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Terrorism shows global pattern, nations must coordinate intelligence
By Charlie Duerr
Posted: July 15, 2006
Tuesday’s attack in Mumbai, India, shows an increasing terrorist pattern, and leaves many doubting
the productivity of the war on terror. According to news reports, U.S. officials believe that train bombings
are the work of two Islamic terrorist groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, who are
concerned with the land of Kashmir. There, control is heavily disputed by India and Pakistan.
Kashmiri separatists were blamed for the car bombings that killed 53 people in Mumbai in 2003 and
for an attack on the Indian Parliament in Delhi in 2001. In 1993, more than 250 people were killed after
at least 13 bombs exploded in Mumbai. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has condemned the
7/11 acts as “a despicable act of terrorism.”
"Terrorism is the bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and
comprehensively," Musharraf said.
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that the government did indeed have some advanced
knowledge that such an attack might take place, but they did not know exactly when or where. Upon
hearing a statement like this, most people will shake their heads in disappointment. What service is
the government providing if they are aware of possible attacks but cannot do anything to stop them?
This situation is not unique to India, but rather a common concern all over the world.
People are being told about the courageous “war on terror”, but are finding themselves left in the dark
about what their government is really doing about it. It is easy to identify terrorism as problem of the
utmost importance and condemn its cowardly acts. The problem is how to come up with away to stop it
and so far governments around the world are struggling to succeed.
This is where the issue between information and intelligence comes into play.
An example of the difference between information and intelligence was examined by Michael Clarke in
last week’s Guardian. On the anniversary of the London train bombings, the city’s streets were
occupied with 6,000 extra police and over 4 million surveillance cameras (1 camera for every 15 people
in the country). This is an example of intelligence operations, right? Wrong.
Information can be defined as the collection of facts or data and knowledge that has been acquired.
Intelligence, on the other hand, can be defined as the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. This is
an example of information operations. All too often governments have more information than they do
intelligence. This leads to disasters such as last year's London bombings and those most recently in
India.
The problem also leads to explanations like Patil’s: 'We knew there may be and attack, but we had no
idea when or where.'
It has even been made public that West Yorkshire police and MI5 were aware of Mohammed Siddique
Khan, the originator of last year’s London bomb plot. The police and the MI5 chose to ignore Khan
because his activities were secondary to the conspiracies they were following. They had significant
information about him, but no intelligence about his intentions.
This is not condemnation of the British intelligence operations, or India’s, or any other country’s for that
matter. To be fair, the MI5 is working on increasing its numbers from 2,800 to about 3,500 and it is
opening eight regional offices around the country, in order to respond to the increasing terrorist threat.
This is a question starter. What is being done to prevent terrorist attacks and when the system is not
working, what is being changed to improve it?
There is definitely no simple solution to the problem previously addressed and if readers are looking
for one in this article, they will probably walk away unsatisfied. While I am presently finishing the article
in my New York apartment, I periodically check CNN.com for the latest news updates. News of an
attack on the Israeli port of Haifa comes up on the screen. Another attack and more questions left
unanswered.
What needs to be recognized is that there is indeed a problem. The question is how can countries all
over the world increase their intelligence operations to decipher these plans of attack before they are
carried out.
### ### ###
Charlie Duerr is a Global Affairs Intern, The Atlantic Affairs.
By Charlie Duerr
Posted: July 15, 2006
Tuesday’s attack in Mumbai, India, shows an increasing terrorist pattern, and leaves many doubting
the productivity of the war on terror. According to news reports, U.S. officials believe that train bombings
are the work of two Islamic terrorist groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, who are
concerned with the land of Kashmir. There, control is heavily disputed by India and Pakistan.
Kashmiri separatists were blamed for the car bombings that killed 53 people in Mumbai in 2003 and
for an attack on the Indian Parliament in Delhi in 2001. In 1993, more than 250 people were killed after
at least 13 bombs exploded in Mumbai. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has condemned the
7/11 acts as “a despicable act of terrorism.”
"Terrorism is the bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected and countered effectively and
comprehensively," Musharraf said.
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that the government did indeed have some advanced
knowledge that such an attack might take place, but they did not know exactly when or where. Upon
hearing a statement like this, most people will shake their heads in disappointment. What service is
the government providing if they are aware of possible attacks but cannot do anything to stop them?
This situation is not unique to India, but rather a common concern all over the world.
People are being told about the courageous “war on terror”, but are finding themselves left in the dark
about what their government is really doing about it. It is easy to identify terrorism as problem of the
utmost importance and condemn its cowardly acts. The problem is how to come up with away to stop it
and so far governments around the world are struggling to succeed.
This is where the issue between information and intelligence comes into play.
An example of the difference between information and intelligence was examined by Michael Clarke in
last week’s Guardian. On the anniversary of the London train bombings, the city’s streets were
occupied with 6,000 extra police and over 4 million surveillance cameras (1 camera for every 15 people
in the country). This is an example of intelligence operations, right? Wrong.
Information can be defined as the collection of facts or data and knowledge that has been acquired.
Intelligence, on the other hand, can be defined as the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. This is
an example of information operations. All too often governments have more information than they do
intelligence. This leads to disasters such as last year's London bombings and those most recently in
India.
The problem also leads to explanations like Patil’s: 'We knew there may be and attack, but we had no
idea when or where.'
It has even been made public that West Yorkshire police and MI5 were aware of Mohammed Siddique
Khan, the originator of last year’s London bomb plot. The police and the MI5 chose to ignore Khan
because his activities were secondary to the conspiracies they were following. They had significant
information about him, but no intelligence about his intentions.
This is not condemnation of the British intelligence operations, or India’s, or any other country’s for that
matter. To be fair, the MI5 is working on increasing its numbers from 2,800 to about 3,500 and it is
opening eight regional offices around the country, in order to respond to the increasing terrorist threat.
This is a question starter. What is being done to prevent terrorist attacks and when the system is not
working, what is being changed to improve it?
There is definitely no simple solution to the problem previously addressed and if readers are looking
for one in this article, they will probably walk away unsatisfied. While I am presently finishing the article
in my New York apartment, I periodically check CNN.com for the latest news updates. News of an
attack on the Israeli port of Haifa comes up on the screen. Another attack and more questions left
unanswered.
What needs to be recognized is that there is indeed a problem. The question is how can countries all
over the world increase their intelligence operations to decipher these plans of attack before they are
carried out.
### ### ###
Charlie Duerr is a Global Affairs Intern, The Atlantic Affairs.
| (c) 2006 New Criterion Foundation, London |
| Security. Ideologies. Multiculturalism. |