INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: CHALLENGE FOR THE 1980S REMARKS PREPARED FOR USE BY DDCI WASHINGTON INSIGHT BRIEFING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89G00720R000600630001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 23, 1986
• Content Type: MISC

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INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: LHALLEIVGE FOR THE 1980s
Remarks Prepared for Use by DDCI
Washington Insight Briefing April 23, 1936
Ladies and Gentlemen. Let me first express my appreciation
to you for being invited to address this gathering on a subject
that is much on our minds, the spread of international
terrorism, This evening I will share with you how we assess
this new war without borders conducted against an enemy that is
hard to find and harder still to defend against.
Terrorism is a cancer that is spreading, In 1983 we
recorded about 500 international terrorist incidents, last year
tine number rose to about 800, The United States and its
friends and allies continue to be the primary targets. The
number of persons killed or injured in 1985 exceeded 2,200 --
more than any other year, more even than the terrible toll in
1983 when the US and French contingents of the peacekeeping
force in Leoanon were combed, The rising casualty rate
reflects the increased use of large bombs by terrorists as well
as greater willingness to harm innocent bystanders through
indiscriminate attacks,
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What the terrorist does is kill, maim, kidnap, torture,
His victims may be children in the schoolroom, innocent
travelers on airplanes, businessmen returning home from work,
political leaders, diplomats, soldiers, civilians anywhere,
The terrorist's victims May nave no particular political
identitiy. or they may be political symbols, like Aldo Moro
or -- perhaps -- Pope John Paul II, They ?iay be kindnapped and
Held for ransom, maimed or simply blown to bits, One defining
characteristic of the terrorist is ni.s choice of method: the
terrorist chooses violence as the instrument of first resort,
It is terrorism of Middle Eastern origin that accounts for
much of the increase in international terrorism over the past
two years. In 1983, Middle Eastern groups accounted for about
one-fourth of all international terrorist incidents, In 1985
their share had reached almost one-half. The majority of US
casualties occur in incidents involving Middle Easterners,
Middle Eastern terrorist bombs tend to be larger, more
sophisticated, and use higher grade explosives. Terrorists
from the Middle East are generally more professional and
proficient in clandestine operations and tnus are more
difficult to detect and stop than other terrorists,
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The nigh level of international terrorism by Middle Eastern
groups owes much to state sponsorship -- particularly by Syria,
Iran, and Libya. Tnese states use terrorism and support to
international terrorist groups as instruments of domestic and
foreign policy. These states train, finance, and arm numerous
dissident and terrorist groups. They send agents and
surrogates on missions around the world using terror to attack
opponents and the personnel and installations of the US and
proWestern Arab states, They use diplomatic and cultural
missions to support terrorists. We know, for example, that
several senior officials of the Iranian Government are directly
involved in terrorist activity, Libya provides aid and comfort
to the notorious Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal whose
followers were responsible for the massacres in Rome and Vienna
airports,
You have heard the President's statement outlining the
evidence for Libyan complicity in the Berlin nightclub bombing
earlier this Month. We also nave compelling evidence of Libyan
involvement in other recently planned attacks against the
United States, severl of wnicin were designed to cause maximum
casualties similar to the Berlin bombing,
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-- France expelled two members of the Libyan People's
Bureau in Paris for their involvement in a planned
attack on visa applicants waiting in line at the US
Embassy.
-- France suosequently expelled two disgruntled Fatah Force
17 members recruited by Libya to conduct another
operation against the United States in Paris,
-- In early April a Libyan-inspired plot to attack the US
Embassy in Beirut was aborted when the 107 mm rocket
exploded on launch.
-- Turkish police in late [larch arrested two Tuinisians in
Istanbul who claimed they were planning on behalf of the
Libyans to use explosives against a US target in Turkey;
the operation was planned to inflict heavy casualties,
-- We have reports of well over 35 Libyan-associated
threats, including surveillance or planned attacks,
against US personnel and facilities in Europe, Africa,
and Asia thus for this year. We note Libyan-sponsored
surveillance of US Embassy personnel in Khartoum, where
a State Deportment officer was shot last week.
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Nor is the United States alone as a victim of Qadhafi's
terrorist program, British Foreign Secretary Howe last Friday
publicly charged that his government had proof of Libyan
complicity in the death of the two British hostages in Beirut
the previous day,
My remarks taus for have dwelt on Middle Eastern terrorism
and certainly that is uppermost in our minds these past few
days, But I would be remiss if I were to leave you with the
impression that international terrorism wears only a Middle
Eastern garment. West European terrorist groups were also
active in 1985, and many of their favorite targets are US or
NATO-related facilties,
In West Germany, for example, sympathizers and hardcore
members of the Red Army Faction carried out more than a dozen
attacks against US and NATO targets last year, including the
carbombing at the Rhein-Main Airbase in August, West German
security officials nave made major inroads against this
organization but it is still capable of conducting another
major attack, A Belgian group calling itself the Communist
Combatant Cells, which first came to our attention in late 1984
when it conducted a series of attacks against NATO and defense
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related targets, conducted some 30 attacks last year, It has
been quiet since December however when Belgian security
officials arrested several of its key members. Greek
terrorists were also busy in 1985 with many of their attacks
taking the form of arson and bombings of venicles belonging to
US military personnel in Athens. The French terrorist group
Action Directe and the Italian terrorist Red iirigades were
active last year but most of their attention was focused on
domestic targets. Nevertheless, their propaganda and political
orientation is strongly anti-American and at any time they
could resume targeting US interests either singly or in
cooperation with other likeminded groups,
Latin America also continues to ue the scene of terrorist
violence, Although the overwhelming problem is domestic
political terrorism, we recorded over 75 incidents that were
directed against US interests. Most of the attacks were
bombings against property, but we also noted a large number of
armed attacks and kidnappings, The threat to US facilities,
personnel, and interests was jarticularly nigh in Coloiiiaia,
Ecuador, and Peru where strongly anti-US terrorist groups are
active,
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Asia remains on the periphery of international terrorism
but the activities of two groups merit our attention. Sikh
terrorism in 1985 was international in scope, Sikh extremists
were probably responsible for the worst single incident ever
recorded -- tae Air India crush last June in Whico over 300
persons died. Japan's radical Chookakoo Ha made the headlines
in 1985 wits} a rocket attack on tae US Consulate General in
Kobe in January and again in late November when it sabotaged a
large section of Japan's commuter rail system, In recent weeks
one of their crudely made rockets was fired at the US Embassy
and another at the Emperor's Palace, They did no serious
damage. And only last week they attempted a rocket attack
against a US air base but it detonated prematurely destroying
the truck used to launch it,
Let we now turn to the Soviet connection, It may seem
shadowy to some, but it seems very close to me. Iran, Libya,
and the Soviet Union are hardly allies, but they share a
fundamental hostility to the West, The Soviets, who hold no
moral objections to the use of terrorism and see much of the
unrest it creates as ultimately beneficial to their foreign
policy oajectives, do not particpate in any international
efforts to block terrorism or to join in multilateral efforts
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to combat it, In backing revolutionary causes against
established governments, it is largely a matter of indifference
to the Soviets whether terrorist tactics are used as long as
the groups that commit these acts attack non-Soviet or non-Bloc
targets, The Soviets contribute to international terrorism in
a number of ways:
-- The Soviets provide political backing, funding, and in
some cases arms and military training to groups or
states such as Libya that participate in or are linked
to terrorists,
-- The Soviets have at least indirectly given material
support to groups that have committed terrorist acts in
the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America,
-- The Soviets have trained a number of personnel linked to
or belonging to national liberation groups, and they
openly supply arms to numerous governments and groups
that conduct terrorist activities. Libya is a leading
example.
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-- The Soviets support certain Palestinian groups, East
European states, South Yemen, and Cuba, all of whom
support terrorist groups or groups that commit terrorist
acts, Bulgaria's state trading organization KINTEX --
which is essentially a state smuggling operation -- and
Czechoslovakia's comparable organization OMNIPOL are
among the most prominent companies whose weapons
eventually have appeared in terrorist hands.
-- The East Europeans, almost certainly with Soviet
knowledge and support, provide safehaven, transit
privileges and movement of weapons and bombs for
terrorists.
Let me turn briefly to the murky area of collusion between
the big drug dealers and the terrorists and their supporters.
While tnese two groups have radically differing goals, there is
cooperation between some terrorist and narcotics groups for
tactical reasons, A symbiotic relationship has grown up
between the narcotics dealers along the Caribbean Coast and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who ordinarily would
have little to do with one another, The drug merchant needs a
secure transit point for his goods to reach markets in the
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United States, One such transit point is Cuba, The Cubans
funnel arms and money to the guerrilla groups through drug
merchant channels, Although Fidel Castro, in interviews with
American journalists, roundly denies having dealings with drug
merchants, we've caught him red-handed, By helping drug
dealers push cocaine and marijuana, Castro gains improved
access to the Cuban community in South Florida, contributes to
crime and disorder in the United States, and aids his
revolutionary offspring in Colombia.
Similarly, we caught the Sandinista government in Nicaragua
red-handed in narcotic production and trafficking between
Colombia and Miami, apparently looking for money which we have
seen deposited in Panama and used to bolster their sagging
economy.
Let me now turn to the problems of US intelligence analysts
and counterterrorism policymakers as they seek to tackle the
problem of international terrorism. In order to prevent
terrorist plans or disrupt their activities we need information
about them, but the very nature of terrorist groups and their
activities makes this task extremely complicated,
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Terrorist groups are very small. We estimate that many
number fewer than two dozen hard core members. Although such
groups may have many more sympathizers and supporters, those
persons responsible for the spectucular bombings or
assassinations are relatively few and well-concealed, They
sometimes use unwitting persons -- such as the woman caught
with o bomb in her luggage at the London airport last week,
Increasingly we find, that people who come together to conduct
an attack were not Known to each other previously and that only
the leader knows all the details of the arrangements and
participants, As a result even when we capture one of the
perpetrators, he may be unable to tell us much about the group
behind the attack,
Tne central core of terrorist groups is tightly knit and
difficult to penetrate. Middle Eastern groups frequently have
kinship, village, or tribal links; whereas West European groups
tend to represent people with intellectual and personal ties
dating from student days, In short, the key members of the
terrorist group know each other very well and outsiders would
have difficulty establishing their bona fides, making
penetration of the core group by police or intelligence agents
virtually impossible,
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The operating life of any single group of terrorists is
often no more than a few years. Likewise the typical terrorist
leader has a relatively short business life, although there are
exceptions who have been plying their trade for several years.
Tnis intensifies the pressure on intelligence collectors and
analysts to quickly determine the organization and structure of
groups so prompt action can be taken against then,
Terrorist groups are not stationary, that is they seldom
operate from fixed facilities. Terrorists may learn weapons
handling and bomb building at an insurgent camp or other such
facility, but they don't need to, A hotel room, attic, or
basement would do equally well for most of the training they
need. Thus just because we learn where tine "bomb factory" was
for the last attack does not mean we have a lead on where it
will be for the next one.
Terrorists frequently use rudimentary, but highly secure,
operating and communications methods. They depend on couriers
and commercial telephones. Terrorist equipment and weapons are
often stolen from military and police stores or else purchased
on the flourishing gray arms market. Even relatively
sophisticated bombs can be manufactured from components easily
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purchased from a hardware store or stolen from a commercial
construction company. One distinction is worth noting here,
European terrorists oy and large supply themselves, Middle
Eastern terrorists are usually supplied by their friends,
including the Soviet Bloc.
Terrorists are opportunists and quick to copy what works
politically or technially. This makes it hard to separate
copycat attacks from -a campaign that is based on cooperation or
links between groups.
How do we cope with these small bands of highly trained
people, most of them fanatics, some ready to give up life
itself to do their increasingly sophisticated evil deeds?
First we are obviously acquiring as much information we can
about terrorist groups including their modus operandi,
organizational structure, personnel, support, financial, and
communications arrangements, and their relationships with other
groups or state sponsors, Much of this is pure basic research,
compiling large databases, and attempting to fill in the gaps.
It is not very glamorous and the people who do it do not
capture the headlines, but it is the foundation upon which the
US counterterrorist effort rests. Continuing collection and
analysis enables us to improve our ability to detect trends in
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terrorist operations and upgrade security in areas that are
most likely at risk. Continuing research allows us to
determine the vulnerabilities of terrorist groups and formulate
plans for disrupting their activities,
This is not a problem for the United States alone, but a
task in which the civilized nations of the world must
cooperate, With increasing tempo and effectiveness we are
developing a worldwide counterterrorist network made up of the
intelligence, security, and police organizations of the
threatened nations, They exchange intelligence, share data
banks, work together operationally, provide training and
technical capabilities to the less advanced of their number,
undertake surveillance and other intelligence assignments for
each other, report their findings, transmit alerts and warnings,
On several occasions, our warning and detailed intelligence
has directly assisted foreign authorities in capturing
terrorists. Through timely intelligence work, for example, two
sophisticated suitcase bombs were intercepted and disabled and
warnings on the nature of these types of bombs were provided
promptly to intended and potential victims worldwide. This
warning led to the discovery of two more such devices by
cooperating services.
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Here in Washington, we have made very good progress in
developing a system of very rapid communications to gather
assessments, have reports tested by intelligence experts
throughout our government and elsewhere, and pass conclusions
quickly to the point of the threat -- whether in the United
States or overseas.
We obviously need an international effort along the some
lines, however, for the United States is only one of an
increasing number of targets for terrorists, We also need more
vigorous action by the international community in general if we
are to contain the terrorist challenge, Western nations have
on the whole been weak in applying economic, political, and
diplomatic measures to check terrorism, Too often countries
are inhibited by fear of losing commercial opportunities or of
provoking further terrorism, There is a common, but badly
mistaken, belief on the part of some of our allies and friends
that appeasement will lead to safety, Past experience with
terrorist hijacking shows that the international community can
move in concert and that when it does it can be effective,
The terrorist depends upon two factors for success in
conducting his war on the mind, The first, and most important
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of these, is coverage by the media, In this decade more people
can be addressed by newspaper, television, radio, and magazines
than ever before in history. Wuat is more, the media is so
effective that millions of people may learn of a terrorist
attack that has taken place half a world away in a matter of
minutes -- or at most, hours. It is no accident that the vast
bulk of the most heinous terrorist murders, bombings and
hijackings take place -- not in isolated villages in Africa or
among remote Asian tribesmen -- but in cities that possess
excellent communication links with the rest of the world, The
terrorist hopes that his deeds will be bannered on the six
o'clock news throughout most of the developed world,
Tne second factor that aids terrorists in their campaign is
the nature of modern urban society. The concentration of
population offers anonymity to the terrorist. Weapons and
money can be obtained through an infinite number of channels,
thus preserving the terrorist's operational security. The
variety and efficiency of transportation enhances the
terrorist's mobility, Moreover, industrialized societies have
more vulnerable high-value targets -- such as computer centers,
airlines, factories, shopping arcades, and even apartment
complexes, Western democracies by their very nature are
particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
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I have spoken about preventive, cooperative, protective and
investigative measures. What about the terrorist himself? We
must take vigorous action to isolate him from his target --
attacking the public mind. That is to say we must defeat the
terrorists' strategy of manipulating public perceptions, We
must deny the terrorist the fruit of his labors -- namely, the
ability to exploit the media to instill in the public feelings
of uncertainty and fear. The media itself must play the
leading role in this effort by treating news of terrorist
incidents in a more reserved fashion, and by providing strong
editorials that discredit the terrorists' actions,
In addition we should strive to instill in the terrorist
those some pervasive feelings of fear that lie seeks to instill
in the public -- the feelings of constantly being the hunted,
rather than the hunter. The terrorist must at all times have
the impression that his movements are known, his plans
understood, and his cells penetrated, We can do this, as I
mentioned earlier, by improving coordination of intelligence,
police and counterterrorist units, and especially by mobilizing
media support to sustain the courage of the public and to
convince the terrorist that his actions are repudiated by the
public.
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If we can do this, the terrorist will watch in frustration
as his power over the media dries up and, with it, his power to
assault the mind. If cut off from his sponsors, the terrorist
will watch with growing apprehension as he learns that the
costs and risk of his operations skyrocket while the impact of
his actions plummets, The futility of terrorism then will at
last be made obvious to the terrorist himself, and his
devastating war on the mind and on the innocent will slowly
come to an end,
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