existing ones. The Act was drafted in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and like its predecessors some of its terms have proven to be highly controversial.
  • Great Britain dealt with internal threats from terrorism through a secret law enforcement training program known as Operation Kratos.

United States

• U.S. legal issues surrounding this issue include rulings on the domestic employment of Deadly force by law enforcement organizations.
• Search and seizure is governed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• The US passed the USA PATRIOT Act after the 9/11 attacks, as well as a range of other legislation and executive orders.
• The Department of Homeland Security was established to consolidate domestic security agencies to coordinate anti-terrorism, as well as national response to major natural disasters and accidents.
• The Posse Comitatus Act limits domestic employment of the United States Army, requiring Presidential approval prior to deploying the Army. Pentagon policy also applies this limitation to the United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and United States Air Force. The Department of Defense can be employed domestically on Presidential order, as was done during the Los Angeles riots of 1992, Hurricane Katrina and the Beltway Sniper incidents.
• External or international use of lethal force would require a Presidential finding.

Australia

• Australia has passed several anti-terrorism acts in 2004 three acts Anti-terrorism Act, 2004, (No 2) and (No 3) were passed. The Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, introduced the Anti-terrorism bill, 2004 on March 31. He described it as "a bill to strengthen Australia's counter-terrorism laws in a number of respects - a task made more urgent following the recent tragic terrorist bombings in Spain." He said that Australia's counter-terrorism laws "require review and, where necessary, updating if we're to have a legal framework capable of safeguarding all Australians from the scourge of terrorism." The Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 supplemented the powers of the earlier acts. 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. *The Australian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 included a "shoot-to-kill" clause. In a country, with entrenched liberal democratic traditions, the measures have been controversial and have been criticised by civil libertarians and Islamic groups.

Israel

• On December 14 2006 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that targeted killing is a legitimate form of self-defense against terrorists, and outlined several conditions for its use.

Terrorism and human rights

One of the primary difficulties of implementing effective counter-terrorist measures is the waning of civil liberties and individual privacy that such measures often entail, both for citizens of, and for those detained by states attempting to combat terror. At times, measures designed to tighten security have been seen as abuses of power or even violations of human rights.
   Examples of these problems can include prolonged, incommunicado detention without judicial review; risk of subjecting to torture during the transfer, return and extradition of people between or within countries; and the adoption of security measures that restrain the rights or freedoms of citizens and breach principles of non-discrimination. Examples include:

In November 2003, Malaysia passed new counter-terrorism laws that were widely criticized by local human rights groups for being vague and overbroad. Critics claim that the laws put the basic rights of free expression, association, and assembly at risk. Malaysia persisted in holding around 100 alleged militants without trial, including five Malaysian students detained for alleged terrorist activity while studying in Karachi, Pakistan.

In November 2003, a Canadian-Syrian national, Maher Arar, alleged publicly that he'd been tortured in a Syrian prison after being handed over to the Syrian authorities by U.S.

In December 2003, Colombia's congress approved legislation that would give the military the power to arrest, tap telephones and carry out searches without warrants or any previous judicial order.

Images of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in US custody in Iraq and other locations have jeopardized the legitimacy of the US war on terrorism and brought on international scrutiny.

Hundreds of foreign nationals remain in prolonged indefinite detention without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay, despite international and US constitutional standards outlawing such practices.

Hundreds of people suspected of connections with the Taliban or al Qa'eda remain in long-term arbitrary detention in Pakistan or in US-controlled centres in Afghanistan.

China has used the "war on terror" to justify its repression policies in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to stifle Uighur identity.

In Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and other countries, scores of people have been arrested and arbitrarily detained in connection with suspected terrorist acts or links to opposition armed groups.

Until 2005, 11 men remained in high security detention in the UK under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Many would argue that such violations exacerbate rather than counter the terrorist threat. Human rights advocates argue for the crucial role of human rights protection as an intrinsic part to fight against terrorism. This suggests, as proponents of human security have long argued, that respecting human rights may indeed help us to incur security. Amnesty International included a section on confronting terrorism in the recommendations in the Madrid Agenda arising from the Madrid Summit on Democracy and Terrorism (Madrid 8-11 March 2005): » "Democratic principles and values are essential tools in the fight against terrorism. Any successful strategy for dealing with terrorism requires terrorists to be isolated. Consequently, the preference must be to treat terrorism as criminal acts to be handled through existing systems of law enforcement and with full respect for human rights and the rule of law. We recommend: (1) taking effective measures to make impunity impossible either for acts of terrorism or for the abuse of human rights in counter-terrorism measures. (2) the incorporation of human rights laws in all anti-terrorism programmes and policies of national governments as well as international bodies.".

While international efforts to combat terrorism have focused on the need to enhance cooperation between states, proponents of human rights (as well as human security) have suggested that more effort needs to be given to the effective inclusion of human rights protection as a crucial element in that cooperation. They argue that international human rights obligations don't stop at borders and a failure to respect human rights in one state may undermine its effectiveness in the international effort to cooperate to combat terrorism.

Preemptive neutralization

Some countries see pre-emptive attacks as a legitimate strategy. This includes capturing, killing, or disabling suspected terrorists before they can mount an attack. Israel, the United States, and Russia have taken this approach, while Western European states generally do not.
   Another major method of pre-emptive neutralization is interrogation of known or suspected terrorists to obtain information about specific plots, targets, the identity of other terrorists, and whether the interrogation subjects himself as guilty of terrorist involvement. Sometimes more extreme methods are used to increase suggestibility, such as sleep deprivation or drugs. Such methods may lead captives to offer false information in an attempt to stop the treatment, or due to the confusion brought on by it. These methods are not available to European powers because in 1978 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Ireland v. United Kingdom case that such methods amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment, and that such practices were in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 3 (art. 3).

Non-military Preventive Actions

The human security paradigm outlines a non-military approach which aims to address the enduring underlying inequalities which fuel terrorist activity. Causal factors need to be delineated and measures implemented which allow equal access to resources and sustainability for all peoples. Such activities empower citizens providing 'freedom from fear' and 'freedom from want'. This can take many forms including the provision of clean drinking water, education, vaccination programs, provision of food and shelter and protection from violence, military or otherwise. Successful human security campaigns have been characterised by the participation of a diverse group of actors including governments, NGOs, and citizens. Foreign internal defense programs provide outside expert assistance to a threatened government. FID can involve both non-military and military aspects of counter-terrorism.

Military intervention

Terrorism has often been used to justify military intervention in countries where terrorists are said to be based. That was the main stated justification for the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. It was also a stated justification for the second Russian invasion of Chechnya.
   History has shown that military intervention has rarely been successful in stopping or preventing terrorism. Although military action can disrupt a terrorist group's operations temporarily, it rarely ends the threat. Provoking repression is actually a key goal of terrorism, as most of the time it increases the popularity of the terrorist cause as well as furthers the motivation for continuing terrorism . Most probably such a strategy against terrorism isn't successful and can't be as the structural causes of terrorism are not addressed: Relative deprivation that leads to frustration, aggressive foreign policy that leads to ´hate`, and psychosocial effects of globalization (as well as other causes) are not solved. Thus repression by the military in itself (for example, - particularly if it isn't accompanied by other measures - usually leads to short term victories, but tend to be unsuccessful in the long run (for example the French's doctrine described in Roger Trinquier's book Modern War used in Indochina and Algeria). However, new methods (see the new Counterinsurgency Field Manual,) such as those taken in Iraq have yet to be seen as beneficial or ineffectual.

Planning for Response to Terrorism

Police, fire, and emergency medical response organizations have obvious roles. Local firefighters, and emergency medical personnel (often called "first responders") have plans for mitigating the effects of terrorist attacks, although police may deal with threats of such attacks.

Target-hardening

Whatever the target of terrorists, there are multiple ways of hardening the targets to prevent the terrorists from hitting their mark, or reducing the damage of attacks. One method is to place Jersey barrier or other sturdy obstacles outside tall or politically sensitive buildings to prevent car and truck bombing. Aircraft cockpits are kept locked during flights, and have reinforced doors, which only the pilots in the cabin are capable of opening. English train stations removed their waste bins in response to the Provisional IRA threat, as convenient locations for depositing bombs. Scottish stations removed theirs after the 7th of July bombing of London as a precautionary measure. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority purchased bomb-resistant barriers after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
   A more sophisticated target-hardening approach must consider industrial and other critical industrial infrastructure that could be attacked. Terrorists need not import chemical weapons if they can cause a major industrial accident such as the Bhopal disaster or the Halifax explosion. Industrial chemicals in manufacturing, shipping, and storage need greater protection, and some efforts are in progress . To put this risk into perspective, the first used 160 tons of chlorine. Industrial shipments of chlorine, widely used in water purification and the chemical industry, travel in 90 or 55 ton tank cars.
   To give one more example, the North American electrical grid has already demonstrated, in the Northeast Blackout of 2003, its vulnerability to natural disasters coupled with inadequate, possibly insecure, SCADA (system control and data acquisition) networks. Part of the vulnerability is due to deregulation leading to much more interconnection in a grid designed for only occasional power-selling between utilities. A very few terrorists, attacking key power facilities when one or more engineers have infiltrated the power control centers, could wreak havoc.
   Equipping likely targets with containers (for example, bags) of pig lard has been utilized to discourage attacks by Islamist suicide bombers. The technique was apparently used on a limited scale by British authorities in the 1940s . The approach stems from the idea that Muslims perpetrating the attack wouldn't want to be "soiled" by the lard in the moment prior to dying. The idea has been suggested more recently as a deterrent to suicide bombings in Israel . However, the actual effectiveness of this tactic is probably limited as it's possible that a sympathetic Islamic scholar could issue a fatwa proclaiming that a suicide bomber wouldn't be polluted by the swine products.

Command and Control

In North America and other continents, for a threatened or completed terrorist attack, the Incident Command System (ICS) is apt to be invoked to control the various services that may need to be involved in the response. ICS has varied levels of escalation, such as might be needed for multiple incidents in a given area (for example, the 2005 bombings in London or the 2004 Madrid train bombings, or all the way to a National Response Plan invocation if national-level resources are needed. National response, for example, might be needed for a nuclear, biological, radiological, or large chemical attack.

Damage Mitigation

Fire departments, perhaps supplemented by public works agencies, utility providers (for example, gas, water, electricity), and heavy construction contractors, are most apt to deal with the physical consequences of an attack.

Local Security

Again under an incident command model, local police can isolate the incident area, reducing confusion, and specialized police units can conduct tactical operations against terrorists, often using specialized counterterrorist tactical units. Bringing in such units will normally involve civil or military authority beyond the local level.

Medical Services

Emergency medical services will bring the more seriously affected victims to hospitals, which will need to have mass casualty and triage plans in place.
   Public health agencies, from local to national level, may be designated to deal with identification, and sometimes mitigation, of possible biological attacks, and sometimes chemical or radiologic contamination.

Counterterrorism tactical units

Today, many countries have special units designated to handle terrorist threats. Besides various security agencies, there are elite tactical units, also known as special mission 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. Countries of all sizes can have highly trained counterterrorist teams. Tactics, techniques and procedures for manhunting are under constant development.
   Most of these measures deal with terrorist attacks that affect an area, or threaten to do so. It is far harder to deal with assassination, or even reprisals on individuals, due to the short (if any) warning time and the quick exfiltration of the assassins . Of course, if the assassination is done by a suicide bomber, exfiltration becomes moot.
   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. See Counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism organizations for national command, intelligence, and incident mitigation.
   The majority of counterterrorism operations at the tactical level, are conducted by state, federal and national law enforcement agencies or intelligence agencies. In some countries, the military may be called in as a last resort. 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.
   See Counter-intelligence for command, intelligence and warning, and incident mitigation aspects of counter-terror.

Examples of actions

Some counterterrorist actions of the 20th century are listed below. See List of hostage crises for a more extended list, including hostage-taking that didn't end violently.

Representative Hostage Rescue Operations

Incident		Main locale	Hostage nationality	Terrorists	Counter-terrorist force	Results
1972	Munich Massacre	Munich Olympics, Germany	Israeli	Black September	German police	11 hostages, 1 rescuer, 5 terrorists killed. 3 terrorists captured.
1976	Entebbe raid	Entebbe, Uganda	Mixed. Israelis and Jews separated.	PFLP	Israeli mixed force	all 6 hijackers, 45 Ugandan troops, 3 hostages and 1 Israeli soldier dead. 100 hostages rescued
1980	Iranian Embassy Siege	London, UK	Iranian	Democratic Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan	Special Air Service	1 hostage, 5 terrorists dead, 1 captured, 1 SAS operative received minor burns.
1985	Capture of Achille Lauro hijackers	International airspace and Italy	Mixed	PLO	US military, turned over to Italy	1 dead in hijacking, 4 terrorists convicted in Italy
1996	Japanese embassy hostage crisis	Lima, Peru	Japanese and guests (800+)	Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement	Peruvian military & police mixed forces	1 hostage, 2 rescuers, all 14 terrorists dead.
2000	Malaysian hostage siege	Perak, Malaysia	2 policemen, 1 army and 1 civilian	Al-Ma'unah	Malaysian military & police CT mixed forces	2 hostages dead, 2 rescuers, 1 terrorist dead and all 28 terrorists arrest.
2002	Moscow theater hostage crisis	Moscow	Mixed, mostly Russian (900+)	Chechen	Russian OZNAZ	129-204 hostages dead, all 39 terrorists dead. 600-700 rescued
2004	Beslan school hostage crisis	Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, (an autonomous republic in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation).	Russian	Chechen	Mixed Russian	334 hostages dead and hundreds wounded. 10-21 rescuers dead. 31 hostage takers killed, 1 captured
2007	Lal Masjid siege	Islamabad, Pakistan	Pakistani Army and Rangers SSG commandos	61 militants killed 50 militants captured 23 students killed, 11 SSG killed,1 Ranger killed,33 SSG wounded,8 soldiers wounded,3 Rangers wounded 14 civilians killed

Law Enforcement Counterterrorist Organizations by Country

+ indicates military organization allowed to operate domestically Examples include:

Australia: State and Australian Federal Police Police Tactical Groups Australian Protective Service (APS)

Austria: EKO Cobra

Brazil: BOPE

Canada: ERT

France: Police units GIPN and Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion

Germany: Police SEK / MEK and Bundespolizei GSG 9

Hong Kong: Police Special Duties Unit

Iceland: Víkingasveitin

India: NSG

Indonesia: Detachment 88

Israel: YAMAM

Italy: NOCS

Japan: Special Assault Team, Special Security Team

Malaysia: Pasukan Gerakan Khas, Police Combat Diving Unit

Netherlands: DSI (Dutch: Dienst Speciale Interventies, Special Interventions Service)

Norway: Beredskapstroppen, FSK+

Portugal: GOE

Philippines: Special Action Force and police SWAT teams

Romania: Brigada Antiteroristă, (counter-terrorist brigade)

Russia: Alpha Group,Vympel

Sri Lanka: Special Task Force

Spain: GEO and UEI

UK: Counter Terrorism Command

US: FBI HRT and state/local Police SWAT teams,

Taiwan: Thunder Squad

Military Counterterrorist Organizations by Country

Few military actually engage in domestic counter-terrorism operations, as they're largely limited by policies associated with legal or administrative jurisdiction or Department of Defense policy surrounding the US Posse Comitatus Act from operating in their own country. In cases such as the Iranian Embassy Siege, the British police formally turned responsibility over to the Special Air Service when the situation went beyond police capabilities.

Australia: Tactical Assault Group (East and West) » *Australian Special Air Service Regiment (TAG West)


   *4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (TAG East)

Austria: Austrian Jagdkommando (JaKdo)

Brazil: Projeto Talon and 1º Batalhão de Forcas Especiais

Canada: JTF-2

France: French army (gendarmerie) unit GIGN

Germany: German KSK

Ireland: Irish Army Rangers

Israel: Sayeret Matkal, Lotar Eilat, Sayeret Duvdevan, Yamam

Italy: » *GIS


   *Col Moschin » *COMSUBIN

Malaysia: » *Grup Gerak Khas


   *PASKAL » *PASKAU

New Zealand: Special Air Service

Philippines: 1st Scout Ranger Regiment, Light Reaction Battalion, Naval Special Warfare Group, Marine Force Reconnaissance Battalion

Spain: » *Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE) (Navy)


   *Mando de Operaciones Especialies (MOE) (Army)

Sri Lanka: » *Commando Regiment (Army)


   *Special Boat Squadron (Navy)

UK: » *Special Air Service (World's First)


   *Special Boat Service

US: Units of the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), principally of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) including: » *United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group


   *U.S. Army's Delta Force,

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.

(2007) is a videogame by Infinity Ward in which the player controls Sgt. John "Soap" McTavish, a member of counter-terrorism unit 22 SAS, in a quest to stop extremist group Al Asad from securing world domination.

ORION Foundation is the protagonist intelligence agency in the role-playing game Top Secret/S.I. whose covert existence is to counter the secret terrorist organization the WEB.

was a, a comic book series, and a centered on a team of elite commandos battling a terrorist group called Cobra.

The TV series The Unit, produced by Inside Delta Force author Eric L. Haney, is based on the US Army 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) counterterrorist unit.Further Information

Get more info on 'Counter Terrorism'.

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