Counterterrorism strategies and approaches

Counterterrorism Briefing

To those of you who are now entering into the field of national security, it will be important to recognize and understand a number of the realities that have become salient in our global defense outlook. Prominent among these realities is the very real and present threat of terrorism both at home and abroad. This makes counterterrorism one of the top priorities for all members of the nation's extended security apparatus.

Counterterrorism is essentially the array of strategies related to military objectives, intelligence gathering, policy objective, resource distribution, covert action and direct defense strengthening designed to preempt, prevent or respond to terrorism. According to the Department of Defense, its definition is more simply stated as "operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, preempt, and respond to terrorism." (DoD, 1) This initiation of the idea of offensive maneuvering as being an initial point of reference in the definition for counterterrorism should serve as an indication to those of you entering the service of our nation's security that this may in some contexts mean operating overseas in concert with such efforts as those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

These operations denote a definition of counterterrorism which includes meeting threats abroad before they can materialize here. The nature of this objective is reinforced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who maintains an up-to-date listing of the world's most-wanted terrorists. Here, the Assistant Director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, Michael Heimbach offers further articulation of counterterrorism responsibilities, denoting the obligation "to neutralize terrorist cells and operatives here in the U.S. And to help dismantle terrorist networks worldwide." (Heimbach, 1)

To the idea of dismantling terrorist cells, the work required will not always be militaristic in nature. Instead, counterterrorism objectives proceed with the understanding that financing and communication networks lay at the base of terrorist success. Therefore, in understanding how counterterrorism works, you will come to understand this as a force which is concertedly interested in obstructing the financial avenues that have helped terrorists to perpetrate their grimmest successes. Even in these though, evidence has emerged to suggest that there is much value in the strategy of disrupting financial flow. According to the Feiler (2007) text, "execution of terrorist activities requires a reliable cash stream. After his capture in 1995, Ramzi Yusif, the convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other attacks3 admitted that cash problems prevented his operatives from making as large a bomb as they had intended." (Feiler, 1)

This was encouraging insofar as it would represent a path forward for counterterrorism professionals, who have come to view the uncovering and disruption of financial networks to be a key to preventing future attacks on American, its friends and its allies. Another crucial way of ensuring this is to continue to improve the dissemination of proper preventative tactics to state and local law enforcement groups. As the CTT denotes "sharing information is essential to the coordination of efforts to support state and local counter-terrorism training," (CTT, 1)