Chapter 11: Political Crime and Terrorism
1. There is an absolute need to obtain immediate information in order to save lives. 2. There is probable cause that the suspect has such information and is unwilling to reveal it to law-enforcement agents.
Famed social commentator and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz proposes the creation of a "torture warrant" that can only be issued by a judge in cases of what two things?
Misinformation
Flyers are sent out to voters registered with the opposition party containing misleading information such as the wrong election date or saying that rules have been changed about who is eligible to vote.
Open source information
Foreign collectors are aware that much U.S. economic and technological information is available in professional journals, social networking and other public websites, and the media.
• Conferences, conventions, and trade shows. • Official foreign visitors and exploitation of joint research. • Foreign targeting of U.S. visitors overseas. • Open source information. Source: Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, "Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace," 2011, https://www.ncsc.gov/publications/reports/fecie_all/Foreign_Economic_Collection_2011.pdf.
Foreign companies seek entrée into U.S. firms and other targeted institutions by pursuing business relationships that provide access to sensitive or classified information, technologies, or projects, including...
Official foreign visitors and exploitation of joint research
Foreign government organizations, including intelligence services, use official visits to U.S. government and cleared defense contractor facilities, as well as joint research projects between foreign and U.S. entities, to target and collect information.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
Government official charged with coordinating data from the nation's primary intelligence-gathering agencies.
Nationalist terrorists
Groups whose actions promote the interests of a minority ethnic or religious group that has been persecuted under majority rule and/or wishes to carve out its own independent homeland.
Political crime
Illegal acts that are designed to undermine an existing government and threaten its survival. ____ ____ can include both violent and nonviolent acts and range in seriousness from dissent, treason, and espionage to violent acts such as terrorism and assassination.
Election fraud
Illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud tend to involve affecting vote counts to bring about a desired election outcome, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both. Varieties of _____ ____ include intimidation, disruption of polling places, distribution of misinformation such as the wrong election date, registration fraud, and vote buying.
Response to terrorism
- Confronting Terrorism with Law Enforcement. - Combating Terrorism with the Courts. - Confronting Terrorism with the Law. - Combating Terrorism with Politics.
Confronting terrorism with law enforcement
- Federal Law Enforcement. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Definition of terrorism: United Nations Resolution Language (1999)
1. STRONGLY CONDEMNS all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, wherever and by whomsoever committed. 2. REITERATES that criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them. (GA Res. 51/210, "Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism.") Sources: 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' (Washington: U.S. Department of State) http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/pgtrpt/; National Institute of Justice, 'Terrorism', http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/; Alex Schmid, 'Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research' (London: Routledge, 2013).
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
A jihadist militant group that follows an Islamic fundamentalist version of Sunni Islam. Their objective is to create an independent caliphate in lands seized from Syria and Iraq. Also known as ISIS and Daesh.
Failed state
A nation whose government has lost control of its own territory, is unable to provide public services and protection, and lacks the ability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.
Disconnected-disordered profile
A portrait of a typical lone actor as a grievance-fueled individual, likely to have weapons experience, who suffers from depression or other mental disorders, and experiences temporary or chronic social isolation.
Ticking bomb scenario
A scenario that some experts argue in which torture can perhaps be justified if the government discovers that a captured terrorist knows the whereabouts of a dangerous explosive device that is set to go off and kill thousands of innocent people.
• Attack the ideological underpinnings of global jihadism. • Sever ideological and other links between terrorist groups. • Strengthen the capabilities of front-line states to counter local jihadist threats.
According to the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research group, the following steps are required to defeat jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda...
Definition of terrorism: short legal definition proposed by A.P. Schmid to United Nations Crime Branch (1992)
Act of Terrorism = Peacetime Equivalent of War Crime. Sources: 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' (Washington: U.S. Department of State) http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/pgtrpt/; National Institute of Justice, 'Terrorism', http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/; Alex Schmid, 'Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research' (London: Routledge, 2013).
Industrial espionage
Activities designed to gain illegal competitive advantage over a business rival, such as bribing employees to reveal trade secrets and product formulas.
• Mental illness is not a critical factor in explaining terrorist behavior. Also, most terrorists are not psychopaths. • There is no "terrorist personality," nor is there any accurate profile—psychological or otherwise—of the terrorist. • Histories of child abuse and trauma and themes of perceived injustice and humiliation often are prominent in terrorist biographies, but do not really help to explain terrorism. Source: Randy Borum, 'Psychology of Terrorism' (Tampa: University of South Florida, 2004), http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208552.pdf.
After carefully reviewing existing evidence on the psychological state of terrorists, mental health expert Randy Borum concludes...
Definition of terrorism: League of Nations Convention (1937)
All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public. Sources: 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' (Washington: U.S. Department of State) http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/pgtrpt/; National Institute of Justice, 'Terrorism', http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/; Alex Schmid, 'Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research' (London: Routledge, 2013).
Treason
An act of disloyalty to one's nation or state.
Torture
An act that causes severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, that is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining a confession, punishing them for a crime they may have committed, or intimidating or coercing them into a desired action.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
An agency of the federal government charged with preventing terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizing the damage and aiding recovery from attacks that do occur.
al-Qaeda (Arabic for "the base")
An international fundamentalist Islamist organization comprising independent and collaborative cells, whose goal is reducing Western influence upon Islamic affairs. Also spelled al-Qa'ida.
Stage 1: "It's not right"
An unhappy, dissatisfied individual identifies some type of undesirable event or condition. It could be economic (e.g., poverty, unemployment, poor living conditions), social (e.g., government-imposed restrictions on individual freedoms, lack of order, or morality), or personal ("I am being cheated because of discrimination against my religious beliefs"). While the conditions may vary, those involved perceive the experience as "things are not as they should be."
Profit
Another goal political crime is profit: selling state secrets for personal enrichment or trafficking in stolen arms and munitions.
Stage 4: "You're evil"
Because good people would not intentionally hurt others, targeted groups are appropriate choices for revenge and/or violence. The disaffected worker concludes that since his country has let him down he is justified in joining a terrorist group or even taking matters in his own hands. Aggression becomes justifiable when aimed against bad people, particularly those who intentionally cause harm to others. By casting the target as evil, they are dehumanized and appropriate targets for aggression.
Disruption
Bomb threats can be called into voting places in areas that are known to heavily favor the opposing party, with the goal of suppressing the vote. They can be outright sabotage of polling places, ballots, ballot boxes, and voting machines.
Terrorist
Description: Groups who engage in premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets. Examples: Al-Qaeda, Hamas. Goals: Personal, criminal, or political gain or change. Methods: Small, clandestine cells who use systematic violence for purpose of intimidation.
Extent of terrorism threat
Despite the pressure put on terrorist groups in recent years, the threat of global terrorism still exists. - When one leader is killed, another one may come to power. Data from START show that terrorist attacks and fatalities have increased in recent years
Terror cells
Divisions of terrorist group affiliates, each of which may be functionally independent so that each member has little knowledge of other cells, their members, locations, and so on. The number of cells and their composition depend on the size of the terrorist group. Local or national groups will have fewer cells than international terrorist groups that may operate in several countries, such as the al-Qaeda group. This is done for organizational and security purposes.
• In 2015, Sheldon silver, a powerful member of the New York State Legislature, was convicted on seven counts of honest services fraud, extortion, and money laundering stemming from schemes by which he obtained nearly $4 million in exchange for using his position to help benefit a cancer researcher and two real estate developers. • In 2013, former Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud his reelection campaigns by converting $750,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal items and expenses, including high-end appliances and electronics. • Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is serving a 14-year sentence in federal prison following conviction for corruption and the soliciting of bribes for political appointments, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat formally occupied by Barack Obama. • In 2013, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to a 28-year prison term for his role in a wide ranging racketeering conspiracy that included extortion, bribery, and fraud. Kilpatrick extorted money from people doing business with the city, rigged bids, and took bribes. He illegally appropriated funds from nonprofit civic organizations. Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan, "Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Contractor Bobby Ferguson, and Bernard Kilpatrick Sentenced on Racketeering, Extortion, Bribery, Fraud, and Tax Charges," press release, October 17, 2003, http://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2013/former-detroit-mayor-kwame-kilpatrick-contractor-bobby-ferguson-and-bernard-kilpatrick-sentenced-on-racketeering-extortion-bribery-fraud-and-tax-charges.
In addition to Robert Menendez, what are some other politicians accused of using their office for personal enrichment?
1. Intimidation. 2. Disruption. 3. Misinformation. 4. Registration fraud. 5. Vote buying.
In addition to discarding absentee ballots, it includes a variety of behaviors designed to give a candidate or their party an unfair advantage. What are they?
• Targeting U.S. firms for technology that would strengthen their foreign defense capabilities. • Posting personnel at U.S. military bases to collect classified information to bolster military modernization efforts. • Employing commercial firms in the United States as a covert effort to target and acquire U.S. technology. • Recruiting students, professors, scientists, and researchers to engage in technology collection. • Making direct requests for classified, sensitive, or export-controlled information via personal contacts, telephone, email, fax, and other forms of communication. • Forming ventures with U.S. firms in the hope of placing collectors in proximity to sensitive technologies or else establishing foreign research.
In addition to private citizens conducting espionage, foreign government organizations also mount their own operations, including what?
Lone-actor terrorists
Individuals who carry out terror acts without involvement or participation in an organized group. Sometimes called lone-wolf terrorists. While they may admire a particular terrorist group, they do not receive orders, direction, support, or aid from such a group.
Maintain international cooperation
International cooperation is a prerequisite to success, a precious commodity not to be squandered by bullying, unreciprocated demands, indifference to local realities, or actions that repel even America's closest friends.
Break the cycle of jihadism
Jihadism is a cycle beginning with recruitment and ending with death, arrest, or detention. Combating terror must involve neutralizing terror groups' ability to radicalize and indoctrinate potential recruits before the cycle begins and then, at the end of the cycle, deal effectively with terror suspects once they have been captured and detained.
Destroy the jihadist enterprise
Jihadists have proven to be flexible and resistant and capable of continued action despite sustained military actions. They remain the primary threat to U.S. national security and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Therefore, they must be outright destroyed or at least have their ability to operate damaged.
Alienation view
Lack of economic opportunity and recessionary economies are positively correlated with terrorism. - Family Conflict View. - Political View (failed states).
USA Patriot Act (USAPA)
Legislation giving US law enforcement agencies a freer hand to investigate and apprehend suspected terrorists.
1. Disconnected-disordered. 2. Caring-compelled. Source: Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko, "Two Possible Profiles of Lone-Actor Terrorists," National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), 2013 http://www.start.umd.edu/publication/two-possible-profiles-lone-actor-terrorists; Jeff Gruenewald, Steven Chermak, and Joshua Freilich, "Distinguishing 'Loner' Attacks from Other Domestic Extremist Violence," 'Criminology and Public Policy' 12 (2013): 65-91; 'Boston Globe', "Text from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Note Written in Watertown Boat," May 22, 2014, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/22/text-from-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-note-left-watertown-boat/KnRleqqr95rJQbAbfnj5EP/story.html. (URLs accessed June 2016.)
McCauley and Moskalenko believe that lone-actor terrorists fit one of what two profiles?
1. "It's not right." 2. "It's not fair." 3. "It's your fault." 4. "You're evil." Source: Randy Borum, "Understanding the Terrorist Mind-Set," 'FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin' 72 (2003): 7-10.
Political crime expect Randy Borum finds that the pattern for political criminal ideology takes the form of a series of what 4 cognitive stages?
State political crime
Political crime that arise from the efforts of the state to either maintain governmental power or to uphold the race, class, and gender advantages of those who support the government. It is possible to divide _____ _____ _____ into five varieties: (1) political corruption, (2) illegal domestic surveillance, (3) human rights violations, (4) state violence such as torture, illegal imprisonment, police violence and use of deadly force, (5) state corporate crime committed by individuals who abuse their state authority or who fail to exercise it when working with people and organizations in the private sector.
The nature of political crimes
Political criminals may be motivated by principles, faith, or conviction. Some profit personally, but acts are motivated by a higher calling.
The goals of poltical criminals
Political criminals may have any of the following as their goal: intimidation, revolution, profit, conviction, and pseudo-conviction.
Registration fraud
Political operatives may try to shape the outcome of an election by busing in ineligible voters from other districts. Because many jurisdictions require minimal identification and proof of citizenship, political criminals find it easy to get around residency requirements. They may provide conspirators with "change of address" forms to allow them to vote in a particular election, when in fact no actual change of address has occurred.
Wage more-effective political warfare
Political solutions must be pragmatic. We must be ready to compromise. Amnesty should be offered to terrorists who have become disillusioned. Local leaders should be accommodated and deals cut to co-opt enemies.
Eco-terrorists
Political terror groups involved in violent actions to protect the environment.
Political terrorists
Political terrorism directed at people or groups who oppose the terrorists' political ideology or whom the terrorists define as "outsiders" who must be destroyed. - Right-wing political groups. - Left-wing political groups.
Encourage defections and facilitate exits
Potential defectors must be identified and encouraged to quit through the promise of amnesty, cash, job training, and homes.
• Border and transportation security. • Emergency preparedness and response. • Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures. • Information analysis and infrastructure protection. Source: Homeland Security, "Information Sharing," http://www.dhs.gov/topic/information-sharing. This section on homeland security relies heavily through on "The Department of Homeland Security," http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/homeland/
Rather than start from the ground up, the DHS combined a number of existing agencies into a superagency. Among its components are what?
Impede recruitment
Recruitment sites must be identified and made dangerous and therefore unusable. Alternatives to terror must be offered. Former, now disillusioned terrorists can be used to denounce terror and counteract its appeal with potential recruits.
Persuade detainees to renounce terrorism
Rehabilitation of known terror suspects may be more important than prosecution and imprisonment.
Vote buying
Securing votes by payment or other rewards or the selling of one's vote is an age-old problem that still exists. One popular method is to buy absentee ballots from people who are in need of cash. The fraudulent voter can then ensure that the vote goes their way, an outcome that cannot be guaranteed if the conspirator casts a secret ballot at a polling place.
Conviction
Some political criminals are motivated by altruism; they truly believe their crimes will benefit society and are willing to violate the law and risk punishment in order to achieve what they see as social improvement.
Revolution
Some political criminals plot to overthrow the existing government and replace it with one that holds views they find more acceptable.
Intimidation
Some political criminals want to intimidate or threaten an opponent who does not share their political orientation or views.
Stage 3: "It's your fault"
Someone or some group must be held accountable for the extremist's displeasure. It always helps to identify a potential target—for example, an angry employee is convinced that minorities get all the good jobs while he is underpaid and suffering financially. He becomes receptive to propaganda put out by extremist groups looking to attract recruits and decides to join.
Reserve the right to retaliate—a muscular deterrent
Terror groups and their sponsors should know that any attack using weapons of mass destruction will be met with all-out warfare against any group or government known to be or even suspected of being responsible.
How are terror groups organized?
Terror groups tend to be networked or hierarchical. Terror cells.
Retributive terrorists
Terror groups who refrain from tying specific acts to direct demands for change. They want to instead redirect the balance between what they believe is good and evil. They see their revolution as existing on a spiritual plane; their mission is to exact retribution against sinners. Groups that use violence as a method of influence, persuasion, or intimidation in order to achieve a particular aim or objective. Some terrorist groups want to impose their social and religious code on others.
Definition of terrorism: academic consensus definition used by The United Nations
Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby—in contrast to assassination—the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators. Threat- and violence-based communication processes between terrorist (organization), (imperiled) victims, and main targets are used to manipulate the main target (audience[s]), turning it into a target of terror, a target of demands, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily sought. Sources: 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' (Washington: U.S. Department of State) http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/pgtrpt/; National Institute of Justice, 'Terrorism', http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/; Alex Schmid, 'Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research' (London: Routledge, 2013).
State-sponsored terrorism
Terrorism that occurs when a repressive government regime forces its citizens into obedience, oppresses minorities, and stifles political dissent. Carried out by a repressive government regime in order to force its citizens into obedience, oppress minorities, and stifle political dissent.
Psychological view
Terrorists are emotionally disturbed individuals who act out on their psychoses within the confines of violent groups.
Socialization/friendship view
Terrorists form groups that solidify their beliefs and create a sense of group solidarity. If one became committed to terror, others would follow rather than let him or her down.
Ideological view
Terrorists hold extreme religious and/or ideological beliefs that prompt their behavior. Religious fanaticism
Border and transportation security
The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for securing our nation's borders and transportation systems, which include 350 ports of entry. The department manages who and what enters the country, and works to prevent the entry of terrorists and the instruments of terrorism while simultaneously ensuring the speedy flow of legitimate traffic. The DHS also is in charge of securing territorial waters, including ports and waterways.
Information analysis and infrastructure protection.
The department analyzes information from multiple available sources, including the CIA and FBI, in order to assess the dangers facing the nation. It also analyzes law-enforcement and intelligence information.
Emergency preparedness and response
The department ensures the preparedness of emergency response professionals, provides the federal government's response, and aids America's recovery from terrorist attacks and natural disasters. The department is responsible for reducing the loss of life and property and protecting institutions from all types of hazards through an emergency management program of preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.
Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear countermeasures
The department leads the federal government's efforts in preparing for and responding to the full range of terrorist threats involving weapons of mass destruction. To do this, the department sets national policy and establishes guidelines for state and local governments. It directs exercises and drills for federal, state, and local chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) response teams and plans. The department is assigned to prevent the importation of nuclear weapons and material.
1. Gain the right to practice their own form or religion. 2. Establish the supremacy of their own religion over others. 3. Meet the requirements of the bloodthirsty guards they worshiped Source: Walter Laqueur, 'The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Massachusetts Destruction' (New York: Oxford, 1999).
The first organized terrorist activities were committed by members of minority religious groups who engaged in violence to do what?
Reign of Terror
The origin of the term 'terrorism', the French Revolution's _____ _____ _____ began in 1793 and was initiated by the revolutionary government during which agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention were referred to as terrorists.
Zealot
The original ______ were Hebrew warrior groups active during the Roman occupation of Palestine during the first century BCE. Today the term commonly refers to a fanatical or over-idealistic follower of a political or religious cause.
Espionage
The practice of obtaining information about a government, organization, or society that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Commonly called spying.
Stage 2: "It's not fair"
The prospective political criminal concludes that the undesirable condition is a product of "injustice"—that is, it does not apply to everyone equally. A worker may believe that because of racial or religious bias someone with less skill is making more money and getting more benefits. Feeling deprived facilitates emotions of resentment and injustice.
Definition of terrorism: United States Department of State
The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. The term "international terrorism" means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country. The term "terrorist group" means any group practicing, or that has significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism. Sources: 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' (Washington: U.S. Department of State) http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/pgtrpt/; National Institute of Justice, 'Terrorism', http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/; Alex Schmid, 'Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research' (London: Routledge, 2013).
Guerilla
The term means "little war" and developed out of the Spanish rebellion against French troops after Napoleon's 1808 invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. Today the term is often used interchangeably with the term 'terrorist'. Description: Armed groups operating in rural areas who attack the military, the police, and other government officials. Examples: Mao's People's Liberation Army, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Cong. Goals: Replace or overthrow existing government. Methods: Use unconventional warfare and mobile tactics. May grow large and use tactics similar to conventional military force.
Insurgent
The typical goal of an ______ is to confront the existing government for control of all or a portion of its territory, or force political concessions in sharing political power. While terrorists may operate in small bands with a narrow focus, _____ represent a popular movement and may also seek external support from other nations to bring pressure on the government. Description: Groups who engage in armed uprising or revolt against an established civil or political authority. Examples: Iraqi insurgent groups. Goals: Win over population by showing government's incompetence. Force government into political concessions and/or power sharing. Methods: May use violent (bombings and kidnappings) of nonviolent means (food distribution centers and creating schools).
Conserve resources for a long war
These include blood, treasure, the will of the American people, and the support of needed allies. This means picking future fights carefully, making security measures both effective and efficient, maintaining domestic support, avoiding extreme measures that alienate the people, and cultivating rather than bullying other countries.
Pseudo-conviction
These political criminals conceal conventional criminal motivations behind a mask of conviction and altruism. They may form a revolutionary movement out of a hidden desire to engage in violence rather than their stated goal of reforming society. The pseudo-conventional criminal is particularly dangerous because they convince followers to join them in their crimes without fully revealing their true relations.
Conferences, conventions, and trade shows
These public venues offer opportunities for foreign adversities to gain access to U.S. information and experts in dual-use and sensitive technologies.
Explaning state-sponsored terrorism
They are vulnerable to ideology that dehumanizes their targets and can use propaganda to distance themselves, psychologically, from those they are terrorizing.
Caring-compelled profile
Those who fit this profile have social relations and are not mentally ill. But they care too much and find that there is a Darkside to caring greatly about others. Individuals can kill for love, including love of strangers seen as victimized.
Confronting terrorism with the law
USAPA and the USA Freedom Act.
Combating terrorism with politics
Undermine support for terrorist groups by being benevolent nation-builders giving aid to the nations that house terror groups.
1. Intimidation. 2. Revolution. 3. Profit. 4. Conviction. 5. Pseudo-conviction. Source: Stephen Schafer, 'The Political Criminal, The Problem of Morality and Crime' (New York: Free Press, 1974), pp. 154-157.
Unsettling the populace and reducing faith in the government may be one goal of political criminals. What are some of the other goals?
Revolutionary terrorists
Use violence to frighten those in power and their supporters in order to replace the existing government with a regime that holds acceptable political or religious views. Description: Engages in civil war against sovereign power that holds control of the land. Examples: American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution. Goals: Gain independence or oust existing government or monarchy. Methods: Can use violent conflict or nonviolent methods such as Gandhi used in India.
Intimidation
Voters can be scared away from the polls through threats or intimidation. Having armed guards posted at polling places may convince people it is dangerous to vote. List of registered voters can be obtained and people subjected to threatening calls before the election.
• In 1807 former vice president Aaron Burr, a man best known for killing secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1804 in a duel over a matter of honor, was accused of hatching a plot to separate the western states from the union. When that plot went awry, he conspired to seize Mexico and set up a puppet government with himself as king! Arrested on charges of treason, he was acquitted when the federal court, headed by John Marshall, ruled that to be guilty of treason an overt act must be committed; planning is not enough. • On the evening of October 16, 1859, John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal at Harper's Ferry (West Virginia). Brown had hopes of creating a popular slave rebellion. He was convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1859 and executed for attempting to organize armed resistance to slavery. • After World War II, two women, Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American born in Los Angeles, and known as Tokyo Rose, and Mildred Elizabeth Gillars, born in Portland, Maine, and known as Axis Sally, served prison terms for broadcasting for the Axis powers in an effort to demoralize American troops.
What are some of the most famous cases of treason in U.S. history?
• Destroy the jihadist enterprise. • Conserve resources for a long war. • Wage more effective political warfare. • Break the cycle of jihadism. • Impede recruitment. • Encourage defections and facilitate exits. • Persuade detainees to renounce terrorism. • Maintain international cooperation. • Reserve the right to retaliate—a muscular deterrent. Source: Brian Michael Jenkins, 'Unconquerable Nation: Knowing Our Enemy, Strengthening Ourselves (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2006).
What are some others ways of countering terror?
1. Election fraud 2. Abuse of office/public corruption 3. Treason 4. Espionage 5. State political crime 6. Using torture
What are the types of political crimes (Crimes that are designed to change, alter, or control the political process)?
Jihad
When John Walker Lindh used the word 'jihad', he made reference to a term that has become all too familiar in contemporary society. Often assumed to mean "holy war," the term is more complex than that simple meaning. According to terror expert Andrew Silke, the term derives from the Arabic word for "struggle," and within Islam there are two forms of jihad: the Greater Jihad and the Lesser Jihad. The Greater Jihad refers to a Muslim's personal struggle to live a good and charitable life and adhere to God's commands. In this sense, jihad is a strictly personal and nonviolent phenomenon. The Lesser Jihad refers to violent struggle on behalf of Islam. Jihadists are "those who struggle" and refers to individuals who volunteered to fight in the Lesser Jihad. The term is used by members of groups such as al-Qaeda to describe themselves in their goals. Jihadists sometimes call themselves 'mujahideen,' meaning "holy warriors," and the term is commonly used to refer to Muslims engaged in the Lesser Jihad. Source: Andrew Silke, "Holy Warriors: Exploring the Psychological Processes of Jihadi Radicalization," 'European Journal of Crimonology' 5 (2008) 99-123.
Networks
When referring to terrorist organizations, _____ are loosely organized groups located in different parts of the city, state, or country (or world) that share a common theme or purpose, but have a diverse leadership and command structure and are only in intermittent communication with one another.
Political roots of terrorism
When rulers had absolute power, terrorists acts viewed as one means to gain political rights. The term terrorist first became popular during the French Revolution.
Foreign targeting of U.S. visitors overseas
Whether traveling for business or personal reasons, U.S. travelers overseas—business people, U.S. government employees, and contractors—are routinely targeted by foreign collectors, especially if they are assessed as having access to some sensitive information. Some US allies engage in this practice, as do less friendly powers such as Russia and China. Targeting takes many forms: exploitation of electronic media and devices, surreptitious entry into hotel rooms, aggressive surveillance, and attempts to set up sexual or romantic entanglements.
Terrorism
the illegal use of force against innocent people to achieve a political objective.
