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tries. In most cases, the a rms origi–
nated in the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe.
Though the Soviet Union offi–
cía lly opposes terrorísm, many ana–
lys t s have sugges t ed that th e
Kremlin míght actually act, to one
degree or another, as a common
central command for the seemíngly
multifarious ínternatíonal terroríst
groups. lncreasing evidence points
to direct involvement by the KGB
(the Soviet intelligence organiza–
tion) in the support of terroríst op–
era tions in the West.
Political columnist Otto von
Habsburg writes: "One common de–
nominator is that most leaders of
these organizations have spent sorne
time in the Soviet Union .. .. The
numbers who train in Russia are so
great and their connections with the
KG B so
el
ose that leadership by re–
mote control from the Soviet Union
must be presumed."
Whatever the case, there is no
d ou bt that th e world's terroris t
groups, now beginning to coordi–
nate their efforts, a re becoming
more and more efficient and profes–
sional in their operatíons, posing a
sígnificantly greater threat than ever
befare. "The trend toward greater
international contact and coopera–
tion among terrorist groups that has
a lready markedly enhanced the op–
erational capabíli ties of sorne of the
organizations involved seems likely
to gain further momentum," pre–
dicts a CIA study released Last year.
Supervlolence
Ominously, the acts of terrorism we
have witnessed to date may only be
child 's play compared to what is to
come. Professor Yonah Alexander
comments grimly that "there is no
limit to the terrorist imagination."
Intelligence sources reveal that
within the past two years the terror–
ist underground has been discussing
the possibility of attacking nuclear
power stations; poisoning tbe water
supply of a major city; stealing nu–
clear, chemical and biological war–
fare materials; hijacking oil tankers
or large passenger liners; sabotaging
strategic communications centers;
destroying railway centers, oil refi–
ne ries, or offshore rigs.
Terrorists today are increasingly
able to get their hands on new, tech-
The
PLAIN TRUTH June 1977
nically sophisticated military weap–
ons by outright theft from military
depots, on the black market, or from
sympathetic governments which
buy them from one of the major
a rms-exporting n at io ns. These
weapons- advanced machine guns,
automatic pistols, and even portable
missiles- can convert one man into
a virtual walking army.
The CIA report previously cited
warns that "the world will witness
steadily greater and more wide–
spread sophistication in terrorist tar–
getting, execution, and weaponry."
Many experts fear the day is fast
approaching when a terrorist group
will either steal or manufacture an
a tomic bomb a nd threaten to use it
as a part of a blackmail scheme.
There is evidence that a number of
groups have already begun toying
with the idea of "going nuclear."
Underground pamphlets have been
uncovered both in Europe and the
United States conta ining plans for
crude atomic weapons.
Terrorlsts and the Media
"The latest developments in that
Mideast skyjacking ... Channel 2
News a t eleven! " intones an excited
TV newscaster during a prime-time
commercial break.
Terrorism is rapidly becoming a
maja r spectator sport. It is not un–
common to see upwa rds of half of
an evening newscast being devoted
to the chronicl ing of the Latest ter–
rorist incident, or to be assaulted
through the evening by' a series of
fiv e-second commercial plugs for
the upcoming la t e-night news ,
which wi!J bring
us
"up to date" on
this or that "spectacular" terrorist
hijaclcing or raid.
Dr. Frederick
J.
Hacker, author of
Crusaders, Criminals, Crazies: Ter–
ror and Terrorism in Our Time,
as–
serts: "Terrorism and mass media
are made for each other."
An
ob–
scure, ragtag group armed with a
few rifles and grenades can com–
mand instant worldwide recognition
for their cause by one daring terror–
ist act. In a matter of minutes, mul–
tiple millions can watch the drama
unfold over television or hear it over
the radio. Banner newspaper head–
lioes proclaim the latest d evel–
opments. The terrorists, in short,
can achieve a notoriety far beyond
their power and oumber as the
media closely follow their exploits
for the public.
"While th e terrorists may kili,
sometimes wantonly, the primary
objective of terrorism is
not
mass
murder," says The Rand Corpora–
tion's Brian Jen kins. " Te rro ri sts
want a lot of people
watching
and a
lot of people
listening,
not a lot of
people dead ."
Dr. David Hubbard, director of
the Aberran! Behavior Center in'
Dalias and one of America's leadíng
authorities on skyjacking, puts ít
somewhat more strongly: ' 'The news
is a whore. lt will líe down and gíve
itself completely to any man who
skyjacks an ai rplane."
Walter Cronkite, anchorman for
the CBS Evening News, may have
pinpointed the problem duríng a
question-and-answer session whíle
in South Africa recently. Asked why
television reported only the bad
news, Cronkite suggested that "news
is the aberration, not the norm.
It
is
no t the number of aircraft that land
safely every day, but it is the one
that crashes that makes the news."
Terrorism, without a doubt , pro–
vides plenty of aberrant grist for the
world's news mills.
Thwartlng Terrorlsm
The increase in bombings, kidnap–
pings, hostage-taking and assassina–
tions by terrorist groups has focused
the atfention and concero of law en–
forcement officials around the globe
on the growing threat. Police orga–
nizations are still searching for the
best way of dealíng with terrorism.
Prevention
is logically the first
step. This would include tighter
secur ity around prime terrorist tar–
gets (airports, nuclear plants, gov–
ernment buildings, embassies, etc.),
stepped-up police intelligence activ–
ities, infiltration of terrorist groups,
and soon.
Brian Crozier, the distinguished
British corresponden! and director
of tbe Institute for the Study of
Confiict in London, suggests tha t
each threatened country " needs to
create a department of special de–
fense that will pull togetber al! of
the knowledge necessary to combat
the threat- experts
in
intelligence,
explosives, commando tactics, lan–
guages, psychological warfare, com-
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