Counterterror Joint Command

Mission Statement

Government Counterterrorism Policy centers on cooperating with regional members by adhering to international intelligence security guidelines and long term strategic objectives. National guidelines involve protecting Energy Resources, Information and Electronic Technologies, enforcing Trade, Transportation and Telecommunication Policies and Force Interdiction by Department of Defense, Military, and Federal Rapid Response Law Enforcement for tactical interdiction in response to incursion by limited foreign elements.

It is a common conception that only major trade and political allies to the USA, are likely targets for violent international terrorist activities therefore many incidents involving explosives, hostages or destructive chemicals will remain a responsibility of City and County Police and their own Tactical Teams as according to the current criminal code. It is our belief that Law Enforcement’s Role in Counterterrorism is much more significant and far wider in scope then current government policies dictate.

The Essence Of Counterterrorism

The essence of Counterterrorism is to achieve an infrastructure with capabilities to plan, organize, staff, implement and control every aspect of potential terrorism so that a terrorist-like incident causing great destruction and suffering does not occur when it could have been preventable. Furthermore these capabilities will take into account how to minimize the adverse effects and maximize speedy restoration of order should terrorism strike, not only as a function of manpower but through information sharing, intelligence gathering and dissemination of public warnings as an intrinsic responsibility of LE. Most importantly, these integrations elevate present police capabilities to the highest level of responsiveness and competency for any emergency including earthquakes, other natural disasters and environmental calamity.

Objectives

The purpose of this report is to outline a general summary of the actions that Police Agencies must focus on in order to establish a sound Counterterrorism Command and Management Infrastructure for Law Enforcement to face the threat of terrorism and which includes the following functions:

 1. Vulnerability Assessment and Threat Detection 
 2. Monitoring and Occurrence Prediction
 3. Protection and Mitigation
 4. Information Assurance 
 5. Risk Management
 6. Contingency Planning and Red Team Tasking

The next steps taken will help guide international agencies into the 21st Century in a cost effective manner utilizing support from the foremost experts available. Our objective is to bring to Taiwan leading experts in Advanced Security Infrastructure and Occurrence Management who can fulfill the requirements of training, software, hardware and technological guidance specifically for use by the Chiefs of Police Departments.

Defining Terrorism

In fairness to those who have differing perspectives, according to terrorism specialist Louise Richard, sub-state terrorism is the deliberate targeting of non-combatants for a political purpose. She expands on this definition with several inherent characteristics of this terrorism:

A terrorist act must be a political act
It must involve violence or the threat of violence
It must be symbolic since sub-state terrorists are invariably outmanned and outgunned by their adversaries
The violence is to communicate a political message - not to defeat an enemy, nor violence for the sake of violence
The victims of terrorism and the audience of terrorism are not the same
The targeting of non-combatants must be deliberate

Terrorism is the means used and not the end which are pursued. This is crucial, since many are reluctant to label those with whom they agree as terrorists, even if they are, and instead reserve that label for terrorism directed against them or their allies. Terrorism is terrorism regardless of whether you agree with their ends. Richard also points out that there are often legitimate goals which are the basis for terrorism.

The author believes the above definition is a static socio-political viewpoint which uses limited sampling processes to fit the term to her definition. There is another school of thought which that takes into account the essence of 4th Generation Warfare as a Military Tool of terrorist organizations and in this last year several acts of terrorism have not only had no political aspiration, but have specifically targeted active military personnel. Furthermore to say that the action is symbolic because the terrorists are out-gunned is quite near-sighted. The acts of terrorists may be by individuals with a cause or acts sanctioned by large international organizations backed by military leaders and political heads of state where vast resources are used to wage irregular warfare. As well, whole armies are known to be both terrorist affiliated or manned by terrorists directly and this is hardly the "few against many" depicted by Ms. Richard. As in recent years, civilian casualties may be party of the peripheral damage of the act. Finally, terrorism is never legitimate and the means by which these goals are sought may not be by the same process which another entity uses for like goals, therefore if one group can use non-terrorist methods to ascertain their goals why would anyone legitimize terrorist actions for the same objectives. It is hard to believe thaat anyone who can use nuclear or biological weapons does not count believe that the more that are killed of their enemy the greater the success, which in a broad stroke is precidely the ends by which the means is used for.

Weapons of Terrorism

The traditional tools of terrorism include explosives, incendiary devices, taking of hostages and kidnapping however Modern Day Terrorism now includes what has been generally referred to as Weapons of Mass Destruction or “WMD”. A suitable acronym which describes the basic categories of “WMD” scale is “B-NICE” which stands for Biological, Nuclear, Incendiary, Chemical, and Explosive. The most common weapons are Incendiary Devices and Explosives; however a greater danger exists from the combining of components to enhance damage and injury not only to potential victims, but to investigators who enter into the Hot Zone to collect evidence.

Delivery

Supplementing traditional improvised explosive devices by adding a biological or chemical agent can increase the length of time and the effective area of danger. If a biological weapon releases deadly viruses or bacterial pathogens into the environment, agriculture, animals, water, soil and air are at risk from contamination and recovery then becomes a tremendous challenge requiring resources, equipment and expertise which may be very limited or unavailable. Even more so, the effects of a biological agent may not be felt for hours or days after its release, severely complicating detection and containment. On the simplest scale, a plastic water bottle containing caustic or toxic agents with a hand grenade taped to its exterior becomes a weapon with surgical strike capabilities and a means of focused assassination. Binary Devices are weapons with two chemicals held in separate sections that are mixed after firing to produce deadly substances such as Sarin. Detonation can be through impact, fuse, timed dissolve, preliminary charge, ballistic, wired or wireless electrical signal such as a mobile phone for remote and distance connect. A deterrent to this type of electronic relay is a frequency jammer now in common use with US Forces in the Middle East to protect fortified positions.

Law Enforcement whose basic goal is to protect the public must deter these acts prior to occurrence which requires preplanning, acquiring equipment, specialized training and to develop an infrastructure to command, and manage Operations, Planning, Logistics and Administrative functions of Incidence Response.

Terror Interdiction Action Plan

In order to support the required functions the NPA antiterrorism plan must be:

1) Dynamic and Flexible in order to proactively deter and preemptively deny an entity that is as yet unknown from: 
 a) Destroying vital services* thereby crippling society,
 b) Propagating fear and mayhem to paralyze our nation’s vitality. 
 c) Using a WMD to end life and  
2) Simple and Practical for:
 a) Rapid Implementation 
 b) Optimal Infrastructure in order to:
   i) Gather and share essential interagency intelligence
   ii) Disseminate information and warnings to the public
   iii) Liaison w/ Civilian Reps as well as the Chief of Staff
 c) Effective Incident Management Chain of Command to:
   i)  Understand the nature of the terrorist threat. 
   ii) Understand your antiterrorism plan and their role. 
   iii) Recognize indications of a terrorist attack. 
   iv) Take effective and appropriate action.
   v)  Restore Order and Assist Recovery

Preparations

Special attention must be placed on Training and Administration:

1. Officer Safety Issues
2. First Responder Procedure, Secondary Criticality 
3. Explosives and Incendiary Devices, WMD and HAZMAT
4. International Terrorism and Extremism Groups 
5. Domestic Terrorism and Religious Fanaticism 
6. Understanding the Terrorist Mindset - Terrorism Indicators 
7. Terrorist Financing – Criminal Investigations
8. Special-Interest/Single-Issue Terrorism - 
9. Special-Interest/Anarchist Groups 
10. Interview, interrogation, Negotiation Techniques With Extremists
11. Threat Assessments -  Risk Management
12. The Role of Intelligence – Information Sharing
13. Human Rights, Legal Issues
14. First Responders – Public Safety and Dangerous Containment
15. Tactical Force Response 
16. Hostage Rescue
17. Guarding public Services
18. Recovery and Restoration

Process and Protocol

Establishing a Counterterrorist Command Center

1) Before an incident – Plan and Preparation
  a) A Risk Assessment
   i) Description of the types of potential threat 
   ii)	 Analysis of potential locations most likely in threat. 
   iii)Procedure to keep this assessment current. 
  b) Training
   i) Simulations and Reviews
   ii) 2nd Response
   iii) Contingency
   iv) Special Operations
   v) Scientific Teams
   vi) Containment
  c) Acquiring Equipment
   i) Bio-Chemical Scanning Detection
   ii) Radioactivity Measurement
   iii) Special Operations Listening, Radar, Visual Aids
   iv) Medical Emergency
   v) Isolation Equipment – NBC Masks and Suits
   vi) Detoxification – Cleaners
   vii) Disposal
2) During the incident – Executing and Responding
  a) Joint Field Command Structure 
  b) Incident Command Layout 
  c) On-scene Coordination Protocol, Contingency, 2nd Occurrence 
  d) Commissioner’s Command Tree 
  e) Securing Vital Public Services*, Events, and Important Areas
    i) Energy Resources, Power transmission and lines
    ii) Waterways, Harbors, Freight and Container Loading
    iii) Shoreline, Borders, Airspace
    iv) Banks, Financial Institutions, Businesses, IT, TV
    v)	 Hospitals, Evacuation Centers, Prisons
    vi) Roadways, Bridges, Tunnels, Mountain Passage
    vii) Railways, Electric Circuitry and Control Stations
    viii) Airports, Cargo Centers, Mail, Telecommunication
    ix) Dams, Construction, Refineries, Science and Industry
    x)	 Schools, Universities, Libraries, Sports Events, Media 
    xi) Public Gathering, Auditoriums, Concert Halls, Malls
    xii) Government Buildings, Memorials, Landmarks
3) After an Incident – The Follow Through
  a) Criminal Investigation
  b) Recovery
  c) Analysis
  d) Victim Assistance

The Role of Law Enforcement – Sequence of Events

1. SCENE ASSESSMENT – Threat Evaluation Team, Forensics, Scientist, Health 
  1) What type of B-NICE Incident is suspected?
  2) How many victims?
  3) Current status – on-going or stable?
  4) What other resources are required, Fire, Medical?
  5) Where is the location exactly?
  6) What is the safest approach?
  7) Any other devices or suspicious possibilities?
  8) Are any perpetrators present?
  9) What is the threat? Ambush Traps, Secondary Explosives
2. SECURING THE SITE
  1) Prevent witnesses from leaving
  2) Prevent others from entering danger areas
  3) Preserve Evidence
  4) Prepare staging area
  5) Limit contamination
3. LIMITING THE SPREAD OF THE HAZARD
  1) Understand the blast potential, direct force and shrapnel
  2) Contain contamination and contaminated persons, materials
  3) Use scanning and detection to read the types
  4) Understand the weather and wind conditions, glaze distances
  5) Locate Spread Points, water tables, waterways, animals
4. RESCUE AND AIDING THE INJURED
  1) Securing traffic
  2) Establishing Emergency Medical Services Entry
  3) Containment and removal of HAZMAT
  4) Evacuation of Injured
  5) Isolation of non-injured
5. INITIATE THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
  1) Scene is equal to Violent Crime Scene
  2) Recording and photographing and identifying witnesses
  3) Install earliest possible investigations and specialists teams 
6. ASSISTING OTHER AGENCIES AND SPECIALISTS IN PERFORMING DUTIES 
  1) Establishing Security and Perimeter
  2) Assisting Medical Staff 
  3) Evacuation Support
7. RESTORATION OF PUBLIC ORDER AND CONFIDENCE
  1) Visibility 
  2) Fielding Questions
  3) Public Relations
  4) Restore Confidence
  5) Proper equipped and trained investigations teams