NCJ Number
191438
Date Published
1998
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the role of intelligence and the special problems of international terrorism.
Abstract
The problems of prosecution, prevention, and intelligence gathering that always characterize efforts to deal with terrorism are magnified when the terrorist organization can use foreign territory or even a foreign state to assist its operations. There are three sets of problems created by terrorist use of foreign territory. First, the rules and opportunities for intelligence gathering are greatly affected by the fact that the information is sought abroad. Second, as to prevention, the steps the United States would like to take to protect Americans abroad depend upon the cooperation of foreign governments. Third, as to arrest, trial, and punishment, international law flatly forbids employing U.S. security forces -- law enforcement or military -- in a foreign country without the consent of that country. U.S. intelligence relies on four networks for gathering information abroad: photoreconnaissance, the interception of radio and other signals, human agents, and liaison with foreign intelligence organizations. A primary objective of intelligence acquisition abroad is to anticipate the action of terrorist groups. Human sources are the best possible source about the activities and plans of a terrorist group, and one’s own agent infiltrated into a terrorist group would be the most reliable human source. Law, executive orders, and other rules are also part of the complex environment for intelligence gathering about foreign groups. The United States cannot defy international law in dealing with its allies or other nations with which it wants to cooperate. It can use the influence created by its military, diplomatic, and economic resources to elicit cooperation, within limits, even from nations who see their own self-interest in avoiding conflict with a terrorist group.