Supply Chain Security Study Guide

3. International terrorism

This chapter explains why governments now treat international terrorism as a direct threat to the supply chain. To respond well, you first need to understand how modern terrorist groups operate and the kind of damage an attack on a supply chain could cause.

Learning objectives

✓	Describe how the nature of terrorism has changed and why it now affects international trade
✓	Explain the short-term and longer-term economic impact of terrorism on trade
✓	Identify why containers and major transport infrastructure are key targets

The extracts below are drawn from a range of reports examining the growth of international terrorism and the way that terrorist groups operate.

“Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. But, as Professor Paul Wilkinson explained in his evidence, until recently it was primarily a problem for national governments confronting specific sovereignty/territorial conflicts, such as with the IRA in Northern Ireland and ETA in Spain. Although not without an international dimension, terrorism was not a major preoccupation for the international community. The most significant change in recent years has been the development of global terrorism, of which the leading exponent is the Al Qaeda network: according to Professor Wilkinson it was the emergence of Al Qaeda that changed the situation. (House of Lords 2005)

In a report published by the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies (CDISS), terrorism is defined as follows:

"Terrorism is politically (including ideologically, religiously or socially) motivated violence, directed generally against non-combatants, intended to shock and terrify, in order to achieve a strategic outcome" (Williams as cited in Ellerbeck and Mason, 2005).

Over the last thirty years globalization has accelerated. Easier travel, the information technology revolution, and the spread of worldwide communications and financial networks have made the world smaller and more connected.

These benefits have not been confined to legitimate actors. Globalization has also extended the reach of terrorist groups and criminal networks. It has given terrorist organizations the ability to operate globally, to the point that global terrorism has become the largest challenge to globalization itself.

Global media also gives any terrorist incident worldwide exposure within minutes, often in real time. Terrorist groups can therefore reach a much wider target audience and publicize their cause across the world.

The nature of any specific attack is hard to predict, but the aim is consistent: cause fear, create major disruption, and gain maximum exposure. Many possible attacks on the supply chain would meet all three of these aims.

The use of cargo containers to carry weapons of mass destruction into major ports is a primary concern. Many ports and the transport infrastructure that connects them, road and rail, sit at the heart of major cities. The detonation of a container at a port, or while moving through the road or rail system, would deliver each of the three terrorist aims above.