Monday, November 27, 2006
By Jerry Brewer
Guarding and patrolling to maintain order and enforce
laws, according to the definition of “policing,” is quite a disparate philosophy to counterterrorism. Generally, policing is a dynamic initiative in performing the implacable basic fundamentals of crime prevention,
enforcement of laws and ordinances, keeping the peace, and other acts of public service.
Terrorism in the new millennium is more narrowly
defined as the political use of threat and intimidation to create intense fear through death and extreme violence to achieve
religious, cultural or ethnic ideologies. This vague but prolific threat surpasses
and never just fits one piece of real estate. It is worldwide and jurisdictional,
and a coordination effort in interdicting terrorism plays into the terrorist’s hands, thoughts and planning process.
Counterterrorism requires a more flexible response
due to the proper context of terrorism that must consider geopolitical, cultural and historical settings. The enemy, small shadowy and operating in small cells and in secret, are known for their thorough planning,
intensive training, repetition of successful tactics, expertise and genuine hatred for Western culture.
The terrorist’s preference is for symbolic
targets and spectacular attacks. These attacks tactically sophisticated, ruthless
and certainly ambitious.
As well, defeating the United States from within
as a primary goal, with the use of world media tools to control and manipulate opinion.
Although much of the hatred towards the West is directed
at the United States, the Americas as a hemisphere is particularly vulnerable. All
should be concerned about the proliferation of arms, weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, political, ethnic,
religious and social mayhem, and other acts of mass violence and strife within their own borders.
The southwestern hemisphere, from a threat assessment
standpoint, has generally been immune from Middle Eastern terrorism and similar terror ideologies. However, world events currently force Canada, the U.S., and democratic nations to the south to embrace
a necessary foundation of policy, diplomacy and commitment to a firm, proactive stance required to ameliorate the political
circumstances and social conditions that foster terrorism.
Of a particular circumstance are those nations throughout
Latin America that have experienced terror in their own right from political, ethnic-indigenous, military, and paramilitary
guerrillas in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and other South American countries.
Furthermore, many of the perpetrators from the trouble spots have been recruited and trained in Mexico to support drug
cartels.
Police in the United States over the last three
decades are no strangers to the infiltration of Latin American gangs and the associated violence they have brought to U.S.
cities. This, as well as other elements of culturally based street and drug dealing
gangs, fueled by internal prison gangs and recidivists intrinsically entrenched in crime, gangster mentality and fascination,
and drug and gun violence.
The fight against terrorism, in contrast to traditional
policing strategies, requires specialization analogous to strategic autonomous organizations within the intelligence community,
focused primarily on counterterrorism tasks and a united mission. Much of the
sophisticated training of terrorists within groups such as al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah, has come from countries
that have been identified as state sponsors of terrorism. And their clandestine
security forces have trained the terrorists as agents of espionage, as well as in tactics and strategies of psychology, organizational
structure (small cell), surveillance and analytical skills, and other areas of technological expertise that form their curriculum.
All nations throughout the Americas, moving to undertake
counterterrorism initiatives to protect their homelands, must enhance public understanding and gain support. Military and law enforcement agencies also need to intricately understand how the small shadowy and secretive
enemy cells work, with no visible armies, operating and maneuvering beyond the traditional view of police. Too, these counterterrorism initiatives must pass the test of facing public criticism, especially when
government processes call for oversight.
Overhauling the existing mindset with a better understanding
of modern intelligence methods, through approved and declassified disclosures, serves to eliminate overt media inquiries that
expose critical tools such as many outlined in the Patriot Act, and the interception of calls to and from suspected international
terrorists or their proxies.
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe, who’s
government recently boasted that guerrilla kidnappings and killings were “down sharply,” said it best: “Under
no circumstances will our government weaken its policy on democratic security.”
And all of this will take much more strategy than
just adding more police officers to the payroll and spending billions of dollars on fences and walls.
Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered
in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at Cjiaincusa@aol.com.
