Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2996-1003239840-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:45:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 30815 invoked by uid 510); 16 Oct 2001 13:43:43 -0000 Received: from n8.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.58) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 13:43:43 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2996-1003239840-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n8.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Oct 2001 13:44:01 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 16 Oct 2001 13:44:00 -0000 Received: (qmail 17991 invoked from network); 16 Oct 2001 13:43:59 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 16 Oct 2001 13:43:59 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 13:43:59 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id GAA18876 for iwar@onelist.com; Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:43:58 -0700 Message-Id: <200110161343.GAA18876@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:43:58 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:WHAT.If.It.Happened.in.America??] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit WHAT If It Happened in America?? Chicago, IL., September 5, 1995 -- Three series of events, that have occurred in 1995, that should cause Americans to stop, pause, and consider both their luck and preparedness. The series of tragic events involve multiple terrorist attacks in Tokyo/Yokahoma,Japan, Tel Aviv/Jerusalem, Israel, and now in Paris, France. The psychological and emotional impact of these events is just beginning to be understood. In both France and Japan the public response, in some quarters, to the continued attacks, has reportedly bordered on hysteria. The Israeli response, steeled by years of conflict and continued battles with its Palestinian neighbors, seems to have made its residents more stoic in the face of continued assault. In both France and Japan, government officials have blamed the media for much of the fear and concern among citizens and have called for restraint of the coverage of such events. The Israeli press covers an on-going conflict on a much more frequent basis and appears to have a much more "matter of fact" approach to the atrocities. The rhetorical question is obvious..to what can we attribute the differences in the public attitudes in France, Japan, and Israel? Further, what kind of public response could be expected in America, should she be subjected to a series of devastating bomb threats, bombings, or public gas poisonings? On of the frequently overlooked aspects of counter-terrorist (CT) operations would appear to be a developmental understanding of the public's perspective towards the act(s). A prevailing attitude among at least some CT experts seem to be that the best answer to this issue involves finding some way to invoke complete public ignorance of the circumstances or implications of the act. Another involves the the 'sand-bagging" of the press with "no comment" comments and the citing "security concerns" as a reason not to explain the situation to the public. Yet another view actually purports the use of misinformation or misdirection in hopes of affording some sort of "operational security". In order to understand the public response to a terrorist act, it is also necessary to ask what effect the acts of those managing the event will have on the public psyche. If anything can be learned from the management of other disasters or major traumatic events, it is that ignorance of the situation frequently leads to panic, misunderstanding, and criticism and alienation between rescuers and the public. A far better approach has been developed by many civilian emergency management systems. It begins, in at least some ways, to answer the public's questions and attempts to explain the inexplicable...a major act of terror. To gain a better understanding of this process, several points should be considered: * An overriding goal is to cause fear in the populace. * One of the terrorist main goals is to foster and spread mistrust between a government and its citizens. * A third goal is change public perceptions and attitudes toward the government, its policies, or its anticipated actions * On given occasions, unexplained benevolent acts, such as releasing hostages or providing medical care to enemies, are done to gain publicity and/or favorable public attention * It is likely that in several recent terrorist acts that no claim of responsibility is being made, out of fear of public criticism or discontinued support for the sponsoring organization(s) (aside from attempting to escape apprehension or retribution) * Misinformation and falsifications are often, if not always, exposed at some future date and frequently reflect dishonesty/discredit on those perpetrating the fraud, regardless of the alleged motivation. * "The Press", if not made an ally in during the incident, may well become an adversary during it and after it is over. If they are not given some facts as the story develops, they will undoubtedly "make them up" in order to meet the public need for explanation. It should be noted that none of these comments are intended or should be contrued as attempting, in any way, to compromise real operational security issues. It is well understood by this author that the withholding of essential information, equipment, methods, tactics, and strategies is often a necessity in successful counter-terrorist operations. But, withholding information for a period of time is not the same as misdirection or misinformation. The operational necessities, shouldn't, prevent the operation managers from providing on-going "sanitized" news releases to news organizations and the public in general, and eventually facts of the story. The idea is to foster the support of the news media and the public, both for the government involved, and the operational forces that are attempting to resolve the crimes or on-going crisis. In effect... it is an attempt to counter the effects of fear and mistrust being caused by the terrorists. Further, it may prove useful to actually publicize the successful intervention/resolution of an act(s), attempted act(s), or the apprehension of those responsible. To do so may actually act as a deterrent to those that would commit future acts and certainly help to minimize the detrimental public effects that terrorists would hope to cause. In light of these aforementioned observations, one could surmise that a more proactive response to public opinion formulation would serve American counter-terrorist forces well. The American press can be expected to be as vociferous as their brethern in Europe and the Mid-East, if not more so. The American public hue and cry, in a country that is unaccustomed to insurgent aassault, can be expected to be loud and demanding. Public careers will undoubtedly be made or broken, depending on the outcome of given events surrounding possible frequent acts of violence directed against America. Much of what occurs and how it is accepted by the public can be determined by how "the media" and the provision of public information is managed. One thing is certain. If America's counter-terrorist analysts and operatives don't manage the American perspective of terrorists, our avowed enemies will. © Emergencynet NEWS Service, 1995 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE VeriSign guide to security solutions for your web site: encrypting transactions, securing intranets, and more! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UnN2wB/m5_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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