INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: CHALLENGE FOR THE 1980S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89G00720R000600660004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 12, 1986
• Content Type: MISC

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12 May 1986
INTERNATIONAL 1 LRROR I So : -%AALLEIVGE FOR THE 1980s
Remarks Prepared for Use by DDCI
Central Intelligence Retirees' Association
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 inirnds, the spread of international
terrorism, T-ais--Q-t I +- I 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 1933 we
recorded about 30b international terrorist incidents; last year
the number rose to about 800, Tne United States and its
friends and allies continue to be the primary targets. The
number of persons killed or injured in 1935 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 oorabed. The rising casualty rate
reflects the increased use of large bombs by terrorists as well
as greater willingness to nar,n innocent oystanders turougn
indiscriminate attacks,
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Wiiut the terr ist does is kill, maim, kidnap, torture.
His victims may be chi men in the schoolroom, innocent
travelers on airplanes, bu' essmen returning home from work,
po itical leaders, diplomats, s Biers, civilians anywhere,
The t orist`s victims may Have no articular political
identitiy; r they may be political sym is, like Aldo Moro
or -- uerha;~s - Pope John Paul II, They be kindnapped and
held for ransom, m med or simply blown to bits One defining
characteristic of the errorist is his choice of m hod: the
terrorist chooses violenc as the instrument of first sort,
It is terrorism of Middle Eastern origin that accounts for
much of the increase in international terrorism over the past
tdo years. in 193), iiiddle Eastern groups accounted for about
one-fourth of all international terrorist incidents, in 1983
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 Eust ore generally more professional and
proficie,it in clandestine operations and tnus are more
difficult to detect and stop than other terrorists,
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The high level of international terrorism oy Middle Eastern
groups owes much to state sponsorship -- particularly by Syria,
Iran, and Libya. These states use terrorism and support to
international terrorist groups as instruments of domestic and
foreign policy. These states train, finance, and arm nuiderous
dissident and terrorist groups. They send agents and
surrogates on missions around the world using terror to uttuck
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 Aou INidal Whose
follo,rers were responsible for the massacres in done and Vienna
airports.
You have heard the President's statement outlining the
evidenc for Libyan complicity in the Berlin nigntclu:b bomoing
month. We also have compelling evidence of Libyan
involvement in other recently planned attacks against the
United States, severl of which were designed to cause maximum
casualties similar to the Berlin bomaing,
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-- France expellee two moors of the Lioyan People's
Bureau in Paris for their involvement in a planned
attack on visa applicants waiting in line at the US
Embassy,
-- trance subsequently 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 :;gym rocket
exploded on launch.
Tur,:i?l pblice in late 1-larcti arrested two Tuinisions 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 tnus for this year, We note Libyan-sponsored
surveillance of US Embassy Personnel in Khartoum,m, where
a State Deportment officer was sot
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or is the United States alone as a victim of Qadhafi's
terrorist program. British Foreign Secretary Howe -Fri-4w
puolicly charged that his government had proof of Libyan
complicity in the death of the two British hostages in Beirut
the previous day,
My remarks thus for nave dwelt on iii dd l e Eastern terrorism
and certainly that is uppermost in our minds these past few
days, But I would oe 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 nardcore
members of the Red Army Faction carried out more than a dozen
attacks against US and NATO targets last year, including the
carbor?ing at the Rhein-Main Airbase in August, West German
security officials have made major inroads against this
organization but it is still capable of conducting another
major attack. A Belgian group calling itself the Communist
Comootant Cells, which first came to our attention in late 1934
when it conducted a series of attacks against NATO and defense
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related targets, conducted sooe 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 forin of arson and uo,lbings of venicles belonging to
US military personnel in Athens, The French terrorist group
Action Directe and tine Italian terrorist fled brigades were
active last year but most of ti'neir attention was focused on
domestic targets. N'avertnaless, their propaganda and political
orientation is strongly anti-Ai~lerican and at any time they
could resume targeting US interests either singly or in
cooperation with other likeminded groups,
Latin America ulso ontinues to ue the scene of terrorist
viole e, Although the ov whelming problem is domestic
political errorism, we recorde over 75 incidents that were
directed agai t US interests. Mos of the attacks were
bombings against ,roperty, but we also oted a large number of
armed attacks and ki nappings, The threat to US facilities,
personnel, and interes \ wus cirticularly nig' in Colombia,
Ecuador, and Peru where s ongiy anti-US terror t groups are
active.
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Asia remains on t\e periphery of international terrorism
groups merit our '.ttention, Sikh
terrorism in 1985 was inte ational in scope, Sikh extremists
were probably responsible for the worst single IMcident ever
recorded -- tine Air India crush ast June in wiric\ over 3JJ
rsons died. Japan's radical Cho akoo Ha made tnr. headlines
in 8S witil u rocket attack on toe Consulate Gene al in
Kobe it January and again in late Novem er when it sabo aged u
large sec 'on of Japan's commuter rail sy em. In recen weeks
one of their rudely made rockets was fired t the US Emba sy
and another at he Emperor's Palace, They did no serious
damage, they attempted a roc et attack
f 4.1- na
against a US air bast~-\but detonated prematurely destroying
Let hie 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 trey snare 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 objectives, do not particpate in any international
efforts to block terrorism or to join in multilateral efforts
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to comoat 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. Tne Soviets - ~,.- 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, Lust
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 nave 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 Dig drug dealers and the terrorists and their supporters.
While tnese tw groups have ra calls differing goals, there is
cooperation betwe some terroris and narcotics groups for
tactical reasons, symbiotic relationship has grown up
between the narcotics ealers along th Caribbean Coast and the
Revolutionary Armed Forc s of Colombia wh ordinarily would
have little to do with one another. The dr merchant needs a
secure transit point for his goods to reach ma kets in the
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United States, Ore such transit point is Cub , The Cubans
fun el arms and mon y to the guerrilla groups hrough drug
merch t channels, though Fidel Castro, in i terviews with
American journalists, r undly denies having deal ngs with drug
inerchants, we've caught Mai red-handed, By ihelpiig drug
dealers pus cocaine and ma ijuana, Castro gains irproved
access to the uban coriimunity in South Florida, con ributes to
crilile and disor er in the Unite States, and aids hi
revolutionary off pring in Color,ib'a,
Similarly, we ca ht the Sandinis a government in Ni aragua
red-handed in narcotic roduction and \ufficKin9 between
Colombia and Miami, appa ently looking f money which we ave
seen deposited in Panama a d used to Dolst r 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, k,
Increasingly we find that people who come together to conduct
an attack were not mown to each otner previously and that only
the leader knows all the details of the arrangements and
participants. As a result even wren we capture one of the
perpetrators, he may be unable to tell us much about the group
behind the attacK.
The 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 snort, 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 proi1lpt action can be taken against them.
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 the "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 arims 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 by and large supply themselves, Middle
Eastern terrorists are usually supplied by their friends,
including toe 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 wecope 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, Througn 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 mode 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 same
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 cnec'KI terroris,ii, Too often countries
are inhibited by fear of losing commercial opportunities or of
provoking further terrorism, Tnere is a corlmon, 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 snows 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 toese, is coverage by the media, In this decade more people
can be addressed by newspaper, television, radio, and magazines
than ever before in history, Wnat 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,
The 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. Inc
variety and efficiency of transportation enhances the
terrorist's riobility, 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 same pervasive feelings of fear that he 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
lost be made obvious to the terrorist hiiiself, and his
devastating war on the mind and on the innocent will slowly
come to an end,
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