Terrorism: Toward and Analytic Foundation
Abstract
Terrorism The word packs a high-caliber emotional punch For most Americans, it evokes images of mangled bodies and shadowy killers President Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Shalikashvili have both identified terrorism as a high priority trans-millennial national security issue. Preceded by a proscriptive verb like combat, or counter, it ranks high in the list of American foreign policy objectives. Military strategists, planning for the twenty-first century, concede without enthusiasm that Instruments to counterterrorism must figure prominently among essential military capabilities. International affairs experts agree. Noting the current asymmetry of military power between the US and other states in the world and the growing number of non-state actors potentially eager to make then mark, these experts project the possibility of increased use of terrorism and express deep concern that future attacks will use more lethal materials. However, while there is wide agreement that terrorism is a growing challenge to the United States and the world community, there is less agreement on what, exactly, constitutes an act of terrorism. Popular usage and news parlance have stretched the term to cover everything from attempts at extortion by lacing consumer products with harmful substances, to placing obscene telephone calls to harass someone, and even to currency speculation. Admittedly, most thoughtful people would not consider the cases cited above typical terrorist attacks Yet, the fact that the term is stretched to include them at all suggests these cases share, in one way or other, some characteristics of terrorism, or, in other words, that both writer and reader could conceive of these as terrorist incidents, albert marginal ones.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA441344
Entities
People
- Karen L. Perez
Organizations
- National War College