The remains of the
World Trade Centre at ground zero following the terrorist attack of 11
September 2001. Photograph: Alex Fuchs/AFP
It is depressing how quickly human behaviour can change. When in
2001 two planes hit the twin towers in New York, the whole world
remained glued to the TV screens for hours, eagerly gulping down every
word uttered by the ground zero reporters. Yet when an Iraqi suicide
bomber detonates his device these days, most of us switch channels to
something "more juicy". Terrorism has become a part of our everyday
lives. Unless, of course, the bomb goes off in our own backyard.
This summer, terrorists hit my country, Slovakia, twice: first in Pakistan, when a group of militants executed two of our mountaineers. Then, a couple of days later in Afghanistan, when a local army trainee named Lamber Khan shot one and seriously injured two other members of the Slovak contingent to the international security assistance force (Isaf) mission. We have been handed a hard lesson on how terrorism does not care for nationality, citizenship, religion or the colour of one's skin.
How did we respond? By calling on the authorities to catch the perpetrators; by appealing to the local powers to investigate the crimes; by trusting their assurances that justice will be served. And yet I keep wondering: when in 1988, the Scottish town of Lockerbie was devastated by the terrorist bombing of the Pan Am flight 103 that killed 270 people, it took 13 years for an ex-minister of the Libyan government to state that Muammar Gaddafi ordered the bombing. As for 9/11, even after 12 years, doubts still remain whether it was Osama bin Laden who ordered the strike, or whether it might have been someone else. If we accept this mathematical progression, how long will it take for the culprits of the two terrorist acts that have shaken my country to be brought to justice? Five years? 10? 20? And what can we do about it?
Since the Lockerbie tragedy, 25 years ago and since the terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001, the face of terrorism has undergone a dramatic change – a plastic surgery of sorts: hijacked aircraft went out of fashion and were replaced by kamikaze zealots wired with plastic explosives, and by shots fired from ambush.
The world community responds predictably: diplomacy, sanctions, supporting the internal dissent in the terrorist "safe haven" countries, eventually ordering special military units to deploy and retaliate. In other words: we do not, as yet, have an adequate response mechanism, an ability to eliminate the threat of terrorism the way decisive steps undertaken by the British SAS, the German GSG-9 and other units succeeded in reducing the number of cases involving hijacked aircraft to almost nil.
So here is what I propose: how about we create a terrorism taskforce (TTF) as an EU strategic thinktank/analytical centre – a tool similar to that used on a national level by the US or the UK? Its task, as opposed to the Europol "muscle" counter-terrorism force, would be in putting more thought behind the action, in enforcing the PPPR rule (prevention, protection, pursuit and response), in keeping pace with the ever-adapting organism of international terrorism networks, in employing new and inventive procedures to detect, identify and unmask hatching terrorism schemes, collecting relevant human source intelligence (Humint) and yes, taking maximum advantage of the so massively scandalised and criticised electronic intelligence (Elint).
Slovakia stands ready to deploy its experts to such a taskforce, should it become the order of the day. To put it plainly: I truly believe we need new tools to counter old threats. TTF could be such a tool.
This summer, terrorists hit my country, Slovakia, twice: first in Pakistan, when a group of militants executed two of our mountaineers. Then, a couple of days later in Afghanistan, when a local army trainee named Lamber Khan shot one and seriously injured two other members of the Slovak contingent to the international security assistance force (Isaf) mission. We have been handed a hard lesson on how terrorism does not care for nationality, citizenship, religion or the colour of one's skin.
How did we respond? By calling on the authorities to catch the perpetrators; by appealing to the local powers to investigate the crimes; by trusting their assurances that justice will be served. And yet I keep wondering: when in 1988, the Scottish town of Lockerbie was devastated by the terrorist bombing of the Pan Am flight 103 that killed 270 people, it took 13 years for an ex-minister of the Libyan government to state that Muammar Gaddafi ordered the bombing. As for 9/11, even after 12 years, doubts still remain whether it was Osama bin Laden who ordered the strike, or whether it might have been someone else. If we accept this mathematical progression, how long will it take for the culprits of the two terrorist acts that have shaken my country to be brought to justice? Five years? 10? 20? And what can we do about it?
Since the Lockerbie tragedy, 25 years ago and since the terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001, the face of terrorism has undergone a dramatic change – a plastic surgery of sorts: hijacked aircraft went out of fashion and were replaced by kamikaze zealots wired with plastic explosives, and by shots fired from ambush.
The world community responds predictably: diplomacy, sanctions, supporting the internal dissent in the terrorist "safe haven" countries, eventually ordering special military units to deploy and retaliate. In other words: we do not, as yet, have an adequate response mechanism, an ability to eliminate the threat of terrorism the way decisive steps undertaken by the British SAS, the German GSG-9 and other units succeeded in reducing the number of cases involving hijacked aircraft to almost nil.
So here is what I propose: how about we create a terrorism taskforce (TTF) as an EU strategic thinktank/analytical centre – a tool similar to that used on a national level by the US or the UK? Its task, as opposed to the Europol "muscle" counter-terrorism force, would be in putting more thought behind the action, in enforcing the PPPR rule (prevention, protection, pursuit and response), in keeping pace with the ever-adapting organism of international terrorism networks, in employing new and inventive procedures to detect, identify and unmask hatching terrorism schemes, collecting relevant human source intelligence (Humint) and yes, taking maximum advantage of the so massively scandalised and criticised electronic intelligence (Elint).
Slovakia stands ready to deploy its experts to such a taskforce, should it become the order of the day. To put it plainly: I truly believe we need new tools to counter old threats. TTF could be such a tool.
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