U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

International Terrorism - The Search for a Policy

NCJ Number
102361
Journal
Terrorism Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (1987) Pages: 1-85
Author(s)
E A Lynch
Date Published
1987
Length
85 pages
Annotation
The United States has come to a point in its history which demands it form a coherent and comprehensive policy demands it form a coherent and comprehensive policy to address the odious threat of terrorism.
Abstract
The lack of such a coherent policy is one of the conditions that makes the United States a frequent target of terrorist attack. Developing such a policy is admittedly difficult, given the nature of terrorism and the difficulties it poses for the United States. State-sponsored terrorism has emerged as an effective and almost cost-free type of warfare for Iran, Libya, the Soviet Union, Cuba and Nicaragua. Narco-terrorism is a particularly heinous form of attack on the United States. In spite of all the difficulties, recognizing the links between terrorist- sponsoring states and understanding their objectives is the first step towards developing a policy. There are specific defensive and offensive strategies the Western democracies can employ to fight back. (Author abstract)