Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fourth Generation Warfare
One of the number of ways that the terrorists have grasped the concept of fourth-
generation warfare is their use of materials freely available in modern society to
destroy that society. The terrorists do not have a need to defend bases, but they
can rather be focused on offensive measures. It “also relieves him of the logistics
burden of moving supplies long distances. Instead, he has to move only money and
ideas, both of which can be digitized and moved instantly.”
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Acquisition methods
reflect this fourth-generation mindset, exploiting society's openings and using what
is available to decrease the chances of detection and also the cost. However, like
all things involved in this type of operating environment, if and when the defend-
ers put any type of countermeasures in place, life becomes more difficult for the
attacker.
As mentioned earlier, the terrorist is going to use whatever methods that will allow
him to gain access to the weapons he so desires. Niddal Ayyad, one of the members of
the cell that conducted the attack against the World Trade Center in 1993, worked at
Allied Signal. He used his position there to acquire restricted chemicals, such as lead
nitrate, phenol, and methylamine, for the attack, along with an order of hydrogen
tanks from ALG Welding Company.
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He acquired the materials in February 1993,
at times faxing purchase orders on the company letterhead. ALG delivered the final
hydrogen shipment to the storage facility the day before the event.
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In 1997, Abu Mezer and Lafi Khalil, a Palestinian and Jordanian, respec-
tively, were arrested as they prepared to detonate pipe bombs at the Atlantic
Avenue subway station, a major transportation hub in downtown Brooklyn.
The two had made their way to North Carolina and worked in the back of
a supermarket owned by a contact of theirs in New York. It was there that
they gathered the ingredients for their device of choice: pipe bombs. These
ingredients were all obtained legally at a hardware store and a gun shop at
Greenville, North Carolina, on July 10, 1997.
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he gunpowder was purchased
on the same date. Khalil and Mezer constructed the bombs in the trailer
home they were renting in Ayden, North Carolina.
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Mezer and Khalil used
an open environment in 1997 New York to put their operation together, but
it was thwarted by the NYPD.
When one thinks of weapons acquisition, thoughts immediately turn to the
acquisition of larger weapons, such as nuclear devices or chemical weapons, yet in
recent years, terrorists—specifically, those affiliated with Al-Qaeda—have effec-
tively used simple homemade bombs built from everyday things that span the
gamut from nail polish remover to fertilizer and black pepper, all used to concoct
new innovations in lethality.
