The need for a Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness is explained by the fact that the dominant approach of counterterrorism, based largely on heavy-handed military action, has been such a failure – especially in the Middle East. The traditional military instrument of deterrence has not worked against enemies who have, in most cases, no fixed territorial basis while claiming to love death more than life. The decapitation of terrorist organizations by killing their leaders in drone strikes has created martyrs rather than broken their organization’s will to fight. The collateral damage of military strikes has often turned family members, friends and other witnesses near and far into avengers. For many societies, the “cure” of militarized counterterrorism has been worse than the “disease” of terrorism. Since 9/11, much of counterterrorism has been counter-productive. Al-Qaeda numbered only about 400 fighters in Afghanistan when 19 of them killed nearly 3,000 civilians from more than sixty countries on September 11, 2001, in the US. Today there are, next to Al-Qaeda, about one hundred other Islamist extremist groups active in nearly 70 countries worldwide, killing more than 120,000 people in the last few years alone. Al-Qaeda and its affiliates now have an estimated 40,000 fighters. The US alone conducted military counterterrorism missions in 80 countries at a cost which has conservatively been estimated at US $2 trillion. The price paid by civilians in the ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT) has been staggering – in the post- 9/11 wars an estimated 43,074 civilians died in Afghanistan, 23,924 in Pakistan, between 184,382 and 207,156 in Iraq, 49,591 in Syria, 12,000 in Yemen – altogether between 312,971 and 335,745 civilians or one hundred times more civilians than had perished in the 9/11 attacks. Add to this the members of national military and police forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen who lost between 173,073 and 335,745 men and women in uniform. Worldwide, between 770,000 and 801,000 human beings have died in the post-9/11 wars. This total estimate includes civilian deaths – some 312,000 or more – as well as dead terrorists (more than 250,000). In addition, an estimated 37 million people have been internally or externally displaced as a result of the wars the US military fought post-9/11. Given the fact that the counterterrorism efforts of the last two decades have taken such a heavy human toll and that victory is not in sight, it is high time to rethink the way terrorism should be countered. By focussing on prevention, this Handbook seeks to stimulate such rethinking.
List of Contributors
Foreword – Alexander von Rosenbach
Acknowledgements
Frameworks for Analysis
Chapter 1: Introduction: Purpose and Organization of the Handbook – Alex P. Schmid
Chapter 2: Terrorism Prevention: Conceptual Issues (Definitions, Typologies and Theories) – Alex P. Schmid
Part I: Lessons for Terrorism Prevention from Related Fields
Chapter 3: A Criminological Approach to Preventing Terrorism: Situational Crime Prevention and the Crime Prevention Literature – Kelly A. Berkell
Chapter 4: De-Exceptionalizing the Terrorist Phenomenon: Lessons and Concepts from Conflict Prevention and Transformation – Andreas Schädel and Hans J. Giessmann
Chapter 5: Contributions from the Military Counter-Insurgency Literature for the Prevention of Terrorism – Rob de Wijk
Chapter 6: ‘Killing Them to Save Us’: Lessons from Politicide for Preventing and Countering Terrorism – Clark McCauley
Part II: Prevention of Radicalization
Chapter 7: At the Crossroads: Rethinking the Role of Education in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism – Thomas K. Samuel
Chapter 8: Prevention of Radicalization to Terrorism in Prisons: A Practical Guide – Gary Hill
Chapter 9: Prevention of Radicalization to Terrorism in Refugee Camps and Asylum Centers -Barbara H. Sude
Chapter 10: Preventing Terrorism from Students of Extremist Madrasahs: An Overview of Pakistan’s Efforts – Asad Ullah Khan and Ifrah Waqar
Chapter 11: Prevention of Radicalization in Western Muslim Diasporas – Nina Käsehage
Chapter 12: Prevention of Radicalization on Social Media and the Internet – Sara Zeiger and Joseph Gyte
Chapter 13: Prevention of Recruitment to Terrorism – Ahmet S. Yayla
Part III: Prevention of Preparatory Acts
Chapter 14: Prevention of Terrorist Financing – Jessica Davis
Chapter 15: Prevention of Cross-Border Movements of Terrorists: Operational, Political, Institutional and Strategic Challenges for National and Regional Border Controls – Sajjan M. Gohel
Chapter 16: Prevention of the Procurement of Arms and Explosives by Terrorists – Mahmut Cengiz
Chapter 17: Prevention of CBRN Materials and Substances Getting into Terrorist Hands – Ioannis Galatas
Chapter 18: Prevention of (Ab-) Use of Mass Media by Terrorists – Alex P. Schmid
Chapter 19: Prevention of (Ab-)Use of the Internet for Terrorist Plotting and Related Purposes -Branislav Todorovic and Darko Trifunovic
Chapter 20: The Role of Intelligence in the Prevention of Terrorism (Early Warning – Early Response) – Ken Duncan
Part IV: Prevention of, and Preparedness for, Terrorist Attacks
Chapter 21: Prevention of Low-tech, Lone Actor Terrorist Attacks: The Case of the United States, 1970s – 2019 – Joshua Sinai
Chapter 22: Prevention of Gun-, Knife-, Bomb- and Arson-based Killings by Single Terrorists -Annelies Pauwels
Chapter 23 Prevention of Bomb Attacks by Terrorists in Urban Settings: Improvised Explosive Devices – Rachel Monaghan and David Mcllhatton
Chapter 24: Prevention of Kidnappings and Hostage-Takings by Terrorists – Alex P. Schmid
Chapter 25: Preventing Suicide Attacks by Terrorists – Susanne Martin
Chapter 26: The Terrorist Threat to Transportation Targets and Preventive Measures – Brian Michael Jenkins
Chapter 27: Layers of Preventive Measures for Soft Target Protection Against Terrorist Attacks – Alex P. Schmid
Chapter 28: Prevention of Terrorist Attacks on Critical Infrastructure – Anneli Botha
Chapter 29: Cyber Attacks by Terrorists and other Malevolent Actors: Prevention and Preparedness. With Three Case Studies on Estonia, Singapore and the United States – Shashi Jayakumar
Chapter 30: Prevention of Lasting Traumatization in Direct and Indirect Victims of Terrorism -Shannon Nash
Part V: Preparedness and Consequence Management
Chapter 31: Prevention of Public Panic in the Wake of Terrorist Incidents – Juan Merizalde, John D. Colautti, and James J.F. Forest
Chapter 32: Prevention of Major Economic Disruptions Following Acts of Terrorism – The Case of the Bali Bombings of 2002 and 2005 – Richard J. Chasdi
Chapter 33: Prevention of Revenge Acts and Vigilantism in Response to Acts and Campaigns of Terrorism – Marie Robin 1027
Chapter 34: Prevention of Human Rights Violations and Violations of International Humanitarian Law while Fighting Terrorism – Tom Parker
Conclusions
Chapter 35: Conclusions: Terrorism Prevention – The UN Plan of Action (2015) and Beyond -Alex P. Schmid
General Bibliography on Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness – Ishaansh Singh
Index
International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT)
Schmid, A. (ed.) (2021). Handbook of Terrorism Prevention and Preparedness. The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2021/10/V10.4-Handbook-ONLINE.pdf
