8-Apr-2014 • Chris C.
The Intelligence Community is guided by the definition of terrorism contained in Title 22 of the US Code, Section 2656f(d):
Under Section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002:
(15) The term ‘‘terrorism’’ means any activity that— (A) involves an act that— (i) is dangerous to human life or potentially destructive of critical infrastructure or key resources; and (ii) is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State or other subdivision of the United States; and (B) appears to be intended— (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.2
The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.3
“NCTC uses the definition of terrorism found in Title 22, which provides that terrorism is “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.”4
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence against individuals or property in an attempt to coerce or intimidate governments or societies to achieve political, religious or ideological objectives.5
(None)6
The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.7
Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 of the United States Code defines certain key terms used in Section 2656f(a) as follows:
“…terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby—in contrast to assassination—the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators. Threat- and violence-based communication processes between terrorist (organization), (imperiled) victims, and main targets are used to manipulate the main target (audience(s)), turning it into a target of terror, a target of demands, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is primarily sought.”9
“[Terrorism is]…the use or the threatened use of force designed to bring about a political change.”10
“By distinguishing terrorists from other types of criminals and irregular fighters and terrorism from other forms of crime and irregular warfare, we come to appreciate that terrorism is
We may therefore now attempt to define terrorism as the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence or the threat of violence in the pursuit of political change. All terrorist acts involve violence or the threat of violence. Terrorism is specifically designed to have far-reaching psychological effects beyond the immediate victim(s) or object of the terrorist attack. It is meant to instill fear within, and thereby intimidate, a wider “target audience” that might include a rival ethnic or religious group, an entire country, a national government or political party, or public opinion in general. Terrorism is designed to create power where there is none or to consolidate power where there is very little. Through the publicity generated by their violence, terrorists seek to obtain the leverage, influence, and power they otherwise lack to effect political change on either a local or an international scale.”11
“Terrorism is the use or threatened use of violence, directed against victims selected for their symbolic or representative value, as a means of instilling anxiety in, transmitting one or more messages to, and thereby manipulating the attitudes and behavior of a wider target audience or audiences.”12
“Until recently, a large part of the literature on terrorism concentrated on definitions of terrorism, but without reaching consensus on what that definition is. Thus we have the common refrain that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist, and the suspicion that, if the word had existed at the time, the British authorities would probably have branded our founding fathers terrorists. Of course, most people know what they mean by terrorism, but it is a little like obscenity: people believe they know it when they see it, but cannot define it. Even the United Nations does not have a definition for terrorism”13
“[Terrorism] is a conspiratorial style of violence calculated to alter the attitudes and behavior of multiple audiences. It targets the few in a way that claims the attention of the many.”14
SEC. 802. DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM. DOMESTIC TERRORISM DEFINED.—Section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)(B)(iii), by striking ‘‘by assassination or kidnapping’’ and inserting ‘‘by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping’’; (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’; (3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and (4) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(5) the term ‘domestic terrorism’ means activities that— (A) ‘involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) ‘‘appear to be intended— (i) ‘‘to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) ‘‘to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) ‘‘to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (A) ‘‘occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.’’. (a) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3077(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: (1) ‘‘‘act of terrorism’ means an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in section 2331;’’.15
18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines “international terrorism” and “domestic terrorism” for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled “Terrorism”:
“International terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics: Involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and Occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S., or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.*
“Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics: Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.
18 U.S.C. § 2332b defines the term “federal crime of terrorism” as an offense that: Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including § 930(c) (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and § 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).
*FISA defines “international terrorism” in a nearly identical way, replacing “primarily” outside the U.S. with “totally” outside the U.S. 50 U.S.C. § 1801(c).16
“The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”17
“How do you define terrorism?,” Central Intelligence Agency, last modified April 19, 2013, accessed March 7, 2014, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/cia-the-war-on-terrorism/terrorism-faqs.html. ↩
“Homeland Security Act of 2002,” Public Law 107-296, 107th Congress, Department of Homeland Security, 2002, accessed March 8, 2014 http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hr_5005_enr.pdf. ↩
“Terrorism,” National Institute of Justice, last modified September 13, 2011, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/Pages/welcome.aspx. ↩
“Report on Terrorism,” The National Counterterrorism Center, 2011, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/nctc2011.pdf. ↩
“Terrorism,” NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions, AAP-06, ed. 2013, accessed March 7, 2014, http://nsa.nato.int/nsa/zPublic/ap/aap6/AAP-6.pdf. ↩
The UN has not been able to come to a consensus on the definition of terrorism. See “Legal Committee Urges Conclusion of Draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism,” UN General Assembly, GA/L/3433, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/gal3433.doc.htm. ↩
“Terrorism,” United States Army Combined Arms Center, last modified September 17, 2008, accessed March 7, 2014, http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/call/thesaurus/toc.asp?id=29533. ↩
“Country Reports on Terrorism 2012,” U.S. Department of State, May 2013, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210204.pdf. ↩
Joseph S. Tuman, “The Struggle to Define Terrorism,” Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism, Second Edition, 2010, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/30773_1.pdf. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Bruce Hoffman, “Defining Terrorism,” in Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment, Readings and Interpretations, Russell D. Howard and Bruce Hoffman (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012), 33. ↩
Jeffrey M. Bale and Gary Ackerman, “Recommendations on the Development of Methodologies and Attributes for Assessing Terrorist Threats of WMD Terrorism,” Center for Nonproliferation Studies, accessed March 7, 2014, http://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/csep590/05au/readings/Bale_Ackerman_FinalReport.pdf. ↩
Marc Sageman, “How to Study Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century,” Leaderless Jihad (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 15. ↩
Martha Crenshaw, “Introduction,” Terrorism in Context, (Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University, 1995), 4. ↩
“Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001,” One Hundred Seventh Congress of the United States of America, H.R. 3162, Government Publication Office, 2001, accessed March 8, 2014, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-107hr3162enr/pdf/BILLS-107hr3162enr.pdf. ↩
“Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition. ↩
“Terrorism,” Marriam-Webster, accessed March 7, 2014, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism. ↩