Arson And Threats

Arson. Arson is another tactic that has been a favorite of certain terrorist groups. Over the past twenty years, almost 14 percent of all terrorist incidents have been arsons, and in most cases an incendiary device was used to start the fire. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups use it as part of their subversive campaigns. Other groups around the world have repeatedly proven their proficiency in manufacturing and using Molotov cocktails.

Assassination. Assassination was the earliest tactic used by terrorists. It fact, the word “assassin” is derived from the Hashshasin, or the Society of Assassins, the Islamic terrorists who operated in the Middle East during the tenth century. Diplomats and politicians have always been the

Threats can be an effective tool when used by an established terrorist group or its sate sponsor. If a telephone caller in Ulster, claiming to be from the Irish Republican Army, says there is a bomb in a factory, that factory will probably be evacuated. Operations will be shut down temporarily, even if no bomb is discovered. New Terrorism Since the end of the Cold War and especially in the wake of New York and Oklahoma City bombings and Aum Shinrikyo attacks in Japan (this had special WMD implications), there has been a dramatic shift in the perceived threat of the new terrorism. Although it is not yet the common tactic of most terrorist groups, but the potential makes the danger real as was shown by the gas attack on the Tokyo subway station. A major group in the class of new terrorism is chemical biological radiological, nuclear (CBRN) terrorism. With this terrorism can reach an unprecedented level of destruction. Chemical Terrorism. Terrorists could use chemical agents to cause mass casualties. Although the technicalities involved in some of the chemical process would be quite complicated, the intensity of the purpose makes it possible. The use of Sarin gas by Aum Shinrinko in Japan demonstrates the capability of the new

The terrorist may use biological agents to cause mass death. Like chemical capability, it is not easy to get technical skills required to develop the agents but it is possible. There are at least four primary acquisition routes that terrorists could conceivably pursue in acquiring a biological warfare capability. They are: • Purchasing a biological agent from one of the world’s 1,500 germ banks. • Theft from a research laboratory, hospital, or public health service laboratory, where agents are cultivated for diagnostic purposes. • Isolation and culturing of a desired agent from natural sources. • Obtaining biological agents from a rogue state, a disgruntled government scientist, or a state sponsor. Radiological Terrorism. It is quite possible for the terrorist to disperse radiological material in an effort to contaminate a target population or a distinct geographic area.The material could be spread by radiological dispersal devices (RDD) like dirty bombs, etc. There are a number of possible sources of the material that could be used to make a radiological terrorist device like the nuclear waste stored in a power plant or radiological medical isotopes found in many hospitals and research