The Organization and Financing of Terrorism

Before looking at this chapter, it is important to understand what terrorism is.  In chapter one “Terrorism Defined,” the author states that there is not one agreed upon definition for terrorism, but many departments of the United States’ government have defined terrorism.  In my opinion, the Department of Defense’s definition is the best – “terrorism is the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives” (7).  In this chapter, the author discusses the different models of terrorism, their organizational style, and how they are financially supported. 

Throughout history, there have been three different models of terrorism – rural, urban, and insurrection.  Rural terrorism is associated with guerrilla warfare and nationalistic rebellions like the Chinese Communist Revolution, Cuban Revolution, and Nicaraguan Revolution.  During these revolutions, terrorism played a limited role; its purposes were “to strike at the government’s logistical network […and] demoralize the government” (57).  Urban terrorism, which was popularized by Frantz Fanon and Carlos Marighella, includes the use of guerilla warfare in an urban setting and terrorism to “terrorize Westerners and their lackeys into submission” (58).  Insurrection is a combination of terrorist attacks using modern technology and globalization.  Insurgency has become the most popular type of terrorism because of the availability of information online, ease to communicate globally, and employment of less people.

One of the most important elements of a terrorist group is secrecy.  The ability to keep the organization a secret directly affects group size.  Small groups are good because it is easier for things to remain unknown, but large groups last longer because they have more supporters.  Every person in a terrorist group is categorized into a subgroup.  There are different types of organizational styles for terrorist groups, which include pyramid, umbrella, virtual, chain, hub, and terrorist network.  In a pyramid organization, there are four levels – command, active cadre, active supports, and passive supports.  An umbrella organization includes multiple pyramids under a sheltering group, which provides money and supplies.  These organizations are not directly involved in terrorism and are deemed legitimate organizations because they represent a political cause, which is actually used to distract from the terrorist activities completed by the pyramids.  Out of all organizational styles discusses in this chapter, it seems that terrorist networks are paramount.  Terrorist networks are composed of “groups, supplies, weapons, and any structure that supports an operation” (65).  Individuals from different groups can come together to complete an operation, and once the task is complete, they go their separate ways.  This makes it is hard to determine who is responsible for the action.  Most importantly, terrorist networks are best because they can be one entity, yet also separate groups; this is imperative because it is expensive to run a group, and it becomes very costly to run one large group.  According to reports and analyses, a terrorist operation costs much less than running a terrorist group to plan and prepare for the operation.   

Terrorist groups raise money through legal and illegal methods.  Legal activities include soliciting contributions, running businesses, operating nongovernment organizations, creating charities, wiring money, using banks, and using informal money transfer systems.  Informal money transfer systems include money laundering, the Black Market Peso Exchange and the hawala system.

Hawala System

Illegally, groups acquire money by engaging in drug trades, smuggling money and cigarettes, pirating CDs and DVDs, selling counterfeit clothing and cigarettes, identity theft, extortion, kidnapping, fraud, robbery, and other criminal activities.  When referring to the use of drug-trade profits to finance terrorism, the term narcoterrorism is sometimes used.  While there is proof that drug sales are used to finance terrorist groups, it is controversial to use the term narcoterrorism.  Those who disapprove of the use of narcoterrorism believe that using the word means there is a link between terrorism and drugs, and since not all terrorist activities and drug sales are related to one another, it is inappropriate to use the term.  Opponents also argue that linking drugs and terrorism will give the government more power because more people will be afraid of drug dealers and grant the government more power.

The author has provided ample information for a person to become well informed on the organization and finance of terrorist groups.  In this chapter, I have learned that it is hard to maintain a terrorist group because its greatest strength and weakness is secrecy.  To me, secrecy is a greater weakness than strength because in order for a terrorist group to be long lasting, it needs to be large.  If operations are kept a secret, isn’t there the possibility of two terrorist groups planning the same thing?  Also, if groups are to be kept unknown, how do they solicit money from others or receive help with laundering money?  I have also learned that there is a wide range of financial resources for terrorist groups.  I was surprised to learn that some activities that I thought were illegal are actually legal, such as creating charities, which fund terrorism. 

Overall, the chapter was well written, but some topics could be better explained.  When discussing Marighella’s four-stage model of urban terrorism, the author should list the four stages, so that there is a clear shift between phases.  Also, when describing Marighella’s basic structure of a terrorist group, what other groups are needed besides firing groups?  Listing other groups would give readers a better image of what the structure would look like.  Lastly, multiple times the author compares terrorists and organized criminals.  What is the difference?  I thought they were the same, so it was difficult to understand the comparisons.