1. Mapping the Mutations of Terrorism
Saron M. Obia
Pan African Institute for Development
West Africa
PAID-WA Buea, Cameroon
2. Outline
Why are crimes changing?
What is the system?
What is terrorism?
What is psychology of evil depression?
How do terrorists get into a country?
What are the tools used by terrorists?
What are they measures to be adapted to counter-terrorism?
What are the 4p to counter terrorism?
3. Why are crimes changing?
system of hegemony control
post-cold war
changing theories
NB: International security remains a vital issue on the global
agenda. It involves more than states and military conflicts. The
concept has been widen with empirical analysis of
contemporary security issues such as terrorism, proliferation
and failed states. The interest of this presentation is to enable
counter-terrorism units to understand the changing trends of
terrorism.
4. What is the system?
Terrorism
International security focuses on the development of world
war 2 and through the cold war period as events in Latin
America, USA, Britain and other parts of Europe excluding
Greece and Spain. In the post cold war period the focus is on
the 9/11 2001 attacks on the twin tower in USA, London bus
bombing which proceeded the Spanish railway
attack,14January 2015 Paris bombing and the recent events in
Belgium . It should be noted that is was only after the 9/11 that
the counter-terrorism unit idea came to reality, after the notion
in the late 90s.
5. What is terrorism?
It has 109 definitions
Castro defined terrorism as use of violence to achieve a
political goal. Political terrorism is due to the fear of the
ballot box. Religious terrorism is the need to establish a
caliphate. Hezbollah say their freedom fighters. The three
patterns;
-violence
-psychological fear
-publicity
Types of terrorism
-economic -intellectual
-biological -poor people
David Altheide : Terrorism and the politics of fear
6. What is psychology of evil depression?
Categories of crimes as a result of failure in life
Due to materialistic ideas
Causes of these events
world order-hegemony
-survival
-national interest
-power politics
-global arms industry
ethno-religious and cultural conflicts
Ideological believe, for example Boko Haram considers
democracy as for anti Muslim
Peter Zeihan: “The Accident of Super Powers”
7. How do terrorists get into a country?
Anyone can be a terrorist
Terrorist enter countries as refugees
Asylum and even scholarships in certain universities. When
well established, they begin to expand the network of the
organization. For example the Paris attack 2015
The use of illegal documents (stolen documents) like
passport, credit cards and visa
Multiculturalism also aids, since it open doors for people (
future terrorism spots ). Counter-terrorism units must
monitor mostly refugee camps, boundaries and asylum
seekers.
The quest for intelligence and recruitment of security
officers, need adequate scrutiny. The 9/11 case can well
explain this.
8. What are the tools used by terrorists?
Knives and garrote
Explosive and bombs
Pistols and revolvers
Automatic assault rifles
Heavy and light machine guns
Antitank rockets and guns
Mortars
Man Portable Air
Malcolm W. Nance : Terrorist Recognition Handbook
9. What are they measures to be adapted to counter-terrorism?
Need for a coalition
censorship of social media. This is one of the main source of
recruitment by terrorist groups (ISIS and Al Queada)
Mapping of vulnerable and operational area
Monitoring of financial transactions within and out of the
country(hacking of bank accounts)
Updating the security database of all criminals, asylum
seekers and immigrants
Identify security, engineering, programming and IT students.
They are likely to be contacted by terrorist groups, like
Jihadi John
10. What are the 4p to counter terrorism?
Prevention
Persuit
Protection
preparation