Domestic Terrorism
written by Richard Marcinko, aka "Rogue Warrior"
see books written by Dick Marcinko

Don't wait for another historical or hysterical ride from some "dude" called Paul Revere to announce " the terrorists are coming."  Check around you - they are here!  They are ready, they are willing, and they are more than able to commit mayhem.

Historically, we can recall the names of the seventies and eighties; the Baader Meinhof Gang; the Black September; the Red Brigade; the IRA; the Shining Path ; the Moslem Brotherhood; Japan's Red Army; Tupamaros and Che' Guevara.   These were the cellular groups that waged war on the United States from afar and overseas.  They were cellular in organization, much like the communist party.

No one person, cell or faction had the "big picture."  Their linkage was the common goal of bringing the United States to her knees the quickest and cheapest way possible.  One has to admit that they were successful at causing discomfort and embarrassment, at will. Because we have U.S. personnel and assets overseas in both the federal and private sectors we were and are easy targets.

To accomplish their goals they resorted to the simple tactics of kidnapping, car-bombing, hi-jacking of aircraft and basic ambush techniques.   Examples of the type of mayhem they introduced us to overseas were the Shiite Muslims that hijacked TWA Flight 847, holding hostages for 17 days and killing a U.S. Navy Diver on June 14, 1985 in Beirut, Lebanon.

In September 1986, four Arab terrorists seized Pan Am Flight 73.  The pilot fled but 21 others, including two Americans died when the hijackers, fearing an assault on the plane, threw grenades and opened fire on their hostages in Karachi, Pakistan.

Due to an attack by the Israelis on PLO headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, four Palestinians seized the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro for three days killing wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer and throwing him overboard on October 7, 1985.

Abu Nidal's group struck twice the same day at different airports killing 20 people including five Americans, one of them an 11 year girl on 27 December 1985 in Rome and Vienna.

In West Berlin an American sergeant was killed by a bomb at a disco frequented by U.S. servicemen.  Libya was held responsible for this April 5 1986 event; and of course the December 21, 1988 plastic explosive onboard Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 259 people over Lockerbie, Scotland.

During that same period we were exposed to terrorism at home by the December 29, 1975 bombing at La Guardia Airport.   Eleven people died after a bomb exploded at the TWA terminal.  FALN, a Puerto Rican independence group was a chief suspect.

On 3 June 1980 a bomb was planted at the Statue of Liberty which caused $15,000 in damage but no injuries.  A Croatian nationalist group was suspected.

More recently, four CIA staff members (Christians In Action) were killed by a gun man, thought to be a Pakistani national, at the entrance to their headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

What was our response to this attack on the United States?  Primarily due to the Desert ONE failure in Iran, the Department of Defense formed a full time counterterrorist organization organized to meet all threats on U.S. persons and assets worldwide within hours.

New levels of cooperation between our intelligence organizations and international intelligence agencies were instituted and the "shooters" quietly set up their own "good-old-boy" network to be able to stop the threat at its roots-not on our shores.

Our government had created a response mechanism but continues to this day to be hesitant about releasing the "dogs of war" to do their dastardly deed which they are trained and equipped to do.

The new and most current trend of terrorism is one performed by a dedicated ideological or highly motivated religious soldier with the fervor to serve that is, in fact, more prominent than the technical or tactical skill of this new-wave terrorist.  The more skilled terrorist of yesteryear is now the cadre that trains these new recruits that are more than willing to die or suffer the consequences for "the cause."

In anyone's language they are a cheap soldier that is expendable. Not only do they wear down our defensive posture but they demonstrate our extreme level of vulnerability to the true professional that is serving as the cadre and in fact a "force in-waiting."  They are basically in a win-win mode of operations and we allow ourselves to wallow in the lose-lose mode.

Statistically domestic terrorism has been low according to FBI reports. If you move around the United States, like I do, and work with as many SWAT forces as I do, one might argue that statement. The key ingredient is what constitutes a terrorist action.

Most of us would say if we were scared and terrorized by someone, that is a terrorist event. The bureaucratic definition, however, demands that the resultant action after the event must be political in nature.

A terrorist incident is defined as "a violent act against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian populations or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

How about if you or any of your loved ones is being detained by a perpetrator and denied inalienable rights and/or freedoms.  Don't you feel that the wheels of justice will not or cannot turn until it is bureaucratically ascertained that this situation meets the defined level of threat and ultimate danger to someone dear to you?

It becomes more a game of statistics than a fact of terror inflicted on our own domestic society.  According to a tally published by the FBI, 162 terrorist incidents have caused a total of 16 deaths and 59 injuries since 1982. Only 26 incidents occurred in the last five years prior to the World Trade Center bombing.

In my view the level of expertise that the terrorists had that have been charged with the World Trade Center incident is close to a private in a modern day army.  They didn't send in the technicians or the "specialists" to kill and wound over 1,000 Americans and cause hundreds of millions of dollars of physical damage to New York businesses.

Can you imagine what would have occurred if the terrorists had been high tech and were intent on maximizing the death and destruction?

One area of positive fallout from this mayhem is the level of cooperation by all of the agencies in gathering the required intelligence and evidence to prosecute the terrorists. It has been long in coming and as we now know their cooperation and specific expertise was needed again and my prediction is that this team may be worn out by the turn of the century.

On the negative side of this incident is the human nature of the normal citizenry of our major cities to assume the philosophy of "we had our hit" so we don't have to worry about this kind of threat again.

As I go back and forth to New York City, even as the World Trade Center bombing trial continues, the John Doe on the street is more concerned about the probability of the next snow storm and/or the likelihood of the next garbage strike.

The normal thought process appears to be that not only were the terrorists captured; their "master plan" was foiled and life will and must go on. No one seems to want to consider that immediately after the sentencing of the dedicated soldiers of mayhem another wave of terrorists will descend on the city to get even for having terminated the "true believers."

Remember—they have nothing to lose!!!

If we are not rocked into awareness by the World Trade Center incident that did take place on our shores (even if it was only New York City-which somehow probably deserved it) then we should get our Red, White, and Blue dander up a bit when we have a series of attacks against our White House, the home and symbol of our democratic values no matter what our political party affiliation is.

Once again these serious incidents were carried out by non-professional terrorists. These events were initiated and enacted by our own citizens that for one reason or another felt compelled to take drastic action to make the government recognize or remember that it is a government of the people and that some would like to have their voices heard and their votes count in the governmental process.

Having seen planes crashed into the White House; automatic weapons fired at the White House; and perpetrators scaling the fences at the White House not only demonstrates the frustration of our own citizens but also the obvious vulnerability of our President and his family. Take the plane crash as an example.

Why is the flight path around the city restricted to only three blocks from the White House? Assume there is an ever-vigilant Secret Service agent on the roof protecting our Commander-in-Chief. When was the last time, if ever, this individual shoulder-fired an actual Stinger anti-air missile?

Do they have any military experience at all? What is the policy guidance on how soon the agent can open the encased weapon and who has to authorize firing the missile? Can all this occur within the three block stand off range?

Since bureaucratic managers, versus leaders, have a tendency to protect themselves, and demonstrate that fact regularly, what about the concentration of the agent if he/she aims the weapon, locks on the attacking plane and then wonders where does the missile go if I miss/ or what if I hit the plane? Who is responsible if it actually falls out of the sky and falls on the innocent public? Who do you think will eventually be held responsible/liable?

Now try to tell any agent to act aggressively!! This is a "damned if you do and damned if don't" scenario that is brought about by agencies and their responsible officers who make policies that protect the agency and thereby perpetuate inactivity, while the problem is "studied," "reviewed" and beaten to death by incompetent individuals.

An example of the ineptness of government is that the cosmetic security measures recently enacted were, in fact, authored by Vice President George Bush in February 1986, at least nine years ago.

Two of the recommendations made at that time were the organization of a centralized analysis center to be created for international and domestic terrorism and the need for more human intelligence programs.

These two were in the top five of the 1986 recommendations. How many times do we have to suffer to make the government respond aggressively to the advice of experts in the field of counter terrorism?

The major domestic terrorism blow has to be the bombing in Oklahoma City. It is the "heartland" of the United States. What is so "bad" about Oklahoma City? What big sin did they commit against the world? It certainly got our attention while we all watched in horror at the "mass destruction" of innocent children in our "heartland."

Harder to fathom was and probably is to some degree the "who" of who did the dirty deed. Why one of us; why there; what had frustrated him so much? Who or what is the support mechanism behind this activity? These questions still go unanswered.

From the experience gained at the World Trade Center the same group of experts once again attacked the systematic process of collecting evidence and bringing the guilty to trial.

That is still the only plus to be recognized by this incident. Again the negative; what was the level of expertise used to commit this crime? I submit, although intelligent, not high tech. The basic design of the bomb is 1970 technology found in the open press. The tamping of the charge and probable booster is accomplished by minimum research and /or some low yield experimentation. The sad note, to me, is that as we celebrated our Independence Day the flags were raised to full mast.

The period of mourning has past, even in Oklahoma City, and we "fellow Americans" can legitimately concentrate on earned vacations, summer sales and take a brief pause before we attack another cycle of back to school, back to the grind and back to life as it once was. Hurry and forget the 160 plus dead and march on with life.

I hope by now that you the reader can identify with the fact that domestic terrorism is, in fact, present and surviving on our shores and has been able to pass all of our defenses and networks and penetrate our very "heartland." The advertised and planned responses to these incidents is too little, too late, and too cosmetic to be effective. As I've stated throughout, we haven't been attacked by a true professional force yet.

We have demonstrated our vulnerabilities from attacks committed by basic soldiers; not specialists, only people with a cause greater than willingness to give up some of our "creature features" that can be translated into our constitutional rights. Imagine to yourselves what can actually occur if we are attacked by professionals??

Remember that with the demise of the Soviet Union there must be at least 500 Dick Marcinkos out there who used to work for the KGB, the GRU or the SPETSNAZ who do not draw retirement pay, never owned real estate nor have a real opportunity to write "best sellers." They have to make a living somehow, and they are for hire. I know. I recently hired some for work in Russia.

Do the force multiplier process and add all the technological talent, the braindrain, that has limited opportunities for these people to work in the new "world order" and out of economic desperation are available "guns for hire" to the "highest bidder."

Eventually someone is going to take advantage of all of that talent and focus it against us. We have been penetrated and violated.

With this new wave of terrorism we have seen the trend towards weapons of "mass destruction," not those of the past that were normally targeted against specific targets and /or limited destruction. Up to this time the terrorists have not used a modern day weapon that can cause more than the 160 plus fatalities in Oklahoma City.

In order to march you one more step down the path of ultimate vulnerability, let me share my thought processes developed while I was carrying out my missions of "Red Cell." There I was tasked to conduct operations against our own installations within the capabilities of known terrorist organizations that might be targeted against that specific facility.

This process was carried out world-wide, and was more than successful. Being the ultimate terrorist, I know from the vulnerabilities demonstrated by low level terrorists how easy I can attack the same or similar targets.

I also know what I need to do if I want to accomplish total elimination or destruction of a target if I can bring to bear all the technology and assets available to me. (This is not a pretty picture for you).

Just from the open press I can plan that if I use a weapon of mass destruction that is chemical or biological in configuration I can kill up to 16 without anyone getting too upset. Tokyo and the "free world" still have not demonstrated to me a willingness to lash out at terrorist training centers in retaliation, for now, several attacks in Japan.

The World Trade Center bombing gives me a "ball park" figure on the amount of wounded and/or monetary damage I can inflict without any major measure of concern or retaliation.

I also know that if I keep the "body-count" below 160 I can probably plan on attacking another target without any major threat to my master plan to create paranoia and havoc in the United States. I even have a real feel for what has to be done to make the "big hit" on the White House."

The only concern I would have as a terrorist, is: is it worth all the hassle to take out the President when his inability to protect America and American assets elsewhere will take him out of the White House by a political process not a tactical one?

Domestic terrorism will now have additional targets of opportunity if we and the governmental structure does not make dynamic changes in the total counter terrorism strategy. Within a year we will have a World Series, we will start having major political conventions, we will have the Super Bowl, we are hosting the Summer Olympics in Atlanta which brings a huge number of logistical and tactical problems to bear.

We cannot keep our head in the sand forever. Harsh measures will have to be taken to protect each of us and still preserve our democratic ideals. The genie is out of the proverbial bottle and our shores are no longer pristine and innocent.

Brian Taylor, webmaster ... For Sale By Internet™ Corporation