BLET: 34A
TITLE: ANTI-TERRORISM
Lesson Purpose:To introduce the student to terrorism and prepare them for their role as the first line of defense to detect and prevent an act of terrorism.
Training Objectives:At the end of this block of instruction, the student will be able to achieve the following objectives in accordance with information presented during the instructional period:
- Assess potential terrorist-related threats, targets, and vulnerabilities within your jurisdiction.
- Identify terrorism threats specific to North Carolina.
- List the five (5) color-coded conditions of the Homeland Security Advisory System and precautions that should be taken by law enforcement for each level.
- Identify and report indicators of possible or impending terrorist attack.
- Identify and report indicators of illegal alien status and determine detention strategies if necessary.
- Explain the three (3) classifications of aliens.
- List the procedures to follow for basic consular notification upon the arrest or detention of a foreign national as required by the U.S. Department of State.
Hours: / Four (4)
Instructional Method: / Conference
Training Aids: / PowerPoint slides
Video:
Terrorism, NCJA (2004) (7 minutes)
References: / Consular Notification and Access Reference Card: Instructions for Arrests and Detentions of Foreign Nationals(pamphlet). Washington, DC: US Department of State, 2/02.
Consular Notification and Access, PowerPoint Presentation (CD-Rom). Washington, DC: US Department of State, 2003.
“Homeland Security Advisory System.” Washington, DC: US Department of Homeland Security. [On-line]. Available at: [August 1, 2004].
Institute for Intergovernmental Research. State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training Program. Tallahassee, FL: Institute for Intergovernmental Research, 2003.
Motor Vehicle Laws of North Carolina Annotated (2004 Edition). Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis, 2004.
North Carolina Criminal Law and Procedure (2004 Edition). Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis, 2004.
“Nuclear Reactors.” Washington, DC: US Department of Energy. [On-line]. Available at: [August 2004].
“Organization.” Washington, DC: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. [On-line]. Available at: [August 2004].
Robinson, Doug. Basic Anti-Terrorism Awareness Training. Salemburg, NC: NC Justice Academy, July 2004.
Prepared By: / Gary Earl Dudley
Instructor/Coordinator
North Carolina Police Corps Academy
Date Prepared: / January 2006
Prepared By: / Robert B. Yow
BLET Curriculum Coordinator
North Carolina Justice Academy
Date Prepared: / July 2006
TITLE: ANTI-TERRORISM – INSTRUCTOR NOTES
To promote and facilitate law enforcement professionalism, three (3) ethical dilemmas are listed below for classroom discussion. At their discretion, instructors must provide students with each ethical dilemma listed below. Sometime during the lecture instructors should set the stage for the dilemma prior to taking a break. Instructors are encouraged to develop additional dilemmas as needed.
- An officer in your department received what you feel to be creditable intelligence from a local hotel manager about four males of middle-eastern descent. The hotel manager has seen these individuals come and go with cameras and video equipment. They appear to be acting very secretly and are staying to themselves. He has observed them change license plates several times on their van. The officer that received this information tells you that he doesn’t have time to follow up on it right now due to the fact that he wants to leave to go on a fishing trip and will follow up on it when he gets back. What should you do?
- You stop by to check on another officer who has a vehicle stopped for speeding that is occupied by two males of possible middle-eastern descent. Upon your arrival, you hear the officer start harassing the occupants and calling them terrorists. He pulls the occupants out of the vehicle and starts a detailed search of them without probable cause. You are aware that this officer’s cousin died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. What should you do?
- An officer on your shift has made an arrest of a confirmed foreign national at the end of the shift. You are in the booking room at the same time, processing a prisoner from an unrelated incident. He is in a hurry to process the prisoner so that he can leave for his weekly bowling league night. The detention center supervisor reminds him to make consular notification. The officer under his breath says, “I am not wasting my time, they are not going to do anything about it anyway.” He finishes processing the prisoner and leaves without making the notification. What should you do?
TITLE: ANTI-TERRORISM
I.Introduction
A.Opening Statement
NOTE: Show slide, “Anti-Terrorism.”
As terrorist activity continues to go unabated world wide, Americans have been preparing themselves for another attack. Law enforcement officers have been preparing for it as well. Protecting our citizens, structures, and democratic values are major priorities. This block of instruction introduces officers to the terrorist threat and provides information to assist officers in assessing the potential terrorist-related threats, recognizing indicators of an impending terrorist attack and utilizing detention strategies for illegal aliens or potential terrorists.
B.Training Objectives
NOTE: Show slides, “Training Objectives.”
C.Reasons
NOTE: Show slide, “9-11.”
It is a now a reality that the threat of terrorism on America’s soil will be on-going. It is not a matter of if there will be another act of terrorism, but when and where that attack will occur in the United States. Regardless of their assignment, every law enforcement officer has a role in detecting and deterring acts of terrorism. The ability to respond appropriately to a terrorism event is both vital and necessary, but preventing the attack from occurring in the first place is the most desirable outcome. Law enforcement must become proactive, not reactive. We must remember that the patrol officer is the first line of defense against terrorism.
II.Body
NOTE: Show video, “Terrorism.”
A.Assessment of Potential Terrorist-Related Threats, Targets and Vulnerabilities
1.Terrorist-related threats
a) Terrorism defined
NOTE: Show slide, “Terrorism Defined.”
“There is no one universally accepted definition of terrorism. The FBI defines terrorism as ‘the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.’
Webster’s Dictionary, in 1998, defined terrorism as ‘the use of threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.’ Earlier editions stressed fear in general and not political motivation.
Essentially, terrorism is the use of extreme force and violence for the purpose of coercing a governmental entity or population to modify its philosophy and direction. Common key elements in definitions include use of force and violence, coercion of a government or population, and a political or social objective.
b)Objective of terrorism
The main objective for terrorists is to scare a government or its citizens so that they do what the terrorists want. The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon scared practically everyone in the United States, but, fortunately, did not achieve the terrorists’ objective because that fear translated into a firm resolve to engage and defeat the enemy.
The bombing of a police station would scare law enforcement, its local government, and the community’s citizens. Burning an abortion clinic would scare employees, supporters, and clients. Employees might quit, support might diminish, and clients might decide not to abort. That would achieve the terrorists’ objective. ‘Liberating’ fur animals might make breeders and customers fearful of selling and buying animal furs. Vandalizing a research laboratory might make scientists, operators, and financiers fearful. If scientists sought other positions and research financing evaporated, the objective would be accomplished. Similarly, when sufficient numbers of airplanes get hijacked, it can cause people to fear flying and intimidate airline companies from flying certain routes where hijackings are prone to happen.
The reality of terrorism is that it can be used as a leveraging tool. The weak can use it to gain a sense of equality with the strong. Terrorism is a vehicle through which an extreme minority can coerce and challenge a majority that it could never hope to defeat openly on a field of battle. It is a tactic just about anyone can use today to try and get his or her way. Terrorism can be directed at large and vague targets, or very specific locations and people. In that respect, it is a versatile weapon.
c)Modern terrorism versus historical terrorism
NOTE: Show slide, “Modern Terrorism vs. Historical Terrorism.”
Traditionally, terrorism has been restricted due to the inability of people to rapidly communicate and move. The scope of terrorist violence was also limited due to the lack of effective weaponry and the rural manner in which people lived. This is no longer the case. Unparalleled changes and advances in history have taken place in the past 100 years. It has been the most dynamic century in all of man’s existence! The automobile has replaced the slow-moving horse and the rail-restricted train. The airplane has made it possible to travel virtually anywhere in the United States in a few hours. Cellular telephones are so common that even children carry them. Television has become such a part of our existence that most homes have several sets. Prior to the twentieth century, most people could not even dream of transmitting live visual images over long distances. The Internet and the personal computer have become commonplace, just during the past decade. Weapons technology has advanced beyond the wildest imaginations of our recent ancestors. Modern explosives can be configured in just about any fashion a bomber can imagine and can be triggered in a variety of ways, ranging from highly complex to extremely simple. Society in general has become very urban, with people gathering in the largest structures man has ever developed.
All of these advances have made it possible for terrorists to become a more viable threat than at any other time in history. They can travel where they want and escape back to their homes without being missed. They can use modern communication to gather information about targets and weapons to perpetrate attacks, as well as to announce and promote their political agenda. They can use modern weapons against present-day larger targets to cause more extensive damage than ever before in history, and to kill larger numbers of people in a single attack. A sad truth and a sobering reality is that in the past few decades the capability has developed for a small group of dedicated people to perpetrate a catastrophic attack—killing thousands of people and causing multimillions of dollars in damages—make their escape, and travel to a different continent in less than a day.
d)Types and forms of terrorism and criminal extremists
NOTE: Show slides, “Types and Forms of Terrorism and Criminal Extremists.”
There are a number of different types and forms of terrorism and criminal extremism. These would include the left-wing, right-wing and special-interest/single-issue groups.
Left-wing, right-wing, and special-interest/single-issue groups can be domestic or international. They are considered domestic if they are present and active only in the United States. If they are present and active in more than one country, they are classified as an international group. Religious groups can also be domestic or international. Aryan Nations, for example, is considered a domestic group, while Usama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group, Hamas and Hezbollah are examples of international terrorist/extremist groups.
(1)Left-wing groups
Left-wing terrorists/extremists, such as the Weather Underground Organization, the New World Liberation Front, and the Armed Forces for Puerto Rican National Liberation (FALN) are often referred to as “communist” in nature, which does little to define their objectives. Essentially, left-wing terrorists/extremists seek to eliminate capitalism, which would involve a major revamping, if not a complete overthrow, of the United States government. Ultimately, they would like to see a socialist society in which all people would be equal and prejudices would not exist. They strive for a society in which citizens receive what they need and give according to their talent and skills. The means of production would be owned in common. There would be little or no government and certainly not a strong central administration. Group ideologies vary as to the exact form the new society would take. Most tend to believe there would be a need for a temporary dictatorial government in order to ensure a smooth transition between capitalism and the ideal state.
Left-wing extremists took advantage of the dislike for the Vietnam War to recruit supporters for their cause. The popularity of left-wing terrorism/extremism declined as the war came to an end and as the Soviet Union declined and fell. Neither China nor Cuba emerged as the kind of country in which American people would like to live, and this hurt the left-wing cause.
In the early to mid-1980s, United States law enforcement was highly successful in apprehending the left-wing extremists in the United States and, therefore, basically eliminated the threat from this form of terrorism by the onset of the last decade of the twentieth century. However, the last decade of the twentieth century and the early part of the new century has seen a rise in violent anarchists seeking to abolish the United States government and, in fact, all forms of government. This may become a significant left-wing terrorism threat.
(2)Right-wing groups
One would assume that right-wing terrorism would be the exact opposite of left-wing terrorism, and to a certain extent, it is. Neo-Nazi groups such as the National Alliance, seek to establish a strong central government that would control the means of production, either directly or through corporate monopolies controlled by individuals. The country would be very nationalistic and militarily strong. Patriotism would be stressed. A certain nationality, race or creed would occupy a favored position, and other groups would face discrimination and would have their rights restricted. The overall freedoms of even the selected citizens would likely be less than they would be in the United States at the present time; however, there are other political philosophies (e.g., sovereign citizens) that are not similar to the Neo-Nazi cause, yet are nonetheless characterized as being right-wing philosophies. To best view the differences between right-wing and left-wing philosophies, it is probably wise to place left-wing issues at one extreme and right-wing causes at opposite ends of the circular, rather than linear, fashion. The three basic subcategories of the right-wing terrorism/extremism are antigovernment groups (such as Posse Comitatus, Militias), religious extremist groups (such as Aryan Nations’ Church of Jesus Christ Christian and World Church of the Creator Aryan Nations’ Church ), and the racist/hate-based groups (such as the Ku Klux Klan and Skinheads).
(3)Special interest/single interest groups
Still other groups with social agendas are characterized as special-interest or single-issue groups. Antiabortion groups, animal rights groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), environmental groups, such as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and antigenetic engineering groups, such as Reclaim the Seeds, are examples of special-interest/single-issue groups.
As can be seen, there are many types and forms of terrorism and criminal extremism. To accomplish its mission, law enforcement needs to be aware of terrorists and extremists types and forms, known groups and tactics, and the crimes committed by them. This training responds to that need.
(4)Distinctive characteristics
Terrorists differ from common criminals in that their very beings are committed to their political cause. Family, friends, wealth, and physical pleasure may all be sacrificed for their political agenda. Some are willing to commit suicide in order to promulgate their political objectives, while others will risk their lives by committing dangerous actions, including bombings, arsons, and attacks on law enforcement. Virtually all terrorists will forego a normal life in favor of one that fosters the cause. As such, terrorists will allow the objectives of their cause to cloud their morals, values, and outlooks on life. For example, a person who would not normally consider harming another human being might not feel guilt if an innocent person died as a consequence of a political action of his group. Terrorists work with like-minded people, even though some of these individuals may differ greatly from them in terms of age, education, and background.
(5)Terrorists are criminals
Terrorists violate the law through their actual and planned violent political attacks and through the activities which support their clandestine existence. As such, they are criminals, even though there is no specific statute in this country that makes it illegal to hold terrorist beliefs, per se. The United States Constitution guarantees U.S. residents a number of freedoms of expression.