NCJ Number
86640
Date Published
1982
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This edited transcript of a televised American Enterprise Institute forum presents a discussion of terrorism and governmental countermeasures by academics, a former U.S. Attorney General, a U.S. Senator, and the acting director of the State Department's office on terrorism.
Abstract
Participants in the discussion were John Charles Daly, Yonah Alexander, Ramsey Clark, Senator John P. East, and Frank H. Perez. Each offered his definition of terrorism and then was asked whether he felt the international community took the threat of terrorism seriously. Speakers also explored the failure of international contentions to produce a coordinated response to terrorist acts. Mr. Clark and Senator East felt that understanding the motivations of terrorists was prerequisite to designing effective countermeasures, but Mr. Perez stated that terrorists simply should be viewed as criminals. He also described cooperative efforts of Federal government agencies in collecting and disseminating intelligence on terrorism. The discussion then shifted to proposals to ease restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency in their intelligence gathering on domestic terrorism and the impact of such a policy change on civil liberties. Participants were not optimistic about potential technological solutions to terrorism, but expressed concern about the abuses of wiretapping and computerized information systems. Mr. Daly's final question concerned the use of economic weapons against clearly identified exporters of terrorism such as Libya. A question and answer session considered policies regarding hostages, whether political motivations can distinguish different types of terrorism, and the feasibility of establishing an international criminal court.