Research Article: Threats of Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

The ways in which terrorist groups operate have changed significantly in the late 1980s and 1990s, creating new challenges for security agencies in the twenty-first century. Governments must protect their interests against the threat of terrorist attack while safeguarding civil rights and liberties.

• Terrorist groups in the early twenty-first century usually form based on shared ideological grounds of politics, religion, or other beliefs and tend to be more loosely organized and less controlled by a central authority than in the past.
• Terrorist attacks, while sometimes less frequent than earlier in the twentieth century, have generally become more deadly, with terrorists focusing on inflicting mass casualties rather than on gaining political support.

• Globalization has facilitated the easy movement of information, goods, and people, increasing opportunities for terrorists to gain and disseminate information and to penetrate national borders.
• Terrorists increasingly take advantage of high-tech communications, computers, and the Internet to obtain information and organize activities. At the same time, security organizations use these systems to monitor potential terrorists.
• The possibility that terrorists could obtain nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons has increased.

• Efforts to combat terrorism have led to significantly increased international cooperation, and to strict new laws proscribing membership in, or financial support of, organizations defined as terrorist.
• Critics argue that such laws can threaten legitimate political dissent by too broadly defining terrorism and terrorist organizations.

As 1999 drew to a close, cities across the United States prepared gala festivities to celebrate the new millennium. Yet this happy mood was seriously threatened when, on December 14, 1999, an Algerian man who had driven into the United States from Vancouver, Canada, was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. The public soon learned that Ahmed Ressam, whose car contained enough explosives to destroy a large building, was part of a plot by Islamic militants—extremists on the fringe of the Islamic religion and culture—to blow up American landmarks during 2000 celebrations. The country's festive mood turned somber as an accomplice was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and...
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