A Military Guide to Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

In August 2005, the United States (US) Army Training and Doctrine Command, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence-Threats released the Military Guide to Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. The Guide was designed primarily for US military forces, however, other applicable groups such as state and local first responders can benefit from the information contained in the Guide. While primarily written to support operational missions, institutional training, and professional military education for US military forces in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), US domestic first responders will also find the Guide beneficial.

According to the Guide, “understanding terrorism spans foreign and domestic threats of nation-states, rogue states with international or transnational agent demonstrations, and actors with specific strategies, tactics, and targets. A central aspect of this terrorism guide comprises foreign and domestic threats against the United States of America in a contemporary operational environment (COE).”

The Guide provides information on the nature of terrorism, terrorist groups and terrorist method of operations. Complied from open source materials, the Guide includes a main handbook and four supplemental readers:

A Military Guide to Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

• Supplement 1 — Terror Operations: Case Studies in Terrorism
• Supplement 2 — Cyber Operations and Cyber Terrorism
• Supplement 3 — Suicide Bombing in the Contemporary Operational Environment
• Supplement 4 — Defense Support of Civil Authorities

A copy of the Guide in .PDF format is available here

About the Author

Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after 24 years of service. He is the author of “Police Technology (Prentice Hall, July 2004) and number articles on technology, leadership, terrorism and policing. Raymond is a part-time lecture at California State University, Fullerton and a part-time faculty advisor at the Union Institute and University. He has three current book projects. They are on terrorism, policing and leadership.Raymond’s complete CV can be viewed at Criminal Justice Profile and he can be reached by email at mailto:raymond@hitechcj.com or through the Criminal Justice Online Forum.