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 Since the beginning of the 20th century, terrorists have used a
variety of tactics, including assassination, kidnapping, hijacking,
and bombing, to achieve their goals. The September 11 attacks and
the subsequent anthrax letters have focused
renewed attention on the possibility of terrorism involving chemical,
biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons, commonly called weapons
of mass destruction (WMD).
Terrorism. There is no single, universally accepted definition of terrorism.
The word "terrorism" is usually used to describe violence
that is political, social, religious, or ideological in nature and
that is designed to influence an audience beyond the immediate target
or victims of the attack. One widely quoted definition of terrorism
is that used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), which describes terrorism as:
"...the unlawful use of force and violence against persons
or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian
population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political
or social objectives." (28 Code of Federal Regulations Section
0.85)
Terrorism is not a neutral term. Governments use it to describe
their opponents and avoid it when describing their allies. This
has led to the saying that "one person's terrorist is another
person's freedom fighter." Countries therefore cannot agree
on an objective definition of terrorism. This poses a problem because if states want to combat terrorism at the international level, they
must first agree on exactly what they are fighting against.
WMD. Although large-scale conventional weapons, such as the bomb that
destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma or the
airplanes involved in the September 11 attacks, are sometimes described
as
weapons of mass destruction, usually
the term is used to refer to chemical, biological, radiological,
or nuclear weapons.
WMD terrorism. WMD terrorism, therefore, refers to terrorist use or threat of
use of WMD.
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Further Reading:
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CRS, Raphael Perl,
"Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends"
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WMD 411,
Anthrax Attacks and
Bioterrorism
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WMD 411,
Nuclear Terrorism
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NTI,
CNS,
BW Terrorism Tutorial |
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NTI, CNS,
CW Terrorism Tutorial |
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NTI,
CNS,
Radiological Terrorism Tutorial |
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CNS,
Terrorism
Page
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The Nonproliferation Review,
Sammy Salama and Lydia Hansell,
"Does Intent Equal Capability?: Al Qaeda and Weapons of Mass
Destruction" |
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NTI,
CNS,
Nuclear Terrorism Tutorial |
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NTI,
NGO Reports on Nuclear Terrorism |
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