Terrorisms Increasingly lethality
Although the total volume of terrorist incidents world-wide has declined in the 1990s, the proportion ofpersons killed in terrorist incidents has steadily risen. For example, according to the RAND-St AndrewsUniversity Chronology of International Terrorism,5 a record 484 international terrorist incidents were recordedin 1991, the year of the Gulf War, followed by 343 incidents in 1992, 360 in 1993, 353 in 1994, falling to 278incidents in 1995 (the last calendar year for which complete statistics are available).6 However, while terroristswere becoming less active, they were nonetheless becoming more lethal. For example, at least one person waskilled in 29 percent of terrorist incidents in 1995: the highest percentage of fatalities to incidents recorded in theChronology since 1968--and an increase of two percent over the previous year's record figure.7 In the UnitedStates this trend was most clearly reflected in 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building inOklahoma City. Since the turn of the century, fewer than a dozen of all the terrorist incidents committedworld-wide have killed more than a 100 people. The 168 persons confirmed dead at the Murrah Buildingranks sixth on the list of most fatali
Insum, terrorists therefore have relatively easy access to a range of sophisticated, "off-the-shelf" weaponstechnology that can be readily adopted to their operational needs. On the high-end of the conflict spectrum one must contend not only with the efforts of groups like the Aum todevelop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons capabilities, but with the proliferation of fissile materials fromthe former-Soviet Union and the emergent illicit market in nuclear materials that is surfacing in Eastern andCentral Europe. 41 Finally, at the middle-end of the spectrum one sees a world awash in plastic explosives, hand-heldprecision-guided-munitions (i. Accordingly, it is not difficult to recognise how the "amateur" terrorist may become increasingly attractive toeither a more professional terrorist group and/or their state patron as a pawn or "cut-out" or simply as anexpendable minion. The distinction betweendomestic and international terrorism is also evaporating as evidence by the Aum's sects activities in Russia andAustralia as well as in Japan, the alleged links between the Oklahoma City bombers and neo-Nazis in Britainand Europe, and the network of Algerian Islamic extremists operating in France, Great Britain, Sweden,Belgium and other countries as well as in Algeria itself. French authorities, however, believe that,while "professional" terrorists perpetrated the initial bombings, like-minded "amateurs"-- recruited by the GIAoperatives from within France's large and increasingly restive Algerian expatriate community were responsiblefor at least some of the subsequent attacks. 22 In this respect, the alleged "Unabomber," Thomas Kaczynskiis a case in point. 14 Even more disturbing is that in some instances the perpetrators' aims have gonebeyond the establishment of some theocracy amenable to their specific deity,15 but have embraced mystical,almost transcendental, and divinely-inspired imperatives16 or a vehemently anti-government form of "populism"reflecting far-fetched conspiracy notions based on a volatile mixture of seditious, racial and religious dicta. , all peoples who are not members of thereligious terrorists' religion or cult). As one senior Israelisecurity official noted of a particularly vicious band of Hamas terrorists: they "were a surprisingly unprofessionalbunch . Relying on these commercially obtainable published bomb-making manuals and operational guidebooks, the"amateur" terrorist can be just as deadly and destructive21--and even more difficult to track andanticipate--than his "professional" counterpart. Last year their number increased yet again, no toaccount for nearly half (26 or 46 percent) of the 56 known terrorist groups active in 1995. 39 Moreover, unlike plastic explosives and other militaryordnance, fertiliser and its two favourite bomb-making components--diesel fuel and icing sugar--are readilyand easily available commercially, completely legal to purchase and store and thus highly attractive "weaponscomponents" to terrorists and others. 43 Nonetheless, those charged with ensuring the security of airports and aviation from terrorist threats doubtlessface a Herculean task.
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Acceptance Essays
