NCJ Number
147812
Date Published
1992
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The author discusses trends in international terrorism.
Abstract
There are 70 identifiable, active terrorist groups in the world today, representing nearly a seven-fold increase since 1968. Terrorists have been growing in lethality as well as in their numbers, but their targets, instruments, and tactics have basically remained the same. Roughly half of all attacks are bombings. Most, despite increases in fatalities, are directed against things, not people, and are meant to draw attention to terrorists and their causes. However, successive generations of terrorists are getting less idealistic, while advancing in technical sophistication. Nuclear terrorism in the near future is unlikely due to political, moral, and practical considerations. Terrorists operate on the principle of minimum force necessary; they may achieve their aims by killing a few as well as by killing many. Nuclear terrorism is most likely to occur in settings where sovereign borders are in flux, and in which religious or ethnic fanaticism prevails. Americans are still prime targets of terrorists, due to the symbolic value of striking against representatives of a world superpower--now the only world superpower. 61 footnotes