TEXT A During the 1970’s and
1980’s political extremism and terrorism frequently focused on "national
liberation" and economic issues. The collapse of the Soviet bloc, and the ending
of its covert funding and encouragement of terrorism led to a decline in the
militant and violent left-wing terrorist groups that were a feature of the
age. The 1990’s have seen the development of a "new terrorism".
This is not to say that state-backed terrorism has ceased, but rather that the
spectrum of terrorism has widened. This new extremism is frequently driven by
religious fervor, is transnational, sanctions extreme violence, and may often be
millenialist. The new terrorism may seek out military or government targets, but
it also seeks out symbolic civilian targets, and the victims have mostly been
innocent civilians, Growing concern about this new terrorism
has been paralleled by concern about the employment of the new information and
communication technologies (ICT’s). ICT’s offer a new dimension
for political extremists and terrorists. They allow the diffusion of command and
control; they allow boundless new opportunities for communication, and they
allow the players to target the information stores, processes and communications
of their opponents. The sophistication of the modern nation-state, and its
dependency on computer-based ICT’s, make the state ever more
vulnerable The use of ICT’s to influence, modify, disrupt or
damage a nation state, its institutions or population by influencing the media,
Or by subversion, has been called "netwar", The full range of weapons in the
cyberspace armory can be employed in netwar; from propaganda campaigns at one
level to interference with databases and networks at the other. What
particularly distinguishes netwar from other forms of war is that it targets
information and communications, and may be used to alter thinking or disrupt
planned actions. In this sense it can be distinguished from earlier forms of
warfare—economic wars that target the means of production, and political wars
that target leadership and government. Netwar is therefore of
particular interest to those engaged in non-military war, or those operating at
sub-state level. Clearly nation states might also consider it, as an adjunct to
military war or as an option prior to moving on to military war. So far,
however, it appears to be of greater interest to extremist advocacy groups and
terrorists. Because there are no physical limits or boundaries, netwar has been
adopted by groups who operate across great distances or transnationally.
The growth of such groups, and their growing powers in relation to those
of nation states, suggests an evolving power-based relationship for both.
Military strategist Martin Van Creveld has suggested that war in the future is
more likely to be waged between such groups and states rather than between
states and states. Most modern adversaries of nation states in
the realm of low intensity conflict, such as international terrorists,
single-issue extremists and ethnic and religious extremists are organized in
networks, although their leadership may sometimes be hierarchical. Law
enforcement and security agencies therefore often have difficulty in engaging in
low intensity conflict against such networks because they are ill suited to cio
so. Their doctrine, training and modus operandi have, all too often, been
predicated on combating a hierarchy of command, like their own.
Only now are low-intensity conflict and terrorism recognized as
"strategic" threats to nation states, and countries which until very recently
thought that terrorism was something that happened elsewhere, have become
victims themselves. The Tokyo subway attack by the Aum Shinriko
and the Oklahoma City bombing would have been unthinkable a generation ago, and
not only was the civil population unprepared, but also law enforcement. And this
despite clear warning signs that such attacks were in the offing.
The potential for physical conflict to be replaced by attacks on
information infrastructures has caused states to rethink their concepts of
warfare, threats and national assets, at a time when information is recognized
as a national asset. The adoption of new information technologies and the use of
new communication media, such as the Internet, create vulnerabilities that can
be exploited by individuals, organizations and states. Which of the following is a major feature of the new terrorism
A．It obtains financial support from foreign powers. B．It focuses on military targets of the enemy states. C．It tends to be organized in a hierarchical manner. D．It may choose important civilian targets to attack.