teaching terrorism

COMBATING TERRORISM CENTERat West Point

James JF Forest, Ph.D.Director of Terrorism Studies

Teaching Terrorism

CJEANYS19 October 2006



CTC Education on Terrorism and Homeland Security

Courses• Terrorism & Counterterrorism• Advanced Terrorism Studies• Homeland Security Seminar• Intelligence and Terrorism• Information Warfare• Forthcoming, Fall 2007:

Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction

• Minor in Terrorism Studies

• JTTF Seminars

• FBI Academic CT Curriculum



Central Course Topics Visions & Enabling Environments Critical, strategic thinking about threats and response

CTC Education on Terrorism and Homeland Security

Core Course Lessons Definitions and History of Terrorism Understanding Contemporary, Networked Terror Organizations Ideologies and Strategies: Religious and Non-Religious Means and Methods (Crime, Finance, Internet, Suicide Bombings, etc.) U.S. and Al Qaeda Pre-9/11 and Post-9/11 Organizing to Fight Terrorism (Strategy, Legal Issues, etc.) Future of Terrorism (Potential for Weapons of Mass Destruction, etc.)



CTC Seminars for Joint Terrorism Task Forces

Day 1 Islam and the Evolution of Militant Islamic

Ideologies Beginnings of Sunni Extremism Global Terrorism and the rise of Al-Qaeda Al Qaeda, From 9/11 to Now

Day 2 Virtual Caliphate: Jihadi use of the Internet Hizballah Hamas Iraq and Bleed out from the Levant North African Terror Organizations How do you win? Building a framework for

investigation

Day 3 Terror Financing Security and Control: The

weaknesses of AQ Tools for

investigators/Survey

New FBI Academy Curriculum: 60 hours of CT instruction, with case studies of terrorism and CT, WMD issues, interagency cooperation emphasis, etc.



SAMPLE LESSONRoot Causes, Facilitators and Underlying

Conditions of Terrorism



Agenda Goal: Brief overview of the spectrum of topics addressed in

the academic literature on root causes, facilitators and underlying conditions of terrorism

Underlying Conditions: Local Underlying Conditions: Global Facilitating Ideologies of Violence Summary What to Do?

Root Causes, Facilitators and Underlying Conditions of

Terrorism



Underlying Conditions: Local

• Could includeCould include political, economic and social conditions, before terrorism– Unemployment

– Socio-demographic pressures

– Authoritarian/repressive regimes

– Ethnic fissures (Tamils, Chechens)

• Chaos & capacity – Weak/failing states

• These conditions exist in numerous places without history of terrorism – Think globally, act locally?

(e.g., London, Madrid)

Expectations

Opportunities



Underlying Conditions: Global

• CCould include global animosities– e.g., Sunni vs. Shia

• CCould foreign policies – U.S. relations with Israel, Egypt,

Saudi Arabia, Iran

– Democracy mandate?

– Perceptions (bias/hypocrisy)

– State-sponsored terror

• Energy dependence facilitates funding streams for violent groups as well as vulnerabilities for industrialized nations

Demands/Grievances

Power to enact change



Other Global Conditions & Facilitators

• Global weapons proliferation (especially in weak/failing states)

• Technology– Communication and transportation shrinks time and space; enable

networked forms of terrorism (including fundraising aspects)

– Weapons: invention of dynamite helped launch capabilities

• Global criminal networks – Profit motive

– Money laundering

– Trafficking in drugs, humans, explosives, other ‘bad stuff’

• Ideologies fuel both local and global perceptions of injustices and need for action/retribution



Facilitating Ideologies of Violence

Nationalist (e.g., Anti-colonial groups)

Left-wing (e.g., radical Communists revolutionaries)

Right Wing (often target race and ethnicity)

Anarchist Religious (e.g., militias, jihadists, etc.- “attack on Islam”)

Others (e.g., apocalyptic, charismatic cults, philosophies of “Man is evil” - Hobbes, et al.)

Overall: These all reflect the importance of perceptions, emotions, strategic influence, information warfare; The Vision Thing



Summary Economic opportunities (lack thereof) Political conditions (distribution of power) Chaos & capacity (weak/failing states) Think global, act local? Global animosities Foreign policies (incl. state sponsorship) Energy dependence Weapons proliferation Technology Criminal Networks Ideologies for Action (Retribution?) Other grievances . . .



What to do? Economic and political dimensions

Create economic & political opportunities to meet aspirations Consider foreign policy dimensions (state sponsorship, bias)

Chaos & capacity Law enforcement, border security; containment

Weapons proliferation & criminal networks Pressure states and private companies to prevent

Energy dependence Alternatives to fossil fuels

The battleground of ideologies is particularly important for attacking the motivation and morale of terrorists in Iraq Exploit ideological vulnerabilities



“You have to be lucky everyday – We only have to be lucky once”- IRA Bomber

Questions?

teaching terrorism

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