Terrorist Threat To United States Military Bases - Are We On The Verge Of Another Pearl Harbor?

Abstract

Each year the list of terrorist activities worldwide grows at a frightening rate. Not only are these terrorist acts occurring in countries which have traditionally been plagued by such activity, but they have begun filtering into our own borders. Although the number of terrorist attacks has actually declined slightly in recent years, the number of deaths and injuries has steadily increased. This is largely due to the increased severity of terrorist attacks. The United States military is certainly not immune to these cowardly acts. The Beirut Bombing and khobar Towers Bombing, two well-known terrorist attacks on U.S. forces, have claimed the lives of hundreds of our military men and women. Even with these events etched into our collective memory, we continue to believe that terrorist acts are not likely to happen on our military bases stateside. This unhealthy lack of concern over a real terrorist threat creates a weakness in security that could be exploited by international as well as domestic terrorists. This paper seeks to raise the level of consciousness among all military and civilian personnel who serve and work on bases within our nation's borders. It also offers recommendations to be incorporated into the Department of Defense structure to ensure that not only personnel awareness of the terrorist threat is increased but that our capabilities to combat terrorism is developed to a higher level of security.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 13, 1998
Accession Number
ADA348959

Entities

People

  • John F. Carter

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter IED
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Antiterrorism
  • Chemical Weapons
  • Counterterrorism
  • Department Of Defense
  • Explosives
  • Force Protection
  • Governments
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies