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Reviving The United States' Commitment To Pakistan And Afghanistan, Steve A. Young, Imdad Hussain Sahito
Reviving The United States' Commitment To Pakistan And Afghanistan, Steve A. Young, Imdad Hussain Sahito
Journal of Strategic Security
As President Obama is in the midst of deciding whether additional U.S.combat forces are needed in Afghanistan in addition to the 21,000 troops recently committed, he must realize that additional armed forces are only a stopgap measure in Afghanistan's downward spiral into an 'undergoverned' failed state. Similarly, as Pakistan's fragile and fractured civilian government continues to appease the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization of Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen with Taliban cultural values led by Baitullah Mehsud and others, it comes closer to the concept of a "misgoverned" failed state, possessing a small arsenal of nuclear arms. The problem for the …
Revisiting Downs' Issue-Attention Cycle: International Terrorism And U.S. Public Opinion, Karen K. Petersen
Revisiting Downs' Issue-Attention Cycle: International Terrorism And U.S. Public Opinion, Karen K. Petersen
Journal of Strategic Security
Lamenting the lack of public awareness of international events and U.S. foreign policy is not a particularly novel exercise; yet, explaining the process by which issues enter and exit the public realm remains a challenging endeavor. Despite contributions from researchers working in international relations and mass communication, explaining public inattentiveness continues to vex scholars. However, in his article, "Up and Down with Ecology: The 'Issue-Attention Cycle,'" Anthony Downs provides a parsimonious and tractable model of public opinion that can be applied to foreign policy issues.1 While Downs concerns himself exclusively with domestic issues, particularly environmental issues, his model has thepotential …
Guerilla Warfare & Law Enforcement: Combating The 21st Century Terrorist Cell Within The U.S., Richard J. Hughbank
Guerilla Warfare & Law Enforcement: Combating The 21st Century Terrorist Cell Within The U.S., Richard J. Hughbank
Journal of Strategic Security
Both domestic and international terrorist organizations employ guerrilla warfare tactics, techniques, and procedures. Thus, the ability to identify and defeat the members of these organizations, cripple their infrastructures, and disrupt their financial resources lies in the understanding of modern guerrilla warfare as it develops in the twenty-first century within the United States.3 The forms of asymmetric warfare4 adopted by domestic and international terrorist groups alike is no longer intended to gain simple media exposure or governmental manipulation; they want to make an overpowering impact by causing massive loss of life and severe damage to infrastructure and are often motivated by …
The Tipping Point: Biological Terrorism, Scott Cary
The Tipping Point: Biological Terrorism, Scott Cary
Journal of Strategic Security
This article presents a strategic, operational, and tactical analysis of information currently available on the state of bio-weapons development by non-state actors, primarily Islamist jihadists. It discusses the evidence supporting a practical assessment that non-state actors have begun to acquire, and in the near-term intend to employ, bio-weapons. A pathogen and method of attack specifically designed to achieve the strategic goals of jihadists are presented as functional examples of the problem of the emerging global bio-weapons threat.Is a terrorist attack utilizing biological weapons a real threat? If so, is there a way to predict the circumstances under which it might …
Decision Support For Countering Terrorist Threats Against Transportation Networks, Richard Adler, Jeff Fuller
Decision Support For Countering Terrorist Threats Against Transportation Networks, Richard Adler, Jeff Fuller
Journal of Strategic Security
This article presents a dynamic decision support methodology forcounter-terrorism decision support. The initial sections introduce basic objectives and challenges of terrorism risk analysis and risk management. The remainder of the paper describes TRANSEC, a decision support framework for defining, validating, and monitoring strategies focused on managing terrorism risks to international transportation networks. The methodology and software tools underlying TRANSEC are applicable to other homeland security problems, such as critical infrastructure and border protection.
Al-Qaeda In The Lands Of The Islamic Maghreb, Gregory A. Smith
Al-Qaeda In The Lands Of The Islamic Maghreb, Gregory A. Smith
Journal of Strategic Security
This paper is organized into four chapters that focus on the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The four chapters examine different facets of the collective environment that have allowed AQIM to succeed and even thrive at times. The first chapter begins with Algeria’s war of independence with the French. The second chapter focuses on the nomadic Tuareg people. It seeks to show how the Tuaregs were deprived by French occupiers and how European colonization cost the Tuaregs access to vital trade routes used for centuries. The third chapter will very briefly examine Algeria’s …
Targeted Killing: Self-Defense, Preemption, And The War On Terrorism, Thomas Byron Hunter
Targeted Killing: Self-Defense, Preemption, And The War On Terrorism, Thomas Byron Hunter
Journal of Strategic Security
This paper assesses the parameters and utility of “targeted killing” in combating terrorism and its role within the norm of state self-defense in the international community. The author’s thesis is that, while targeted killing provides states with a method of combating terrorism, and while it is “effective” on a number of levels, it is inherently limited and not a panacea. The adoption and execution of such a program brings with it, among other potential pitfalls, political repercussions. Targeted killing is defined herein as the premeditated, preemptive, and intentional killing of an individual or individuals known or believed to represent a …