1. Jonathan R. White
www.cengage.com/cj/white
Chapter: 5
Practicing Terrorism: Gender
Roles, Tactics and Force
Multipliers
Rosemary Arway
Hodges University

2. Gender and Mission
 Gender and Mission
o Ideology draws certain types of recruits to a movement,
and it influences the tactics terrorist groups employ.
▪ Gender impacts tactics and is often related to
ideology.
o Women active through the evolution of terrorism
▪ Role of women has often been overlooked
▪ Women were active in terrorism:
▪ at the time of the French Revolution,
▪ in 19th century Russia,
▪ in racial terrorism in the United States,
▪ in revolutionary terrorism in Ireland and leftist movements
after 1968.
 The role of women is more closely related to political
orientation than tactics.

3. Gender and Mission
 Gonzalez-Perez:
o Women are more drawn to domestic terrorist groups.
o Women in domestic groups gravitate toward combat
and leadership.
o Women in international groups are more likely to be
employed as supporters, sympathizers and spies.
 Ness:
o Women relegated to support and service in religious
terrorist groups.
▪ This will change as women become more involved.
o Women developed combat and leadership positions in
secular organizations.

4. Gender and Mission
 Blee:
o The role of women in racial terrorism in the
United States:
▪ In the post-Civil War era, they served as inspiration
for male violence.
▪ In the 20th century women became actively involved
in lynching.
▪ In the late twentieth century, White Supremacy
groups recruited women in support roles.

5. Gender and Mission
 Overlooking Female terrorists
o Stack-O’Connor:
▪ Female terrorism is overlooked for the same reason that
female criminality has been underplayed: researchers do
not think of women as criminals, but rather, as victims.
o Ness:
▪ Popular culture does not accept the idea of female
terrorists.
o von Knop:
▪ Women used as attackers or suicide bombers are
following male model.
o Sjoberg:
▪ Studies of women in terrorism are generally ignored.
▪ Media presentations follow the same track.

6. Tactics of Terrorism and Multiplying Force
 Jenkins reports six tactics of terrorism:
o Bombing
o Hijacking
o Arson
o Assault
o Kidnapping
o Hostage taking
 Terrorism includes threats from weapons of mass
destruction and virtual attacks through computer
systems.

7. Tactics of Terrorism and Multiplying Force
 This tactics of terrorism can be enhanced by
force multipliers.
 Force multipliers
o increase striking power without increasing the
strength of a unit
 Force multipliers giving terrorists more striking
power include:
o Technology
o Media coverage
o Transnational support networks
o Religious fanaticism

8. Tactics of Terrorism and Multiplying Force
 Most common weapon of terrorism is the
bomb.
 Anarchists in 1848 – philosophy of the bomb
o Only way to communicate with the social order was
to destroy it.
 Irish Republican Army found the bomb to be
the most important weapon after 1969.
 Groups throughout the world found bombs
could be delivered by suicide attackers
o Suicide bombings and road side bombs are
weapons of choice against U.S. military in Iraq.

9. Tactics of Terrorism and Multiplying Force
 Terrorists increase effectiveness by applying
explosive technology to weapons.
 Middle Eastern type of military-style weapon
o Thermobaric bomb
o Mini-nuke
 Force multipliers enhance destructive power
while innovation is used to achieve shock and
surprise.
 Purpose of a terrorist attack – send a message
of chaos and destruction to a larger audience.
o Victims are not the target; they are killed to send a
message.

10. Technology
 Terrorism is influenced by technology
 Cyberterrorism
o Cyberterrorists threaten to interrupt or confuse the
flow of information.
o Cyberterrorism refers to use of computers to attack
technological targets of physical attacks on computer
networks.
o Targets for cyberterrorism:
▪ Computers
▪ Computer networks
▪ Information storage and retrieval systems
o There has been a sharp rise in such attacks, with the
Internet providing the vehicle for launching most of
the strikes.

11. WMD: Biological Agents
 Weapons of Mass Destruction – WMD – are biological
arsenals containing bacterial and viral weapons.
o Microbes weaponized to increase their ability to kill
o Difficult to control but relatively easy to produce
 Biological agents include:
o Natural poisons or toxins
o Viruses
o Bacteria
o Plagues
 Most threatening according to CDC are:
o Smallpox
o Anthrax
o Plague
o Botulism
o Tularemia
o Hemorrhagic fever

12. WMD: Biological Agents
 Two biological attacks in America
o 1984 religious group in Oregon
▪ Bacteria on a salad bar
▪ Elect religious followers to local office
o Anthrax in the wake of 9-11
▪ Two tabloid writers infected thru the mail
▪ Followed by numerous anthrax attacks throughout
the United States
o The Commission on the Prevention of weapons of
Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism
(2010) found that the United States still had no
structure in place to respond to a biological attack.

13. WMD: Chemical and
Radiological Weapons
 Forms of chemical alterations include:
o Radiological poisoning and “dirty” radioactive
devices
 Chemicals:
o Generally easier to deliver than biological weapons
o Faster acting
 Radiological devices:
o Slower than most chemicals
o Longer lasting
o Can be spread like chemicals

14. WMD: Chemical and
Radiological Weapons
 Four types of chemical agents:
o Nerve agents
▪ Ingestion, respiration, or contact
o Blood agents
▪ Absorbed through the respiratory system
o Choking agents
▪ Absorbed through the respiratory system
o Blistering agents
▪ Burn skin and internal tissue areas upon contact

15. WMD: Chemical and
Radiological Weapons
 Chemicals are attractive to terrorists.
o Easy to control
o Users can avoid area they attack
 Chemical weapons are problematic.
o Delivery mechanism
o Need for large quantities of chemicals
o Chemicals can be neutralized by weather patterns, air, and
water.
 Dirty bomb
o Explosive used to spread a chemical or radioactive agent
around a large area
o Drawback of the dirty bomb
▪ The heat produced by the explosion may destroy the
chemicals attached to the bomb

16. WMD: Nuclear Weapons
 Nuclear weapons
o Available on the black market from sources in the
former Soviet Union.
o It is much easier for terrorists to use a conventional
weapon or to spread chemicals than to build a
nuclear weapon.
o The U.S. Congress has designated a site in
Nevada as the repository for all the radioactive
waste used in America’s nuclear power plants, and
all this material must be shipped across the
country.
 This nuclear waste is a ready-made dirty bomb

17. WMD: Nuclear Weapons
 Nuclear terrorism:
o Two methods for obtaining a nuclear device:
▪ Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)
▪ Plutonium
 Levi:
o The United States is not ready for an attack.
o Problems associated with terrorist’s attempts to obtain a weapon:
 Sophisticated security mechanisms
 National arsenals are secured
 Weapons are heavy and difficult to transport
o The United States should approach nuclear terrorism in two
manners:
 debunking popular myths and focusing on a comprehensive
approach to a terrorist group and all its activities;
 revamp defense systems.

18. WMD
 WMD …. an international problem
o All countries should encourage their nuclear
companies to control their trade.
▪ Prohibit sales of nuclear goods to those
countries that sponsor or support terrorism.
▪ For example Uzbekistan, the biggest
exporter of nuclear materials (uranium) and
fuels (natural gas, petroleum), must regulate
their nuclear industry.

19. The Media as A Force Multiplier
 Governments and terrorists benefit from
media portrayal of terrorist activity.
 Everyone involved in terrorist conflict
tries to manipulate images of terrorist
activities.
o Continuous reporting amplifies the aura of
small groups
o Striking power of the group is magnified
o Wilkins: terrorists try to multiply force
through communication

20. The Media as A Force Multiplier
 Nacos: Most terrorist groups have
objectives beyond publicity
o Groups want recognition
 Wolfsfeld: Media victories are crucial for
terrorism
o How battles are reported as important as
battlefield combat
o Neither side wants to be portrayed as
aggressor
o Media primary tool for demonizing the enemy
 Terrorist groups will attempt to portray
respectability in all forms of media.

21. The Media as A Force Multiplier
 All forms of media can be used to multiply force.
o Internet is gaining attention of security forces
 Online communication brings measure of freedom when
media is heavily controlled
 Emerging as a major source of information
 Krasnoboka: The Internet does not have an overwhelming
impact in democratic countries, but it is a powerful tool for
opposition forces in authoritarian régimes.
o Movies assist terrorism and distort issues
• Create popular images of propaganda
• Responsible for strong emotional projections
• Presents another venue for examination, for both assisting
terrorism and distorting issues

22. Economic Targeting
and Transnational Attacks
 Transnational support or operations can
be used as a force multiplier.
o Striking transnational or international
economic targets increases the
effectiveness of terrorist operations.
 Three types of transnational attacks:
o Tourism
o Energy
o Shipping

23. Economic Targeting
and Transnational Attacks
 Tourism
o Attacks on tourism have a negative economic
consequences (ETA).
 Energy
o Interest in oil and gas production
o Fossil fuels present tempting targets.
 Represent power and strengths of industrialized
world.
 Strikes against oil refineries or transfer facilities
have economic impact on the West.
 Examples: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan

24. Economic Targeting
and Transnational Attacks
 Endemic terrorism
o Form of violence occurring in Africa where arbitrary
national boundaries have been drawn through ethnic
and tribal divisions
 Niger Delta
o Oil plays crucial role
 Used to fund endemic terrorism and corrupt governments
o Becomes target for those who cannot control production
 Oil companies investing in the area have greater incentive
to focus on security than poverty engulfing the region.
 If poverty, endemic terrorism and criminalized
policies are not addressed it will:
o Become base for emergence of new international
terrorist groups
o Provide resources for training and eluding detection

25. Economic Targeting
and Transnational Attacks
 Transportation
o Provide tempting economic target as they
produce mass casualties with minimal
effort.
o Protection of transportation is very
expensive.
 Major feature of homeland security
o Critics of homeland security policies argue
that ports remain unsecured due to costs of
increased protection.
 Attacks on aviation, shipping and
transportation increase cost of security.

26. Suicide Attacks – Conflicting Opinions
 Gambetta’s three types of suicide attacks:
o Suicide in warfare
o Suicide for a principle without killing others
o Suicide terrorism
 Altruistic suicide: suicide terrorists frequently believe
they are sacrificing their lives for a greater good.
 Pape:
o Attackers are so diverse, it may not be possible to find a single profile.
o Suicide terrorism should be considered as a strategic tool.
o Suicide terrorism gives a small group the power to coerce large
governments.
o Suicide terrorists tend to be more lethal than other types of attacks.
o They strike greater fear in the target audience.
o Each attack hints at future horrific violence.
o It is a strategy designed to multiply expectations of political victory.

27. Suicide Attacks – Conflicting Opinions
 Theory of suicide terrorism
 Pape:
o Three factors must be in place prior to a
suicide terror campaign:
 Nationalistic or ethnic group must be resisting the
occupation of a foreign power.
 Foreign power must represent a democratic
government whose voters will not allow
indiscriminate slaughter and total repression of the
people in occupied area.
 Difference in religions of the occupying power and
the people living under occupation.

28. Suicide Attacks – Conflicting Opinions
 Suicide terrorism is not caused by a
single religion; it is caused by differences
between two religions.
 Pape’s evidence from case studies:
o Israeli occupation of the Shi’ite areas of Lebanon
o The Sinhalese (Buddhist) control of the Tamil
(Hindu) region of Sri Lanka
o The fighting between Sunni Kurds and Sunni Turks
in Eastern Turkey
o The Indian (Hindu) struggle with the occupied Sikhs

29. Models for Suicide Bombing
 Tosini :
o Suicide bombings are based on a strategic logic; a rational
choice perspective.
o This neglects the study of the social structure and culture of
the group engaged in suicide terrorism.
 Wade and Reiter:
o Suicide attacks are not used mainly against democracies.
o Muslim states suffer more suicide attacks than Western
democracies.
 Gunaratna:
o All suicide bombing attacks have three things in common:
 Secrecy
 Reconnaissance
 Rehearsal