NCJ Number
82825
Date Published
1981
Length
95 pages
Annotation
This document presents Senate hearings on security and terrorism. The purpose of the hearings is to assess the terrorist threat to freedom and national security.
Abstract
Witnesses testifying before the committee include a former professional intelligence officer, two journalists, and a scholar, all of whom have examined this complex international problem. William E. Colby, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, states that terrorism is a tactic that endangers innocent people in order to demonstrate a terrorist's power or to influence others. Another meaning of terrorism is that of secret attacks against authority and its representatives. The practical struggle against terrorism involves three elements: intelligence, security practices, and public support. Claire Sterling, an international journalist, points out that the Soviet Union had played a primary role in training, equipping, and sheltering terrorists in Western societies. However, a professor of modern European history states that rapprochement with the Russians with regard to terrorism is possible. Two prepared statements are included.