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Summary:
International terrorism has long been
recognized as a serious foreign and domestic
security threat. This issue brief examines
international terrorist actions and threats and
the U.S. policy response. Available policy
options range from diplomacy, international
cooperation, and constructive engagement to
economic sanctions, covert action, physical
security enhancement, and military force.
A modern trend in terrorism is toward
loosely organized, self-financed, international
networks of terrorists. Another trend is toward
terrorism that is religiously- or
ideologically-motivated. Radical Islamic
fundamentalist groups, or groups using religion
as a pretext, pose terrorist threats of
varying kinds to U.S. interests and to friendly
regimes. A third trend is the apparent growth
of cross-national links among different terrorist
organizations, which may involve combinations
of military training, funding, technology
transfer, or political advice.
Looming over the entire issue of
international terrorism is a trend toward
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD). For instance, Iran, seen as the most
active state sponsor of terrorism, has been
secretly conducting a longstanding uranium
enrichment program, and North Korea has
both admitted to having a clandestine program
for uranium enrichment and claimed to have
nuclear weapons. (See CRS Issue Brief
IB91141, North Korea's Nuclear Weapons
Program.) On December 19, 2003, Iran announced
it will sign an agreement allowing
international inspections of nuclear sites; on
December 21, 2003 Libya announced similar
intentions. Indications have also surfaced that
Al Qaeda has attempted to acquire chemical,
biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons.
As a result, stakes in the war against international
terrorism are increasing and margins for
error in selecting appropriate policy instruments
to prevent terrorist attacks are diminishing.
U.S. policy toward international terrorism
contains a significant military component,
reflected in the war in Iraq; U.S. operations in
Afghanistan; deployment of U.S. forces
around the Horn of Africa, to Djibouti, and the
former Soviet Republic of Georgia; and
ongoing military exercises in Colombia.
President Bush has expressed a willingness to
provide military aid to "governments everywhere"
in the fight against terrorism. Issues
for Congress include whether the Administration
is providing sufficient information about
the long-term goals and costs of its military
strategy and whether military force is
necessarily an effective anti-terrorism
instrument in some circumstances.
As terrorism is a global phenomenon, a
major challenge facing policy makers is how
to maximize international cooperation and
support, without unduly compromising important
U.S. national security interests.
On April 30, 2003, the Department of
State released its Patterns of Global Terrorism
Report (Patterns 2002). The report indicates
that worldwide deaths from terrorist
activity were down from 3,295 in 2001 to 725
in 2002.
