Terrorism and the Conflict Spectrum

The canonical terrorist campaign in support of national liberation,

religion, or ideology represents only a small portion of the ends to

which terrorism is harnessed—and perhaps not even the most per-

vasive. Terrorism occupies an increasingly broad place on the conflict

spectrum, from activity barely distinguishable from crime or

vendetta, through conventional terrorism in support of political and

transcendental objectives, to potential “superterrorism,” perhaps as

a means of proxy war. The common denominator throughout is the

use of terrorism as a tactic, an aspect in which terrorism is becoming

more diverse. Indeed, the vocabulary of terrorism analysis reflects

this diversity, with increasing reference to narco-terrorism, environmental

terrorism, economic terrorism, info-terrorism, and other

threats traditionally outside mainstream security concerns. Nor are

these new dimensions of terror discrete points on the conflict spectrum.

Rather, they may be difficult to differentiate at the margins

and may reinforce one another. For example, the immense proceeds

of drug trafficking can encourage narco-terrorism as a means of

holding governments and rival cartels at bay, but may also increase

the resources at the disposal of overtly political terrorist movements.

Similarly, there is growing suspicion that maritime piracy,

an increasingly serious problem in many places around the world, is

being carried out in some instances with state sponsorship. Terrorist

movements are well placed to participate in such activities.27

To the extent that terrorist movements move toward network forms

of organization and behavior, their ability to shift focus from one

application of terrorism to another, or to pursue multiple applications

simultaneously, will increase (as in the confluence of drugrelated

and political terror). Movements with political or religious

agendas, but adept at applying similar tactics in other settings, may

be recruited as proxies by state or nonstate sponsors looking to strike

indirectly at U.S. or regional regimes. Terrorism’s increasingly

amorphous and diffuse nature has implications beyond the question

of tactics and specific targets. Its diffusion is changing the nature of

terrorism as a strategic problem.

One consequence of the growing pervasiveness of terrorism as a tactic

across the conflict spectrum is that counterterrorism may be less

and less accurately portrayed as a stand-alone activity. Counterterrorism

strategies are becoming a prominent feature of a range of

public policies and national strategy objectives, from urban emergency

preparedness and drug policy to regional security assistance

and power projection.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-21