DATE=6/13/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE
NUMBER=5-46493
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
Voiced At:
Intro: Military experts say newly emerging weapons
and tactics will make future wars dramatically
different. During a conference in Los Angeles this
week, experts examined the latest trends in warfare
and the growing threats posed by terrorist groups and
global criminal organizations. V-O-A's Mike O'Sullivan
has details.
Text: The conference, which was sponsored by the
publisher of "Jane's Defence Weekly," brought together
military and police planners who deal with similar
problems - unconventional weapons that range from
chemical agents to computer viruses.
Participant Robert Bunker teaches security studies at
California State University in San Bernadino. He says
warfare is changing dramatically as new methods are
being developed by national armies.
/// BUNKER ACT ///
We're actually getting away from firearms and
bombs and we're going more toward directed-
energy weapons, and that would encompass
everything from cyber-warfare like information
warfare, software viruses, things like that, but
it would also include things like laser weapons,
acoustic weapons, radio frequency weapons, high
powered microwaves.
/// END ACT ///
Professor Bunker says military targets are also
changing -- from people and buildings to
communications systems and other links in the
infrastructure that allow societies to function.
The analyst also sees a change in the groups that go
to war.
/// SECOND BUNKER ACT ///
Not only do you see sovereign states conducting
warfare, but literally everyone is conducting
warfare ranging from drug cartels to trans-
national criminal organizations.
/// END ACT ///
Experts say one weak spot in world security is the
former Soviet Union, where there are fears of criminal
groups trafficking in nuclear materials. Javed Ali is
a specialist in radioactive or "radiological" weapons.
/// ALI ACT ///
Russian organized crime has been involved in
trying to acquire these materials, but it's
unclear if these are lone operators or if this
is some type of coordinated effort and they're
working for another sponsor of another client.
But Russia right now is a focal point for trying
to prevent radiologic (radioactive) material,
and fissile material that's used in nuclear
weapons, from getting into the hands of the
wrong people, whether it's terrorist groups or
religious-ethnic movements, or groups of that
nature.
/// END ACT ///
In sufficient amounts, some of that material could be
used to build nuclear bombs. Weapons analyst Javed
Ali says terrorist groups could use smaller amounts to
contaminate populations. He says a device containing
50 kilograms of "spent" nuclear fuel rods and 50
kilograms of explosives would produce lethal levels of
radiation one kilometer from the blast site.
The potential for terrorist groups to use
unconventional weapons was highlighted five years ago,
when the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo (PR: OHM shin-
RIKH-yoh) released poisonous Sarin gas in the Tokyo
subway system, killing a dozen people and sickening
thousands.
Analyst Javed Ali says if a radiological dispersion
device is used by a terrorist group, it will be just
as unexpected.
These experts say it is difficult to detect small
terrorist cells - or a single terrorist -- who may be
planning an attack. A recent case in the California
city of Irvine illustrates that problem. Vic Thies
(PR: teese) is a commander with the Irvine Police
Department. He was in charge of an operation that
evacuated 49 homes and a school in an Irvine
neighborhood, after a local physician hired an
assassin to kill a business partner.
/// THIES ACT ///
It was totally unexpected. We didn't have any
information about this suspect, who was involved
in a murder conspiracy against one of his
business partners. And there was all sorts of
information that led us to his residence in
Irvine, where we discovered, based on the
information we had, that he was secreting (eds:
creating) different types of biological
contaminants, germs and so on in his residence.
/// END ACT ///
Investigators found strains of typhoid and cholera
germs, together with plastic explosives and blasting
caps, machine guns and 30-thousand rounds of
ammunition.
Police are at a loss in describing the man's motives
but say in the 1980s, he worked as a consultant
helping the former South African government develop
biological weapons. They also say he was known to be
an ultra-survivalist, who expected the breakdown of
government and massive social disruptions. The man
committed suicide before they could question him.
The local police official says that, fortunately,
procedures were in place to deal with a terrorist
incident.
/// THIES ACT TWO ///
This had a little bit of a different twist,
obviously, being potentially biological
contaminants, which made a different kind of
approach than what we had been practicing. But
the management system is the same - contain,
isolate, and then you let the experts come in
and do their technical-tactical job.
/// END ACT ///
Unconventional weapons cause a blurring of the
distinction between war, terrorism and violent crime,
as police and the military each cross over into the
other's jurisdiction. The specialists at this
conference say future warfare will involve weapons of
mass disruption as well as weapons of mass destruction
-- used by governments, terrorists and criminal
organizations. (Signed)
Neb/KBK
13-Jun-2000 17:12 PM LOC (13-Jun-2000 2112 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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