The IACSP’s Counter-Terrorism Journal V23N4 by IACSP

Some Good News From All Of These Cyberattacks: Jobs, Jobs, And More Jobs!

Are Terrorists’ Targeting The Suez Canal? Cosa Nostra:

The Threat Of Organized Crime In America

Biological Threats

From North Korea, Iran And Syria

Protecting Sensitive Drone Data From Hackers IACSP Q&A With

“Quantum Spy” Author, David Ignatius IACSP Homeland Security Bookshelf

Winter Issue Vol. 23 No. 4 2018 Printed in the U.S.A. IACSP.COM

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worldcampus.psu.edu/iacsp U.Ed.OUT 18-WC-0559/gam/smb Journal

of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

Vol. 23, No.4

Join the ranks of security and public safety professionals worldwide that have achieved the Certified Anti-Terrorism Officer (cATO™) credential as recognition of their unique expertise in the field of managing terrorism-related risk.

The Certified Anti-Terrorism Officer (cATO™) credential is the global benchmark for recognizing career achievement and knowledge in the protection of facilities, organizations, and the public against acts of terrorism. The Certified Anti-Terrorism Officer designation is awarded to a candidate who has met eligibility requirements and passed the cATO™ Certification Examination in accordance with the standards set forth by the Certifying Board of The International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP). Becoming board certified as a Certified Anti-Terrorism Officer distinguishes you in the security and public safety profession by demonstrating your expertise in the specialized field of managing terrorism-related risk and commitment to the safety and welfare of your community. Learn more and apply online:

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Vol. 23, No. 4 Winter 2018 Publisher Steven J. Fustero

Page 10

Senior Editor Joan Perry

Assessing The Likelihood And Impact of Terrorists’ Targeting The Suez Canal

Contributing Writers Jim Weiss Mickey Davis Paul Davis Thomas B. Hunter Joshua Sinai Book Review Editor Jack Plaxe

by Dr. Joshua Sinai

Research Director Gerry Keenan Conference Director John Dew

Page 16

Communications Director Craig O. Thompson

Cosa Nostra: The Threat Of Organized Crime In America

Art Director Scott Dube, MAD4ART International Psychological CT Advisors Cherie Castellano, MA, CSW, LPC Counterintelligence Advisor Stanley I. White

by Paul Davis

South America Advisor Edward J. Maggio Homeland Security Advisor Col. David Gavigan Personal Security Advisor Thomas J. Patire

Page 6

SITREP, Terrorism Trends & Forecasts

Page 8

Some Actual Good News About All These Cyberattacks, by David Gewirtz

Page 10

Assessing The Likelihood And Impact of Terrorists’ Targeting The Suez Canal, by Dr. Joshua Sinai

Page 12

Protecting Sensitive Drone Data From Hackers, a Q&A with IIkka Hiidenheimo

Page 16

Cosa Nostra: The Threat Of Organized Crime In America, by Paul Davis

Page 22

Biological Threat From North Korea, Iran And Syria, by Col. Dan Dickerson

Page 28

Rituals Of Terror: Nigeria’s Badoo Secret Society, by Tony M. Kail

Page 34

Strategies For Off-Duty Encounters, by Jim Weiss And Mickey Davis

Page 38

Secure Driver: Vision Part 1: The Eyes & Mind, by Anthony Ricci

Page 40

IACSP Q&A with David Ignatius, Author Of “The Quantum Spy”, by Paul Davis

Page 42

IACSP Homeland Security Bookshelf, reviews by Dr. Joshua Sinai

THE JOURNAL OF COUNTERTERRORISM & HOMELAND SECURITY INT’L is published by SecureWorldnet, Ltd., PO Box 100688, Arlington, VA 22210, USA, (ISSN#1552-5155) in cooperation with the International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals and Counterterrorism & Security Education and Research Foundation. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International, PO Box 100688, Arlington, VA 22210, USA, (571) 216-8205, FAX: (202) 315-3459 . Membership $65/year, add $10 for overseas memberships. Postmaster: send address changes to: The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International, PO Box 100688, Arlington, VA 22210, USA. Web site: www.iacsp.com

PHOTO CREDITS: Reuters, Army.mil, Navy.mil, shutterstock.com and authors where applicable.

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Emergency Management Advisor Clark L. Staten Director of Emergency Ops. Don L. Rondeau Tactical Advisor Robert Taubert Hazmat Advisor Bob Jaffin Security Driver Advisor Anthony Ricci, ADSI Cyberwarfare Advisor David Gewirtz Cell Phone Forensics Advisor Dr. Eamon P. Doherty IACSP Advisory Board John M. Peterson III John Dew Thomas Patire Cherie Castellano, MA, CSW, LPC Robert E. Thorn Southeast Asia Correspondent Dr. Thomas A. Marks European Correspondent Elisabeth Peruci Middle East Correspondent Ali Koknar CTSERF Research Professor David Gewirtz, M.Ed

SITREP

TERRORISM TRENDS & FORECASTS Global Overview 1ST QTR 2018 Last month saw a twofold deterioration in the Syrian conflict – the Assad regime stepped up its brutal bombardment of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, and regional and global powers increased their direct interventions in Syria, raising the risk of worse fighting in coming weeks. Elsewhere political polarization between governments and opposition movements was rife. In Bangladesh, the conviction of opposition leader Khaleda Zia sparked protests, which could worsen if she is barred from participating in elections, while in the Maldives the government launched a crackdown on the judiciary and declared a state of emergency. In Venezuela, formal talks between the government and the opposition broke down, deepening the political impasse. In Guinea, alleged electoral fraud in local elections sparked oppositionled protests and violent clashes with security forces, while in Tanzania the killing of two op-

position politicians highlighted shrinking political space. In Cameroon, deadly clashes between security forces and Anglophone separatists continued and could well worsen around senatorial elections planned for 25 March. Deteriorating Situations • Tanzania, Guinea, Bangladesh, Maldives, Venezuela, Syria Improving Situations • None Conflict Risk Alerts • Cameroon, Bangladesh, Syria Resolution Opportunities • None Source: www.crisiswatch.org

Macramé for Terrorists The theater of the absurd will soon have a new actor if convicted Islamic terrorist Ahmad Rahimi has his way. Rahimi has asked to be allowed to take a variety of prison programs

while serving a life sentence for setting off several bombs in the New York-New Jersey area in 2016.

gram would best address his situation? Basket Weaving for Bombers? The stark reality is, there is none.

He has been taking a drama class while in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, his lawyer Xavier Donaldson told U.S. District Judge Richard Berman. He would like to continue to pursue this and enroll in several other educational programs in business and enterprise risk management.

Why is there such reluctance to initiate a much needed program? What irrational thinking drives some to oppose facing the threat of radicalization head on?

Unfortunately, that’s not all he’s been doing in MCC. Rahimi has been radicalizing other inmates to his jihadist cause in the prison mosque. He also has shared instructions on how to build an improvised explosive device with his fellow inmates. Realizing that, as the prosecutor in his case wrote, Rahimi “continues to attempt to wage jihad from his prison cell...” What prison rehabilitation pro-

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When the FBI attempted to initiate a program that would address radicalization in society as a whole, particularly involving young people who were most vulnerable to the allure of groups like ISIS through the internet, it was met with stiff resistance from several groups including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which felt the program singled out Muslims. That said, macramé for Terrorists isn’t the solution to the continuing threat of prison radicalization.

your fingertips—through a free mobile application that works on Apple and Android devices, including smartphones, iPads, and iPods.

Author: IPT Senior Fellow Patrick Dunleavy is the former Deputy Inspector General for New York State Department of Corrections and author of The Fertile Soil of Jihad.

FEMA Talk Helps Emergency Managers Quickly Map Potential Hazards FEMA, in partnership with organizations that collectively represent the emergency management profession, released today the fourth video presentation from the inaugural PrepTalks Symposium, Dr. Robert Chen’s “Who’s at Risk? Rapid Mapping of Potential Hazards.” In his PrepTalk, Dr. Chen outlines the different ways data mapping can be used to help emergency managers identify those at risk before, during, and after a disaster. He demonstrates how geospatial data combined with socioeconomic data gives emergency managers, the news media, and the public a better understanding of what the risk is and the potential associated effects of disasters. “It’s always good to [use maps to] explain where population centers are and who is vulnerable,” said Dr. Chen, the Director of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), a unit of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Dr. Chen also manages the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC); part of NASA’s network of Earth Science Data Centers.

It’s called the FBI Bank Robbers app, and it is designed to enable the public—along with financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, and other Bureau partners—to view details on bank robberies in different parts of the country more quickly and easily. For more information, please visit: www.fbi.gov

the streets—from wanted post- U.S. Arms Exports Surge ers tacked to post office walls in 25 Percent decades past to the social media and web technologies of today. The Bank Robbers website— and the new FBI Bank Robbers mobile app—continue that tradition by calling specific attention to unknown violent and/ or serial bank robbery suspects who are wanted by the Bureau. So use your smartphone in a crime-smart way—download the app and help protect your local community and the nation as a whole.

India was the largest importer of major arms for the period, accounting for 12 percent of the global total, with imports rising 24 percent. Source: www.bloomberg.com

IACSP News

U.S. arms exports surged 25 percent over the five years to 2017, according to data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Many of our members are not receiving our new monthly CTS Enews (electronic security report) because we either do not have your email address, or

Extending its lead as the world’s biggest arms exporter, the U.S. accounted for 34 percent of total arms exports. Russia, the next biggest exporter, saw its arms sales fall 7.1 percent to 22 percent of global exports compared with the five years to 2012.

if you are using a .gov or .mil email address for your membership record. If you would like to receive our CTS Enews, please send me an email with the email address you would like us to use (gmail, yahoo, etc. work). Also include your current physical address. Please send the information to my attention to my personal email address: iacsp1@aol.com

About the App In late 2012, the FBI unveiled a specialized website at https:// bankrobbers.fbi.gov containing pictures, profiles, and posters of wanted bank robbers around the country—the first national system of its kind.

FBI Bank Robbers App

Featuring a U.S. map and various search options and filters, the site enlists the help of the public in locating dangerous criminals—especially violent and serial offenders—who have robbed banks, credit unions, armored car companies, and related businesses.

The FBI has long used publicity to enlist the public’s help in taking dangerous criminals off

Now, the FBI is taking this tool one step further by putting information from the site right at

Dr. Chen’s presentation, a discussion guide, and additional reference materials are available here: https://www. fema.gov/preptalks

by far its biggest customer. Total arms imports by the kingdom rose 225 percent over the past five years, making it the world’s second-largest importer overall. China was the fifth largest arms exporter in 2013–17. Total exports rose 38 percent between 2008–12 and 2013–17, with Pakistan the main recipient of Chinese arms.

Arms exports to the Middle East, Asia and Oceania increased, while there was a decrease in the flow of arms to Africa, the Americas and Europe. With the Middle East accounting for 49 percent of total U.S. arms exports, Saudi Arabia was

Until next time, as always, be vigilant and safe. Thank you. Steven J. Fustero, Dir. Of Operations/IACSP

Some Actual Good News About All These Cyberattacks:

Jobs, Jobs, and More Jobs By David Gewirtz

or years now, I’ve been warning about the challenges of cyber attacks and technology from the point of view of national defense. As far back as 2009, I warned about the threat of consumer aerial devices, and now, in 2018, we’re seeing drone swarms attacking troops. I’ve warned about the asymmetric threat of cyber warfare, and the constant challenges posed by breaches and DDoS attacks.

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It’s all quite terrible. After years of

forecasting and describing the doom and gloom, I’ve decided, just this once, to showcase how all this horror can have an upside. Put simply, it’s jobs. The exact numbers vary depending on the analyst, but the prevailing wisdom is that there will be a global shortage of more than 2 million cybersecurity professionals by next year. For businesses and governments looking to increase their cybersecurity ranks, the shortage is so severe it can take as much as half a year to fill a position. This puts those of you in the security industry in a very good career position. If you want to move into cybersecurity, you have a lot of options in an environment with a lot of demand. According to the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, demand for new hires in cybersecurity is growing at three times the rate of traditional jobs in IT.

I know, I know. You might be thinking, “That’s great, but if I had cybersecurity skills, I’d already have that awesome, high-paying job.” You might think that, but you’d be wrong. Here’s the thing: there are a lot of jobs that need filling in cybersecurity, but only a portion of them require specific cybersecurity penetration or defensive skills. Even if you don’t know how to block a breach or close exploits, there are still jobs out there for you.

available, the folks who help the most may well be top of mind.

For example, there are a lot of jobs on the periphery of

For example, there are a lot of jobs on the periphery of actual cyberdefense that are part of the cybersecurity world. Help desk work is one example. There’s an ever-growing need for higher-tier support professionals who can guide users into identifying what’s happening on their computers, mobile devices, and servers. There’s also a need for data gathering professionals, who are able to do the largely clerical job of massaging incoming information and entering that data into databases.

actual cyberdefense

Yes, there’s a lot more to cybersecurity and if you want a gig, you can help yourself along. My single biggest piece of advice is to read everything you can about threats and breaches as they happen. There’s no shortage of this information.

growing need for

With a new breach or vulnerability hitting the scene on a weekly, or even daily basis, you can dive into your reading at any time. The key is to read, read more, and keep reading. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything you read. If you find a news item that mentions something you don’t understand, Google is your friend. Search out answers and keep reading.

into identifying

Look for related jobs: If you don’t immediately qualify for a classic cybersecurity job, consider moving into jobs that are tangentially related to cybersecurity. For example, even though manning a help desk might not mean you’re blocking an attack, you will be able to gain an understanding of what users are going through, and help them mitigate the damage that may have resulted from an attack. If you’ve already got some programming skills, hone them. Make them better. Constantly practice, code, and learn all you can about a wide variety of languages and environments. Get as much hands-on experience as you can. If you’re working in an agency that has a cyberresponse group, ask to help. You may not be given the most exciting work, but the more you’re exposed to the world of cybersecurity, the more you’ll learn. Plus, as new jobs become

that are part of the cybersecurity world. Help desk work is one example. There’s an everhigher-tier support professionals who can guide users what’s happening on their computers, mobile devices, and servers. There’s also a need for data gathering professionals, who are able to do the largely clerical job of massaging incoming information and entering that data into databases.

One question I’m constantly asked about is bootcamps, specialized training programs, certification preparation programs, and degrees from various educational institutions. I want to answer this carefully, in two parts. The first part of my answer is that it is always good to have more education, if you can afford it. There is no doubt that certain three-letter agencies (and many corporations) are seeking cyberprofessionals who have advanced degrees. So, if you have the time and the money, hey, go for it. But here’s the second half of my answer on career education: those who provide educational programs also know that 2 million demand statistic I showed you. They are happily jumping on the bandwagon of providing hugely expensive programs for students desperate to add another zero to the end of their paycheck. Be wary. Most of these programs will provide good training, but none of them can guarantee you a job. Not. One. Of. Them. There are many paths to getting a good job in this industry and paying for a $10,000 to $100,000 education is absolutely not a requirement. That said, no job will just drop into your lap because you want it real bad. You have to know your stuff, have good communication skills, have solid technical chops, and be able to constantly learn and integrate new information. The facts are sobering. The threat is not going away. We’re going to need more and more cybersecurity professionals, as well as professionals in other fields, who understand cyberrisks and cyberthreats. Your best path of action is to gain experience wherever you can find it, and read and learn as much as you can absorb. Do that, and you’ll have a good chance at finding a job in this growing field. Hey, I think this is actually the very first time I’ve ended this column on an upbeat note. Go forth. Save the world.

About the Author CTSERF Research Professor David Gewirtz, M.Ed. is Director of the U.S. Strategic Perspective Institute, Distinguished Lecturer for CBS Interactive, Cyberwarfare Advisor for the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, IT Advisor to the Florida Public Health Association and an instructor at the UC Berkeley extension. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/diy-it/

Assessing the Likelihood and Impact of

Terroristsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Targeting the Suez Canal By Dr. Joshua Sinai

T 10

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU) keep watch as the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau (LHA 4) transits the Suez Canal. Nassau, the command platform for the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group, and Marines from the 24th MEU are on deployment as part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group supporting maritime security and theater security cooperation operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Coleman Thompson/Released)

he 120-mile long Suez Canal, which stretches from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, is a high-value target for ISIS- and other Islamist terrorist groups that operate in the anarchic Sinai Peninsula, which bounds the Suez Canal on its west. The last attack occurred on August 31, 2013, when two operatives belonging to the Al Furqan Brigades, an al Qaida-linked group based in the northern Sinai Peninsula, fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at Cosco Asia, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned container ship crossing the northern section of Suez Canal. Neither the ship nor its container cargo was damaged in the attack.

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Other attempts were thwarted during their plotting phase. These included the arrest in July 2015 of 13 Muslim Brotherhood members on suspicion of planting bombs around the Suez Canal to disrupt shipping. Such attempted attacks, combined with heightened terrorist activities by ISIS cells in the Sinai Peninsula, serve to heighten the risks for merchant ships transiting the waterway, with further attacks considered likely as such terrorist groups also carry out attacks in Egypt’s major cities, particularly in Cairo.

Second, after the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal is the second-most

For terrorist groups that operate in the region, the Suez Canal’s use as a primary transit lane and the proximity to land of much of its transit make it an attractive high profile target. The disruption and chaos that would result from disabling or sinking a large commercial vessel across the canal would be an enormous propaganda victory for the perpetrating group. It would also damage the Egyptian economy and the ability of the government to resuscitate the battered Egyptian economy.

Specifically, such Islamist terrorist groups are highly motivated to attack the Suez Canal because, as issued in an October 2013 communiqué by the Al Furqan Brigades (as translated by the Site Intelligence Group), the canal is “a safe passageway for the Crusader aircraft carriers to strike the Muslims, and it is the artery of the commerce of the nations of disbelief and tyranny.” The group warned that “We can target the international water passage morning and night, along the entire length of the waterway, which is 190km in length, and we will return to target it whenever we wish.”

important seaborne

Strategic Assessment

energy choke point

Any successful terrorist attack against the Suez Canal would cause at least three types of damage. First, the canal is a major strategic asset and source of revenue for Egypt, as it is considered the quickest sea route between Asia and Europe, and any major attack against vessels transiting the canal would interrupt its operations and further damage Egypt’s battered economy (and, especially its tourism industry), which earns an estimated $5 billion annually in tolls for using the waterway.

handling, according

Given its high international visibility and disruptive potential as a vital transit point, ISISand Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups in the Sinai Peninsula and elsewhere in Egypt are likely to continue to target the movement of ships, whether commercial or military, along the Suez Canal. Residential areas along the canal could be exploited by terrorist groups to insert their light weapons with little detection, although the Egyptian government’s extensive security measures along the canal will make it difficult to move heavy weapons to target the transiting vessels.

for oil and liquefied natural gas headed from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula to Europe and North America, to a 2013 estimate, eight percent of the world’s trade.

Second, after the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal is the second-most important seaborne energy choke point for oil and liquefied natural gas headed from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula to Europe and North America, handling, according to a 2013 estimate, eight percent of the world’s trade. Any interruption or blockage in the flow of oil, gas, or other cargo would significantly impact global trade and raise the price of oil as well as disrupt oil supplies worldwide. Third, safeguarding the canal’s security is also vital to the United States navy for the transit of some of its aircraft carriers and other warships deploying in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea for operations against adversaries such as ISIS in Syria, including deterring Iran in the Arabian Gulf.

The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) transits the Suez Canal. George H.W. Bush is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Abe McNatt/Released)

Thus, with the Egyptian military establishing a security zone along the canal, consisting of a series of checkpoints that are complemented by security cameras and mobile ground, naval, and aerial patrols, it will be difficult for a terrorist group to launch a sophisticated attack on a vessel transiting the canal. As seen in the attacks against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the October 2002 attack against the oil tanker Limburg (both off of Yemen), it is very difficult to sink a large, modern vessel, even if it is attacked with a powerful boat bomb, so attacking a large ship with a light machine gun or rocketpropelled grenades, which may constitute a terrorist group’s utmost weaponry in such heavily secured areas, might injure or kill some of the crew, but it would be unlikely to cause significant structural damage to the vessel itself. Finally, the transiting vessels are also likely increasing their own security measures, making it difficult for terrorist operatives to approach them.

About the Author Dr. Joshua Sinai is a senior analyst in counterterrorism and homeland security studies at Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH), in Alexandria, VA. He can be reached at Sinai@kiernan.co.

Sharper A6

IACSP Q&A

with Ilkka Hiidenheimo, CEO of Sharper Shape Inc.

Protecting Sensitive Drone Data from Hackers

Ilkka Hiidenheimo

ACSP: How is cybersecurity affecting the drone/software industry? What kind of data are hackers trying to collect?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Cybersecurity is very important in the drone/drone software industry. Of course for drones the number one issue is aviation regulation. For example, nowadays commercial drones support “no fly-zones”. What size drones are flown also affects how they are regulated. IACSP: Tell our readers about the expanding world of hackers and cybersecurity. Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Different kinds of hackers are interested in different things. When we are talking about hackers, I am concentrating on those “black hat hackers” who are doing it without the right to do it, not “white hat hackers”.

“Script kiddies” – These are people who do not have many hacking skills, but have downloaded easily usable hacking tools from the internet. Normally they do not have

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Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Of course not. If you

any real financial or other targets; they are just trying to penetrate as many systems as possible. Damage which they create can be unintentional. “Criminals” – Organizations or individuals who hack to benefit financially. For example: stealing credit card information or information which has financial value. “Spy hackers” – Individuals who are employed by an organization to penetrate and gain trade secrets of a competitor. These can be insiders who take advantage of the privileges they have to hack a system or network. Also, social engineering is used as a method to penetrate to network. “Cyber terrorist” – A person who breaks into computer systems intentionally, creating havoc or stealing information in the form of cyber terrorism. “State sponsored hackers” – Individuals or organizations that are employed by the government to penetrate and gain top secret information or to damage critical information systems or information systems of the governments. Usually well resourced and highly trained people. If you look at how civilian drones are currently used, they are not an interesting target for script kiddies or criminals. Even for spy hackers, hacking drone systems seems to be a little bit outside their area of interest, unless the drone systems are used as a port to hack other systems.

IACSP: Can you compare the data protection today and a few years ago?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: The situation is cur-

rently extremely challenging. Earlier it was enough to maintain good software policy and keep your anti-virus protection up to date. And of course you have to train your people. Now if you have valuable information in your possession or your system can be used as a way to hack other systems (if you are, for example, a subcontractor of an interesting company) you will be hacked one day. This is inevitable. You need to think early on how you build your defense and split your network, so you can limit and isolate your damages. This is also the way to minimize your recovery costs.

IACSP: Are all drones vulnerable to cyberattacks?

Military drones are of course clear targets for hackers, but that is really a different ball game. Currently drone hacking has not been a big issue. Using anonymous drones to collect information for terrorist purposes, like from a nuclear power station, or using drones to deliver explosives are thought to be biggest security risks related to drones.

have only a radio link to your drone, which you are flying manually, there is no connection to the cyber world. If your system is connected to the Internet then, yes, you are vulnerable.

IACSP: For what kind of hacking attacks can drones be targeted? Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Military drones are

of course clear targets for hackers, but that is really a different ball game. Currently drone hacking has not been a big issue. Using anonymous drones to collect information for terrorist purposes, like from a nuclear power station, or using drones to deliver explosives are thought to be biggest security risks related to drones.

IACSP: Do you see any risks of “data leaks” in the drone industry? Can the captured data be “stolen”? Ilkka Hiidenheimo: There has been

discussion about drones sending information to manufacturer’s servers. There are questions about what kind of data and how much is sent. So yes, there is a risk. Sharper Shape’s priority is protecting information and preventing unauthorized use of data. It is one of very few companies with real experience of performing commercial autonomous drone flights beyond an operator’s visual line of sight.

IACSP: What are the major risks you see here?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Beyond visual line of sight flying does not mean that you are flying blindly in areas where the operator cannot see. For example, in our A6 drone we constantly send a live stream video from drone to pilot, so the pilot notices something that requires action on his/her part. To avoid risks you need to fulfill certain requirements when you are doing BVLOS flights • You need to create BVLOS flight areas together with the aviation authority. • You need to have a flight manual for BVLOS flights. • You need to have a person who is responsible for BVLOS flying at your company. • At least one day in advance you need to announce when you are flying – this information is available for other people who are flying in the same area. • You need to have a mobile phone number where flying status can be checked. • Before flying you need to check that your system is working and capable of flying. • During flying, pilots are 100% concentrating on flying and, of course, safety is the number one objective. We refer to this as a “sterile cockpit.”

IACSP: What can we do to reduce the risk

of cyber-attacks on drones? What kind of security controls are effective?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo:

Control systems must be properly protected. Your communications should be encrypted and protected against hijacking. Physical security is also important. Drones should be protected against theft or physical changes to the system or components.

IACSP:

How can you protect the drone collected data? How can you secure the data collected by the drone?

data that is processed and used for drone flight planning.

IACSP: What are the cloud cybersecurity challenges nowadays?

an Information

is that the bad guys’ knowledge and capabilities are growing faster than our capabilities to protect us; especially if you keep your security in-house, with limited resources.

Technology

IACSP: Are there any special considerations

is no longer

or Computer

for securing services in the cloud?

Department task.

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: It’s possible to claim

level. This also

that cloud protection is a different animal than normal company data protection. Sharper Shape’s cloud only runs our software, which is used to deliver our solutions. There’s nothing extra used inside the server where our services reside.

requires thinking of

IACSP: What are the threats and solutions in

This work should start at the board

the need for never

the cloud?

ending – learning

enough resources

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: You basically can divide threats and solutions into two categories. Those are threats and solutions which are related to the platform provider (in our case Amazon Web Services) and others which are related to the business software that is run using this platform.

makes you a target,

IACSP: How are drone and drone application

and humbleness. If someone with

preventing that is an almost impossible task. You need to create defense in depth with multiple different protection methods, including honeypots, etc.

Ilkka Hiidenheimo:

This is an interesting question. As the drone operator, you must maintain full control of the data.

IACSP: How is the captured data processed (locally or in the cloud)? Ilkka Hiidenheimo:

We are processing captured data in the cloud. This includes the

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: The biggest challenge

Cyber security

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

providers responding to the data protection discussion/threats?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Usually security comes

as an afterthought. The drone industry is part of the aviation industry, which, based on its learnings, keeps safety as a number one issue. Part of the safety is to have proper protection for your systems, including having security as one of the design principles. That includes drones support of “no fly-zone” areas which prevents them flying into sensitive areas.

IACSP: What can commercial operators do to reduce the risk of a cybersecurity issue?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo: Cyber security is a mentality. Either you try your best and you accept the always evolving security landscape or you think that business comes first, and if something happens I will fix the issues at that point. There are two problems with the latter approach. Firstly you take unacceptable risks, and secondly, sometimes implementing security to Vol. 23, No.4

a poorly designed system is almost impossible or at least very demanding. There are many issues for a software company: • • • •

Personnel and their training. Software implementation and testing. Using proper security tools and methods. Continuous improvement (and how to tackle new threats etc.).”

IACSP: You are a cybersecurity professional

with many years of experience in this area. What creates a culture of security in a company?

Ilkka Hiidenheimo:

Cyber security is no longer an Information Technology or Computer Department task. This work should start at the board level. This also requires thinking of the need for never ending – learning and humbleness. If someone with enough resources makes you a target, preventing that is an almost impossible task. You need to create defense in depth with multiple different protection methods, including honeypots, etc.

IACSP: How is Sharper Shape minimizing/ managing the digital risk? How can you keep your data safe? Ilkka Hiidenheimo: This is something we

regularly analyze and benchmark against known best practices. Nobody can promise 100% security. If someone claims that, you know that he or she does not understand what he or she is talking about, or he or she is purposely lying to you. You need to have protection based on what you are protecting, and who are your opponents. One thing we have learned from Stuxnet is that protection against state level hackers is a difficult task.

IACSP: What is the future of the cloud? Ilkka Hiidenheimo: For small and medium size companies the cloud provides enormous cost and security benefits when used properly. That includes pay as you go models together with the possibility to quickly innovate, experiment and iterate. Instead of waiting weeks for hardware, you can instantly deploy new applications, instantly scale up

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as your workload grows, and instantly scale down based on demand. When you are using a well-known cloud service provider, you will get the benefit of strengthened security done by the provider. If your assets are not in the hackers’ first targets, this means you will be protected as hacker interests go to your level.

About the Author Ilkka Hiidenheimo, born in 1960, took the helm of Sharper Shape as the CEO. Hiidenheimo was the founder of Stonesoft Corporation in 1990. He served as CTO until 2004. Between the years 2004 and 2014 he held the role of Managing Director and CEO. Hiidenheimo has more than 30 years of experience working in the computer industry and IT-security. Stonesoft was sold to Intel for $389 million in cash in 2013. About Sharper Shape, Inc.: Based in Grand Forks, North Dakota Sharper Shape, Inc. is a “Drone Software as a Service™ (DSaaS™) company, driven to automate the entire process of utility inspections. Sharper Shape does not manufacture drones, they make them better. The company has created one of the world’s most advanced aerial sensor systems and their technology powers the automatic collection and analysis of unmanned aerial inspection data. More information is available at: https://sharpershape.com.

Cosa Nostra:

The Threat of Organized Crime In America

Charles Charlie Lucky Luciano

By Paul Davis

n a world threatened by international cyber criminals, violent terrorists and Russian and Chinese spies, one might believe that Cosa Nostra, more commonly known to the public as the Mafia (the criminals portrayed in The Godfather and Goodfellas films), is a thing of the past and of no true concern to modern Americans. Federal prosecutors in New York think differently. Although the racketeering case against Joseph Merlino, the reputed head of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family, ended in a hung jury, the other mobsters indicted for what the prosecutors called a far-reaching criminal conspiracy in 2016, all pleaded guilty to various charges.

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Vol. 23, No.4

In a world threatened by international cyber criminals, violent terrorists and Russian and Chinese spies, one might believe that Cosa Nostra, more commonly known to the public as the Mafia (the criminals portrayed in The Godfather and Goodfellas films), is a thing of the past and of no true concern to modern Americans. Federal prosecutors in New York think differently. Although the racketeering case against Joseph Merlino, the reputed head of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family, ended in a hung jury, the other mobsters indicted for what the prosecutors called a far-reaching criminal conspiracy in 2016, all pleaded guilty to various charges. Back in 2016, Preet Bharara, then-United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and other federal and NYPD officials, announced the indictment that charged 46 defendants for their alleged roles in what they called a “sprawling and long-running racketeering conspiracy composed of leaders, members, and associates of the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, and Philadelphia Organized Crime Families of La Cosa Nostra.”

(Criminal members call the organization Cosa Nostra, “Our Thing” or “This thing of ours,” in Italian - but federal law enforcement members call the group La Cosa Nostra, or LCN).

During the 2016 announcement, the prosecutors said the mobsters banded together to engage in a multitude of criminal activities throughout the East Coast of the United States - from Springfield, Massachusetts to Southern Florida. The defendants were charged with racketeering conspiracy, arson, illegal trafficking in firearms, and conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering. “Today’s charges against 46 men, including powerful leaders, members and associates of five different La Cosa Nostra families, demonstrate that the mob remains a scourge on this city and around the country,” Phar-

Back in 2016, Preet Bharara, then-United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and other federal and NYPD officials, announced the indictment that charged 46 defendants for their

ara said back in 2016. ”From loansharking and illegal gambling, to credit card and healthcare fraud, and even firearms trafficking, today’s mafia is fully diversified in its boundless search for illegal profits. And as alleged, threatening to assault, maim and kill people who get in the way of their criminal schemes. This remains the modus operandi of the mob’s playbook.” The FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge, Diego Rodriguez, agreed. “The indictment reads like an old school mafia novel, where extortion, illegal gambling, arson and threats to ‘whack’ someone are carried out along with some modern-day crimes of credit card skimming,” Rodriguez said. “But the 40-plus arrests of mob associates, soldiers, capos, and a boss this morning show this isn’t fiction. As alleged, Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, and Bonanno LCN crime families are still carrying out their criminal activities from Mulberry Street here in New York City to areas of Springfield, Massachusetts.”

alleged roles in what they called a “sprawling and longrunning racketeering conspiracy composed of leaders, members, and associates of the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno,

Richard Zappile PPD

and Philadelphia Organized Crime Families of La Cosa Nostra.”

FBI Take Down Photo

Then-NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton also weighed in, stating, “The charges applied today to these 46 individuals deal a significant blow to La Cosa Nostra, which the NYPD is committed to putting out of business. These mobsters seemed to use every scheme known to us, from arson, to shake-downs, violence, health care fraud, and even untaxed cigarettes to keep the racket going.” The federal charges stemmed from a multiyear joint investigation conducted by the FBI, the NYPD, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The evidence includes thousands of hours of consensual recordings obtained by a cooperating witness and an FBI Special Agent working undercover. The mobsters are accused of being involved in gambling, extortionate collection of loans, other extortion activities, arson, conspiracies to commit assaults in aid of racketeering, trafficking in unstamped and cigarettes, gun trafficking, access device fraud, and health care fraud. According to the FBI, Cosa Nostra is the foremost organized criminal threat to American society. It is a nationwide alliance of criminals—linked by blood ties or through conspiracy. The U.S. Justice Department defines Cosa Nostra as a criminal organization composed of leaders, members, and associates who work together and coordinate to engage in criminal activities. According to the Justice Department, Cosa Nostra operates through entities known as “Families.” In the New York City area, those families include the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, Colombo, and the Decavalcante Family in Northern New Jersey. Each Family operates through groups of individuals known as “crews” and “regimes.” Each “crew” has as its leader a person known as a “Caporegime,” “Capo,” “Captain,” or “Skipper,” who is responsible for supervising the criminal activities of his crew and providing “Soldiers” and associates with support and protection. In return, the Capo typically receives a share of the illegal earnings of each of his crew’s Soldiers and associates, which is sometimes referred to as “Attribute”.

“An underground secret society formed initially as resistance fighters

Each crew consists of “made” members, sometimes known as “Soldiers,” “wiseguys,” “friends of ours,” and “good fellows.” Soldiers are aided in their criminal endeavors by other trusted individuals, known as “associates,” who sometimes are referred to as “connected” or identified as “with” a Soldier or other member of the Family. Associates participate in the various activities of the crew and its members. In order for an associate to become a made member of the Family, the associate must first be of Italian descent and typically

against the invaders and to exact frontier vigilante justice against oppression. A member was known as a “Man Of Honor,” respected and admired because

Philly Under boss Philip Leonetti Provided By Leonetti

he protected his family and friends and kept silent even unto death,” the FBI history explained. “Sicilians weren’t concerned if the group profited

Philly Mob Boss Nicodemo Scarfo FBI Photo

from its actions because it came at the expense of the oppressive authorities. These secret societies eventually grew into the Mafia.”

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Joe Pistone FBI Photo

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needs to demonstrate the ability to generate income for the Family and the willingness to commit acts of violence. According to the FBI, the major threats to American society posed by Cosa Nostra are drug trafficking and money laundering. The mob has been involved in heroin trafficking for decades, as evidenced by two major historical investigations, the “French Connection” investigation and the “Pizza Connection.” investigation. The FBI’s history of Cosa Nostra explains that the criminal group evolved over the course of 3,000 years during numerous periods of invasion and exploitation by numerous conquering armies in Italy and Sicily. Over time, Sicilians became even more clannish and began to rely on familial ties for safety, protection, justice, and survival. “An underground secret society formed initially as resistance fighters against the invaders and to exact frontier vigilante justice against oppression. A member was known as a “Man Of Honor,” respected and admired because he protected his family and friends and kept silent even unto death,” the FBI history explained. “Sicilians weren’t concerned if the group profited from its actions because it came at the expense of the oppressive authorities. These secret societies eventually grew into the Mafia.” The Sicilian Cosa Nostra formed in the mid1800s to unify the Sicilian peasants against their enemies. In Sicily, the word Mafia tends to mean “manly.” The Sicilian Mafia changed from a group of honorable Sicilian men to an organized criminal group in the 1920s. The FBI history went on to state that since the 1900s, thousands of Italian organized crime figures—mostly Sicilian Mafiosi— have come illegally to this country. Many who fled here in the early 1920s helped establish what is known today as Cosa Nostra. La Cosa Nostra, or the LCN as it is known by the FBI, consists of different “families” or groups that are generally arranged geographically and engaged in significant and organized racketeering activity. The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. It has members in other major cities and is involved in international crimes.

The FBI history noted that Charles “Lucky” Luciano (called “Charlie Lucky” by his fellow gangsters) became the new leader. Maranzano had installed the Cosa Nostra code of conduct, set up the “family” divisions and structure, and established procedures

“La Cosa Nostra evolved over the years as various gangs assumed—and lost— dominance over the years: the Black Hand gangs around 1900; the Five Points Gang in the 1910s and ‘20s in New York City; Al Capone’s Syndicate in Chicago in the 1920s. By the end of the ‘20s, two primary factions had emerged, leading to a war for control of organized crime in New York City,” The FBI reported. “The murder of faction leader Joseph Masseria brought an end to the gang warfare, and the two groups united to form the organization now dubbed La Cosa Nostra. It was not a peaceful beginning: Salvatore Maranzano, the first leader of Cosa Nostra, was murdered within six months.” The FBI history noted that Charles “Lucky” Luciano (called “Charlie Lucky” by his fellow gangsters) became the new leader. Maranzano had installed the Cosa Nostra code of conduct, set up the “family” divisions and structure, and established procedures for resolving disputes, while Luciano later set up the “Commission” to rule all Cosa Nostra activities. The Commission included bosses from six or seven families.

for resolving disputes, while Luciano later set up the “Commission” to rule all Cosa Nostra activities. The Commission included bosses from six or seven families.

FBI Photo Joe Valachi

FBI Commission Chart 1963

Luciano is credited widely as the criminal mastermind who created the American Cosa Nostra, while structuring the organization somewhat after the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. When Luciano was deported back to Italy in 1946, he became the liaison between the Sicilian and American Cosa Nostra organizations. Later seminal events in the history of Cosa Nostra occurred in 1951 with the Kefauver Senate committee, which concluded that a “sinister criminal organization” known as the Mafia operated in America. In 1957 the New York State Police raided a meeting of major mob figures from around the country in the small upstate New York town of Apalachin. And in 1963 Joseph Valachi became the first Cosa Nostra member to provide a detailed looked inside the organization. Recruited by FBI agents, Valachi revealed to a U.S. Senate committee numerous secrets of the organization, including its name, structure, power bases, codes, swearing-in ceremony, and members of the organization. The late Richard Zappile, an ItalianAmerican police officer who rose in the Philadelphia Police Department to become the First Deputy Police Commissioner, spoke of the perception and reality of organized crime to a writer back in 1994. He noted that most ItalianAmericans were law-abiding citizens and not criminals or Cosa Nostra members. He added that the bad guys besmirched all Italian-Americans. A few years earlier, while serving as the city’s chief of detectives, Zappile was the point man against the Philly mob during a violent internecine war. He is credited with organizing the aggressive arrests of several gun-toting mobsters. With the illegal guns confiscated and the mobsters locked-up, Zappile prevented further mob murders and injuries to innocent citizens. “We can never totally destroy organized crime because the tentacles reach out too far, but I think they are a small element,” Zappile told the writer. “I’m confident that most of them are going to get their just due, which is jail.”

Joseph Pistone, an Italian-American and retired FBI special agent, went undercover in the New York Bonanno crime family for six years in the 1980s. Pistone posed as a jewel thief named “Donnie Brasco,” which was the name of the book he wrote about his amazing experiences, as well as the name of the subsequent film made from the book. Pistone’s credible testimony at federal trials helped convict more than 100 mobsters. The intelligence about organized crime that he learned while undercover aided the FBI for many years afterwards. Pistone said that Cosa Nostra had lost much of its power because of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act and the strict federal sentencing guidelines. “At one time, you’d get 3 to 5 years in prison,” Pistone explained. “The standard line among wiseguys was I need to go on “vacation” - three squares a day, I work out and get back in shape. Now, with the guidelines, the judges don’t have much wiggle room in their sentences and they get 15 to 20 years. And you’re going to the time in the federal system.” Pistone noted that in the Commission Case they convicted all of the New York mob bosses and they received 75 to 100 year sentences. Now, he said, when wiseguys are convicted they know they will never see the light of day again, so they make deals with prosecutors. During his undercover years, Pistone saw mobsters scamming and scheming every day, wondering how they were going to steal, cheat and bring in money. Pistone also spoke of the daily worries about where they stood in the constant struggle for power within the crime organization. The two main concerns of a wiseguy, Pistone noted, were going to jail and being murdered. “Our investigation broke the myth of how these guys are honorable and other fantasies the public has about the mob.” Ralph Natale, the former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family who became a government cooperator, and the author of The Last Man Standing: The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale,

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

debunked the idea that Cosa Nostra was against selling drugs. He scoffed at the idea that some bosses, like Paul Castellano in New York, prohibited selling drugs. “Listen to me. Let me break that fable. Every mob in New York, Chicago and Philly always has a man who sells drugs,” Natale said. “Everybody handles drugs. There was Joe Bonnano, who in the beginning said no drugs, no drugs. Meanwhile he became the biggest rat in the world. You get the bosses money, and that’s it. There is no crime that cannot be done if you belong to the mob.” Former Philadelphia underboss Philip “Crazy Phil” Leonetti, the author of Mafia Prince: Inside America’s Most Violent Crime and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra, was a government witness against his uncle, Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo. Leonetti said he was raised in the Cosa Nostra way of life by his uncle, one of the most violent and murderous crime bosses in American history. Scarfo taught Leonetti about “Our thing.” “From when I was little he would tell me we don’t talk about our life to anybody. We’re different,” Leonetti said. “We don’t live by the same rules that everybody else does. Like the laws they have in this country. If somebody bothers us we’ll kill the guy ourselves. We don’t go rat to the police. This is the environment I grew up in.” When asked if he had any regrets about his life of crime, Leonetti said, “All the crimes I committed, like the murders I was involved with, were all against bad people, guys that were involved in our life. So I really didn’t think anything of it. They were looking to kill us and we were looking to kill them. We weren’t looking to kill no legitimate people.” Today Cosa Nostra is still involved in many illegal activities, such as murder, extortion, drug trafficking, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, tax-fraud schemes, and stock manipulation schemes.

About the Author

Paul Davis is a contributing editor to the Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security Int’l.

Vol. 23, No.4

Biological Threat from North Korea, Iran and Syria By Col. Dan Dickerson

“

Syrian activists inspect the bodies of people they say were killed by nerve gas in the Ghouta region, in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus August 21, 2013. Syrian activists said at least 213 people, including women and children, were killed in a nerve gas attack by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on rebel-held districts of the Ghouta region east of Damascus. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

Infectious diseases are potentially the largest threat to human security lurking in the post-cold war world.”1 “The War on Terror” and the growing instability in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula, supported by radical governments, have dangerously increased the possibility of the use of biological weapons. An added concern is the close association between North Korea, Iran and Syria and their association with various terrorist groups, any one of which would willingly use biological agents against the West.

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Biological weapons (BW) pose a risk that other weapon classes (nuclear, radiological and chemical) do not. They are living organisms, some of which are highly infectious and transmissible and have lengthy incubation periods that make early detection exceptionally difficult. Genetically modified, weaponized biological agents would pose threats for which there are no known medical countermeasures, and are silent until they explode in epidemics or pandemics. Calculating kill ratios and controlling strikes as with chemical and nuclear weapons are nearly impossible with biological weapons. Intelligence analyst Andrew O’Neil, in a 2003 article in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, stated that biological weapons are preferred for three reasons: • “First, [biological weapons] agents are far easier to acquire than nuclear weapons and produce the same killing impact as [chemical weapons]. • “Second, the effects of biological weapons on a target population would be extremely hard to counter. • “Third, the insidious nature of biological weapons has the potential to psychologically ‘unhinge’ target populations.” Additionally, a biological weapon program is cheaper to run and maintain than a nuclear or chemical weapons program and is often perceived to ‘level the playing field’ against governments which possess nuclear arsenals or overwhelmingly superior conventional weapon capabilities. There is the additional consideration of an opportunity for a covert attack with deniability, since attribution would be difficult. We were attacked in 2001 with one such biological weapon—anthrax. It killed a few innocent Americans and resulted in a billion-dollar cleanup with the FBI needing four years to identify a possible suspect. Most biological weapons research is dual use, making it difficult to determine if it falls within the UN Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which allows defensive research, or if it is “offensive” which is prohibited. These programs are usually a nation’s most sensitive weapons sections and are easier to hide than most military programs because they can be developed in a university setting or hidden within efforts to develop related vaccines. The intense secrecy and dual-use nature that surround offensive biological weapons programs makes it difficult to accurately assess the structure, location, research and development of such programs.2 While nuclear programs can be monitored by the number of nuclear tests and the success of missile tests, weaponizing and cultivating pathogens can stay invisible behind closed doors. Moreover, equipment used for biological weapons produc-

Later that year, an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was also quoted as saying that a military exercise, “Ashura-5,” showed that Iranian armed forces could operate even against invaders equipped with “the most destructive bacteriological and chemical weapons.” These statements are important because the only way to develop defenses against biological agents is to do research using biological weapons, and the only way to create defenses against advanced militarized agents is to possess them.

tion are often dual-use for agriculture or medical research, making external monitoring and verification virtually impossible. This dual-use dilemma is more easily understood by the fact that the former USSR covertly operated an offensive bioweapons program in contravention of the BTWC for more than fifteen years. North Korea, Iran and Syria have developed extensive bio-pharma infrastructures which are strongly suspected of supporting bio-weapons research. In 2004, the chairman of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Foreign Policy Committee, Seyyed Hoseyn Musavian, stated that Iran had taken defensive measures against chemical, biological and nuclear attacks since the Iran-Iraq War. He also said that the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics is responsible for enforcement of the policy. Later that year, an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was also quoted as saying that a military exercise, “Ashura-5,” showed that Iranian armed forces could operate even against invaders equipped with “the most destructive bacteriological and chemical weapons.” These statements are important because the only way to develop defenses against biological agents is to do research using biological weapons, and the only way to create defenses against advanced militarized agents is to possess them. A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on Iran’s military policies noted that “U.S. reports indicate that Iran has the capability to produce chemical warfare (CW) agents and ‘probably’ has the capability to produce some biological warfare agents for offensive purposes, if it made the decision to do so.” The CRS report reached its conclusion without citing recent German intelligence documents from Germany’s 16 federal states in which Iran has, since January 2016, attempted to covertly acquire nuclear-related materials, as well as to advance its chemical and biological weapons capabilities. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate’s intelligence agency warned in its 2015 annual report that Iran had sought to acquire equipment that could be used to manufacture “atomic, biological and chemical weapons in a war.” Baden-Württemberg’s intelligence service similarly reported Iranian efforts to obtain technology for the production of “nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs,” while Saarland’s intelligence agency noted that both Iran and North Korea tried to acquire “technology for atomic, biological or chemical weapons.”3 Gen. Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, wrote in his new book that one of the letters recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound reported that al-Qaeda was “work-

ing on chemical and biological weapons in Iran.” Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization, discussing defensive and offensive measures for viruses, talked about the strategic importance of using viruses as weapons to contaminate an environment, “Viruses can be turned into easily concealed weapons with high epidemic powers that could contaminate food, water and animals.” General Jalali offered the following points as to the advantage of biological weapons: 1. Biological viruses are extremely clever and have the capability to distinguish their environment. These viruses can only be recognized in a lab, are easily hidden in the environment and can cause widespread epidemics. 2. Viruses, parasites, botanical poisons and animal poisons are elements that can be used in biological warfare. 3. The environmental threats include humans, domesticated animals, poultry, environment, natural resources, food industry and drinking water. According to a source in the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit with knowledge of Iran’s microbial research and development, Iranian scientists, with Russian and North Korean help, currently possess eight extremely dangerous microbial agents that, if unleashed, could kill millions of people: anthrax, encephalitis (the blueprint of this virus, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, was provided by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an agreement with the Islamic regime), yellow rain (developed with the help of North Korea), SARS, Ebola, cholera, smallpox and plague.

expertise. Although the current number is unknown, it was reported that, at one point, 10,000 Russian chemical, biological and nuclear experts were employed in Iran.4

As witnessed in Iran and Syria, such emphasis on agricultural selfreliance suggests the legitimate use of pesticide facilities for civilian use only. However, a series of photos of the Pyongyang Biotechnical Institute released by the North Korean state media in 2015 raised concerns for dual-use.

Iran, with North Korea’s help, has genetically altered the smallpox virus, which make current vaccinations useless against the new strain. And research at two facilities that act as drug companies but are fronts for the deadly research shows insects can be used as the vector to carry plague, infamous as the “Black Death.” Iran has placed a high priority on the acquisition of long-range surface to surface missiles and UAV’s (drones) specifically designed to carry biological warheads, and has received aid in its chemical/biological armament programs including missiles, from China, Russia, Pakistan and esp. North Korea. Iranian development and deployment has benefited from extremely advanced Russian technological

The Science and Technology Group (STG) allegedly oversee Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programs, and The National Council of Resistance on Iran reports that in only one branch of the STG, the regime developed three biological agents—VX (though in fact a chemical agent), aflatoxin, and Bacillus anthracis—with the help of at least 18 Russian, Chinese, and North Korean experts.

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

Of specific significance to understanding the Iranian biological weapon complex is its oversight by the IRGC and the extraterritorial role of the Quds Forces. The Quds Force is directly tasked with liaison, training, funding, arming and logistics, among a range of other responsibilities related to Iran’s terror network which include, but are not limited to, support for al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and terror networks in Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and a host of other nations. At a Quds camp in Iran, Hezbollah agents have been receiving biological warfare instruction and even trained under field conditions in the Sudan. Until recently, there were no less than 10 paramilitarily training camps in the Sudan providing training to Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, certain groups of ISIS (volunteers from Europe and the U.S.), and other terrorist groups from Europe and the U.S. Biological weapons could be used as a prelude to war or in the openings stages of war. But, of more concern is the use of biological weapons as an act of terrorism carried out by a state’s military or one of its terrorist’s surrogates. The Quds force or any of Iran’s sponsored terrorist groups could be provided with biological agents who would release them in airports, other transportation hubs, airplanes, major cities, sporting events, anywhere there are large crowds, as well as water distribution systems with a pathogen like Crypto, which is impervious to chlorine and will pass through most filtration systems. This is far more likely and would be far more devastating in terms of kill ratios than some lone terrorist group trying to weaponize pathogens without state support. Iran’s emerging biological weapon complex is infinitely more lethal, indiscriminate and could be easily deployed with plausible deniability, particularly against civilians by Iran’s elite military forces. The convergence of Iran’s BW complex, with command and control squarely under the IRGC, and designation alongside conventional armaments poses perhaps a

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greater threat to global security than its nuclear complex at this point. Syria’s President Bashar Assad has clearly stated that “Syria has the right to hold weapons of mass destruction.” Recent events in Syria and international concern over Syria’s use of chemical weapon stockpile, has overshadowed a far more dangerous clandestine military weapons program. On July 24, 2012, Syria’s former Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, announced that Syria would not use chemical or biological weapons it retains against its own civilians. This announcement unintentionally acknowledged both the chemical and biological weapons programs Syria has run for years. This announcement riveted both the intelligence community and non-proliferation advocates who had sought to cast doubt on Syrian biological weapons capabilities. Syria being a close ally of Iran, North Korea and terror groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, and supplies bio-weapons and delivery platforms that could result in mass casualties makes it a real and present danger. Contrary to how the US State Department and other agencies tend to downplay the sophistication of the Syrian biological programs, they are very advanced. Syria has always had the most advanced chemical weapons program in the Middle East. The US and other western agencies have in a sense been distracted by this, but their biological programs and the “concept of use” are robust. The strategic “concept of use” has become a major concern as it has gone from one of ‘special weapons’ to incorporation into their ‘conventional arsenal.’ In a 2008 report on Syrian WMDs, Anthony Cordesman citing Israeli sources wrote, “Syria weaponized botulinum and ricin toxins in the early 1990s, and probably anthrax, and limited indications [Syria] may be developing or testing biological variations on ZABincendiary bombs and PTAB-500 cluster bombs and Scud warheads. Using these advanced agents, such as the most lethal forms of anthrax (cultivated with the help of Russian experts), can have the effectiveness of small theater nuclear weapons.”5 A major portion of the research and development of biological weapons is managed from the Syrian Scientific Research (SSRC) complex on the outskirts of Damascus, where research centers on: anthrax, plague, tularemia, botulinium, smallpox, aflotoxin, cholera, ricin, and camelpox. Some of these they acquired during natural outbreaks, others they acquired from the Soviets, North Korea, Iran and Iraq. The trial programs, production and storage of the bacteria and viruses

occur at three central facilities, the Sarin facility near the city of Homs, the military missile testing facility to the south of Homs and the Al-Safir facility near Aleppo.

Analysis of these images revealed that the Pyongyang Biotechnical Institute could produce militarysized batches of bioweapons, specifically anthrax.11 The modern equipment visible in these images also showed a violation of the Australia Group’s dual-use items list, and that it was possible to convert the facility from pesticide to bioweapons production.12

There have been several limited indications of the development or testing of biological variants of incendiary bombs, cluster munitions, Scud warheads, UAVs, aircraft and cruise missiles for dispersing biological agents over a large area, while exploiting wind and weather conditions. Syria was also involved in the development of micro-spraying technologies intended for biological terrorism, as well as in the development of viruses and bacteria intended for mass infection through a human carrier. In interviews, Dr. Jill Dekker, who had served as NATO advisor on chemical warfare until 2007, as well as human rights organizations operating in Syria, have referred to mounting evidence that Syria conducted chemical and biological weapon experiments on prisoner populations. The 2000 ROK Defense White Paper stated that North Korea began weaponizing biological agents in the 1980s,6 and mentions 13 agents North Korea is assumed to have: Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax), Clostridium botulinum (Botulism), Vibrio cholerae (Cholera), Bunyaviridae hantavirus (Korean Hemorrhagic Fever), Yersinia pestis (Plague), Variola (Smallpox), Salmonella typhi (Typhoid Fever), Coquillettidia fuscopennata (Yellow Fever), Shigella (Dysentery), Brucella (Brucellosis), Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), Rickettsia prowazekii(Typhus Fever), and T-2 mycotoxin (Alimentary Toxic Aleukia).7 In 1993, the head of the Russian intelligence agency’s foreign branch revealed in a report that North Korea was performing “applied military-biological research” on four pathogens, including microbes that cause anthrax and smallpox. North Korean soldiers are vaccinated against smallpox,8 while U.S. service personnel stationed in South Korea are vaccinated against smallpox and anthrax. North Korea’s bioweapons capability is difficult to verify in part due to the dual-use nature of equipment and facilities used for culturing pathogens. As noted in Iran and Syria with their bio-pharmacy and agricultural research facilities, and with Iraq’s Al Hakam Factory and the Soviet Union’s biological weapons programs, bio-pesticide plants and medical research centers can be covers for bioweapons production. In 1993, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB, released a statement that said, in part: ‘North Korea is perform-

ing applied military-biological research in a whole number of universities, medical institutes and specialized research institutes.”9 Since his inauguration, Kim JongUn has clearly stated the importance of agricultural reform as “the frontline of socialism.”10 A large aspect of this reform is to increase pesticide production. While most pesticides worldwide are chemical, North Korea’s interest in organic, biological pesticides has increased despite the fact that it is more expensive to produce. Some point out that this shift from chemical to bio-pesticides could signal an expansion of North Korea’s bioweapons program. As witnessed in Iran and Syria, such emphasis on agricultural self-reliance suggests the legitimate use of pesticide facilities for civilian use only. However, a series of photos of the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute released by the North Korean state media in 2015 raised concerns for dual-use. Analysis of these images revealed that the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute could produce military-sized batches of bio-weapons, specifically anthrax.11 The modern equipment visible in these images also showed a violation of the Australia Group’s dual-use items list, and that it was possible to convert the facility from pesticide to bio-weapons production.12 (see photos on previous 2 pages)

The ambiguity surrounding the dual-use potential of bio-pesticide facilities could be used to North Korea’s advantage. For example, the date of Kim Jong-Un’s visit to the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute could be interpreted as strategic messaging. The visit took place only ten days after it was reported that the U.S. military had accidental imported live anthrax samples onto a U.S. Air Force base in South Korea. It is plausible that North Korea intended to signal its bio-weapons capability to the United States and South Korea by showing its leader praising the military-run Bio-technical Institute. It is rumored that the Pyongyang Bio-technical Institute supplied the nerve agent used in the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam.13 The South Korean government believes that North Korea maintains at least three possible bio-weapons production facilities and seven bio-weapon or bioweapon related research centers.14 Verifying a complete picture of North Korea’s bio-weapons capability is limited as there is no on-the-ground intelligence gathering with the only other source of information coming from North Korean defectors. Since the 1990’s information, provided by North Korean refugees, indicate that the North Korean regime has conducted chemical and biological experiments on the disabled and political prisoners.15 In 2015, a North Korean scientist involved in the biological and chemical weapons program, identified only as Lee, defected to Finland with an elec-

tronic data storage device containing 15 gigabytes of information on North Korea’s chemical and biological testing on civilians. Mr. Lee was to give testimony to the European parliament in late July of 2015, but this was the last ever heard of Mr. Lee or the information he may have possessed.16 The military cooperation between North Korea and Syria is not a novelty; it has taken place over decades. In 1973 North Korea assisted Syria in Syria’s surprise attack on Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Since that earlier encounter, North Korea has helped Syria in various ways, including sending them materials and advisers, joint military training exercises, and working with Syrian troops during the present civil war. Key Iranian authorities have been involved in North Korean military deliveries to Syria, including BW. The Syrian installations bombed in the Masyaf military compound in September, 2017, was a result of the involvement of Iran and North Korea on secret, uninspected sections of the compound linked to BW and advanced surface-to-surface missiles and rockets. North Korea enabled Hezbollah to build underground structures and bunkers effectively used against Israel in the 2007 war and supplied components of missiles which were exported to Hezbollah via Syria. With assistance from Syria and North Korea, Hezbollah has their own biological labs in Lebanon with weaponized agents having already been shipped to them from North Korea via Syria. Collectively, Pyongyang’s WMD program consists of the transfer of knowhow, components, or weaponry 1) between Pyongyang and Tehran regarding nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; 2) from North Korea to Syria regarding chemical and biological weapons; and 3) from Iran to Syria regarding chemical and biological weapons. North Korea, like Iran, could use a variety of ways to release biological weapons across the world, missiles, drones, airplanes, sprayers, and human vectors are potential means of delivery. According to South Korea’s Minister of Defense, North Korean special forces are a likely means for delivering biological weapons. North Korea has some 200,000 special forces, a small fraction of which could deliver devastating biological attacks against South Korea, Japan, and even the United States. North Korea could infect subjects, and release them in South Korea, Japan or the U.S. Further, as is feared with Iran, North Korea could already have prepositioned biological agents within these countries with sleeper cells awaiting orders to start a pandemic. North Korea has successfully built one of the world’s most extensive biochemical warfare programs which could have the potential to decimate South Korea and the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed there, as well as to disrupt the regional economy. The gravest danger may be that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un could sell his weapons to terrorists.

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

A nuclear attack, even one involving an EMP could be traced back to the source. This isn’t the case with a biological agent. An attack involving biological agents is difficult to trace back to the aggressor. In addition, they have lengthy incubation periods that make early detection exceptionally difficult; no nation has stockpiled the necessary vaccines to inoculate the general public; in many cases, there are no vaccines for some of these pathogens that are suspected to be in the aggressors arsenal; it can inflict heavy causalities and cause a complete breakdown of social order; undermine the economy of a country; and greatly reduce the effectiveness of its military. Probably the biggest advantage in the use of biological weapons is the killing efficiency that can end a war quickly.

About the Author Danny Dickerson is a retired Colonel, U.S. Army. He has served as an advisor to the UN, NATO and Interpol on terrorism and intelligence planning. He has trained law enforcement in the U.S. from the local to federal level on terrorism and intelligence, as well as investigators for the Canadian Attorney General’s office and police officials in Egypt and Jordan, and is recognized as a “presenter” by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. He has written articles addressing the growing threat of terrorism which have been republished in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

(Endnotes) 1 Dennis Pirages “Microsecurity: Disease Organisms and Human “Well Being,” Washington Quarterly 18 (Fall 1995): 5-12. 2 Guillemin, Jeanne, “Scientists and the History of Biological Weapons”, EBMO Reports, Vol.7, 2006. http://www.nature. com/embor/journal/v7/n1s/full/7400689.html ) 3 “ Expert: Don’t Ignore Iran’s Chemical, Biological Weapons Threat While Enforcing Nuclear Deal,” The Tower.org Staff, 6 December 2016. 4 The Jerusalem Post, January 21, 1999, p. 2. 5 Assad’s biological weapons absent from US-Russia deal, The Times of Israel. URL: http://www.timesofisrael. com/assads-biological-weapons-absent-from-us-russiadeal/#ixzz2qqi2gVbk 6 Republic of Korea, Ministry of National Defense, “2000 Defense White Paper.” 7 “북한, 생물학무기 열흘내 무기화.. 백신치료제 확보 시 급”[North Korea can weaponize its BW within ten days…Urgent need for securing vaccines], MBN News, June 17, 2015. 8 Robert G. Darling et al., “Virologic and pathogenic aspects of the Variola virus (smallpox) as a bioweapon”, in Biological Weapons Defense: Infectious Diseases and Counter Bioterrorism edited by Luther Lindler, Frank Leveda, George Korch, Humana Press, 2005. 9 Rebecca Perring, “North Korea’s biological WAR: Jongun’s kingdom weaponises deadly diseases to smash enemy,” Express, UK, 16 July 2017. 10 “비료는 농업전선의 탄약”[Pesticide is the bullet of our agricultural frontline], 로동신문[Rodong Sinmun], January 13, 2016. 11 Melissa Hanham, “Kim Jong Un tours pesticide facility capable of producing biological weapons: A 38 North Special Report,” 38 North, U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS, July 9, 2015. 12 14 Ibid. 13 이봉석,“김정남 독살 개입설, 北 생물기술연구원 실 체는?”[Bong-suk Lee, “What do we know about the Biotechnology Institute that was allegedly involved in Kim Jong-Nam’s poisoning?”], 연합뉴스 [Yonhap], February 22, 2017. 14 International Crisis Group, Op.Cit., p.11 15 Julian Ryall, “North Korea testing chemical weapons on political prisoners,: The Telegraph, 14 October, 2013. 16 Julian Ryall, “North Korean defects with data on chemical warfare tests on humans,” The Telegraph, 3 July 2015.

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Rituals of Terror:

Nigeria’s Badoo Secret Society By Tony M. Kail

Images of Shrine of Accused Badoo Ritualist

igerian police in the region of Lagos State are discovering a rise in terror attacks attributed to a criminal sect known in the region as Badoo. Acts of violence ranging from home invasions, sexual assaults and homicides are being committed by members of the group. Many of the attacks by members of the Badoo are ritualistic in nature. Attacks are performed with weapons that have been ceremonially empowered by Badoo clergy. Members of the organization participate in various preparation rituals such as taking ceremonies before attacking their targets. After committing acts of violence, members of Badoo remove the organs and entrails of their victims to use in the creation of amulets and talsimans. This article looks at the cultural, historical and forensic aspects of the Badoo sect. In order to gain an understanding into the practices of the Badoo, an analysis into the cultural concepts found in African traditional religions can explain the context in which Badoo beliefs, rituals

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

and social structure are built upon. A comparison of secret societies and ritual homicides among various geographical regions of Africa also reveals patterns of beliefs and practices found among the Badoo and other regional sects.

History In 2016 a series of rapes and murders attributed to a possible serial murderer occurred in the city of Ikorodu in Lagos State, Nigeria. During the investigation of a victim’s residence authorities discovered a cryptic message written across the door of a victim’s home that announced ‘I am Badoo’. Numerous victims of sexual assault and murder attributed to the suspect’s work ranged from an eight-month old child to an 85 year-old

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female. Evidence and testimony from survivors of the attacks described the attacker’s behaviors where the perpetrator attempted to remove specific bodily fluids from the bodies of his victims. Following a large manhunt in June of 2016 Nigerian police arrested a suspect believed to be the killer. The killer identified only as ‘Badoo’ escaped police custody but was later eventually arrested in the Ikorodu community several months later. He was caught by residents after it was discovered that he had sexually assaulted a young girl. Mobs of angry locals who feared the killer might be freed again lynched and burned the suspect in one of the town’s public streets. A street gang calling themselves the ‘Badoo Boys’ began a series of attacks on citizens not long after the capture and execution of ‘Badoo’. The Badoo Boys committed a number of rapes and murders. Police began to discover that homicides attributed to the group began to appear to have a specific ritualized modus operandi. Members of the group used grinding stones typically used to crush grain to attack their victims often hitting them on the head till they collapsed. Victims were discovered dismembered with various parts and organs of the body removed. Further investigation revealed that various parts of the victims were being used in group ceremonies. A common ritual that was discovered by police involved the attacker smashing the head of a victim and collecting blood and brain matter on a white cloth that would be later used in rituals and the creation of charms. Some body parts were worn by members of the cult as charms that were believed to attract spiritual power. Investigators discovered a number of Badoo shrines in the homes of members that included human skulls, coffins and offerings of money.

Crimes Nigerian police have documented a number of homicides attributed to the Badoo sect including: • June 13th, 2017: Badoo cult members entered the residence of a minister and attacked him in his sleep. The victim received injuries from blunt force trauma to the head. A bloody stone was discovered at the scene by investigators. The victim’s wife and child were present but were not injured in the attack. • July 4th, 2017: The bodies of two adult females and a two-yr. old child were discovered in the Crystal Church of God in Owode Oniri. The first victim was the wife of the founder of the church. The child and a woman who had been living in the church were then attacked. The victims died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. Investigators noted that traces of motor oil were present at the scene. Members of the Badoo cult are known to utilize motor oil in various anointing rituals. • July 21st, 2017: A man and his fiancée were attacked and killed in their apartment in Ogun State. The victims both received blunt force trauma to the head. The female was pregnant

•

A street gang calling themselves the ‘Badoo Boys’ began

•

a series of attacks on citizens not long after the capture and execution of ‘Badoo’. The Badoo Boys committed a number of rapes and murders. Police began to discover that

•

homicides attributed to the group began to appear to have a specific ritualized modus operandi. •

•

at the time of the attack. A torn window net was apparently the point of entry for the assailants. July 27th: A 22 yr. old male suspected member of the Badoo is arrested in Lagos State after being caught possessing a human head at a local shrine in Ikorodu. The suspect attested that he had recently been to a traditional healer that was giving him spiritual ‘protection’ through the skull. August 18th, 2017: A 17 yr. old female is attacked while attending a service at the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Ikorodu, Lagos State. The victim was sleeping in the corner of the church when a 29 yr. old member of the Badoo sect attacked her with a grinding stone. The man had allegedly entered the service and participated in a church ritual before attacking the victim. The suspect was found changing out of blood stained clothes when he was apprehended. The suspect was also discovered carrying a white, blue and red colored handkerchief in his pockets which were to be used to gather blood from his victim. The suspect testified that he and two others attended the service acting as if they were members of the church in order to attack their victim. November 26th, 2017: A family of three in Lagos State are attacked by Badoo members in their residence. Victor Kanao, pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God is murdered. Blunt force trauma to the head from two large stones that were discovered by the victim’s body were used in the attack. The pastor’s wife and 10 month old child are being treated for similar wounds. Iron bars that protect the windows are discovered to have been cut to gain access to the home. Nigerian police take interest in an ornate skull tattoo on the body of the pastor noting it’s similarities to symbols used by some con-fraternity cults considered terrorists in Nigeria. December 21st, 2017: A family of three in Lagos State are attacked by Badoo members in their apartment. A husband, wife and sister in-law are discovered with blunt force trauma wounds to the head. A witness alleges that he saw men entering the family’s apartment through a torn window. December 30th, 2017: A husband, wife and 6 month old child are attacked in their home. The victims suffer blunt force trauma to the head. The father is killed and the wife and child survive the attack. Three suspected members of Badoo are arrested. The men testify to have visited an herbalist who blessed the grinding stone that was used in the attack on the family. One of the suspects testifies that an herbalist in the group entered the residence before the attack and sprayed a powder into the air that would cause the family to fall into a deep sleep. Blood that was obtained from the wounds of victims was gathered in a white handkerchief and taken to be used in rituals. Police discovered that the wife of one

of the suspects had been surveilling the family and had provided the location of their residence.

to him from the road. The boy left with the man and did not return. The perpetrator who confessed to the kidnapping and torture of the boy was also documented back in August of 2015 of taking his exwife to several local religious shrines to consult ritualists including the Okija shrine in Anambra State. The Okija shrine has become of international interest as it is a religious shrine where the remains of over seventy corpses have been recovered by authorities used in magico-religious ceremonies. • November 2017: Two men are arrested in the Ogun state region for beheading a 17 yr. old girl to use her remains in a ritual to gain money. The men lured the young girl who was selling doughnuts into the bush where they murdered her. Her hands were amputated and her intestines were removed.

Badoo Murder Badoo related murders contain ritualistic elements that have been found among a number of African magico-religious cultures throughout history. As early as the late 1800’s regions like Botswana South Africa have recorded ritualistic murders for spiritual and magical purposes. Some African communities have used the term ‘medicine murders’ to describe homicides that are committed for agricultural growth or personal power (Evans, 2007). Medicine murders (known colloquially in South Africa as ‘dipheko’) in the region were being committed to increase agricultural produce or to gain political status or power. There is a proverb recorded in Botswana that says ‘Mabele apheko yalesilo atsala thata’ or ‘Corn doctored with an idiot’s flesh yields abundantly’ (Livingston, 2009). This speaks to the use of human remains in spiritual rituals by combining flesh and herbal or elements to produce magical power. Like the Badoo, ritualists would combine magical operations with human remains to produce spiritual power. A number of homicides in the region of Lagos where the majority of Badoo murders are committed have been tied to ritual operations performed in order to gain money and to raise social status. • August 2017: The pastor of God’s Commandment Ministry Church in the Cross River State was discovered operating a secret traditional religious shrine inside of his church. It was discovered that the pastor had paid kidnappers to find him a child to use in spiritual rituals. The kidnappers stormed the home of the child and held her parents at gunpoint while they took the 1 yr. old child. The child’s heart was later discovered inside the pastor’s church. The pastor claims he murdered the child to use her heart in rituals in order to gain money. • October, 2017: Two men are arrested in Ogun State for killing and utilizing the remains of their victim in rituals to gain money. One of the suspects serves as a prophet in the Cherubim and Seraphim African Independent Church. The female victim in this case was hit with a piece of wood and then beheaded. The victim’s hands were then amputated and the heart and portions of the victim’s genitalia were taken from the body. • Later in the month, the body of a 16 yr. old boy was discovered hanging from a piece of construction equipment in the region of Anambra State. The victim’s organs had been removed during the night as he was hanging from the equipment. Friends of the victim state that he was playing with some other boys outside when a man called

Some African communities have used the term ‘medicine murders’ to describe homicides that are committed for agricultural growth

Medicine murders

The focus of many of the ritual homicides including Badoo-related homicides is to attain body parts for use in African traditional medicines. The killing of victims then is less about a ‘sacrifice’ or ‘offering’ to a deity or spirit and is more focused on gathering material components for a magico-religious operation.

(known colloquially

Victims

in South Africa as

A number of Badoo attacks occur within secured residences and churches with open access. Evidence of tampering and removal of windows, nets and bars have been documented by police. Most attacks appear to occur late at night and in many cases while the victims are sleeping. In some cases members of the sect are reported to have used various chemicals and powders to sedate victims before the attack.

or personal power (Evans, 2007).

‘dipheko’) in the region were being committed to increase agricultural produce or to gain political status or power. There is a proverb recorded in Botswana that says ‘Mabele apheko yalesilo atsala thata’ or ‘Corn doctored with an idiot’s flesh yields abundantly’ (Livingston, 2009).

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

The majority of attacks are performed using a stone traditionally used to grind various seeds, herbs and foods use in many Nigerian households. Stones can be collected in the wild but many household grinding stones are purchased in public marketplaces. Victims of Badoo attacks have been male and female with sexual assaults occurring strictly with females. Ages of victims range from infancy to elderly adults. The majority of victims are from Nigeria withstanding one August 2017 case involving an American visiting the country who was attacked by a man suspected to be a member of the Badoo sect. The attacker used a wooden pestle and a cutlass to assault his victim. There is controversy surrounding this case however as it appears to be financially motivated as opposed to ritualistic. The positioning of the victim’s body is typically placed in a manner where Badoo members can remove blood and brain matter. The removal of blood and brain matter from victims is reported as being collected using a primarily white colored handkerchief.

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Anthropological Aspects

thropologist Sir James George Frazier in his study of religion and magic The Golden Bough. Frazier discovered a number of societies throughout history that share beliefs about the spiritual power of human remains. He cites cases in Mexico where societies would take the bones of a deceased female and bury them near houses that were about to be robbed in order to take away the power of the occupants. In Europe the ‘Hand of Glory’ was a sculpture created by using the hand of a deceased thief. The fingertips of the hand were used as candles and as they burned they took away the power of the intended victim.

The Badoo sect utilizes a number of religious artifacts, rituals, practices and social roles. Many of these elements are taken from classical African traditional religious models. Artifacts: Ritual paraphernalia utilized by the Badoo include objects found in many African religious cultures such as beads, gourds, shells and various statues and icons of deities. The handkerchief used by members to collect blood and remains is usually white in color but in some cases such as in the attack on a female in the Lagos Cherubim and Seraphim Church in August of 2017 handkerchiefs colored red, white and blue where discovered among members of the sect. Rituals: Badoo members take an oath binding them to the act of violence that they are about to commit. Many of these oaths take place in the presence of a ritualist that provides spiritual services to the sect. During these oaths it is believed that the grinding stone used in the attack will be blessed by the ritualist. Members of the Badoo sect claim that a ritual known as ‘ipakuare’ is performed in a local shrine before killings are to take place. Ritual specialists are alleged to have performed various rituals to assist Badoo members in escaping the scene of the crime. Ritual preparation including abstinence from sex is performed to increase the potency of group rituals. Rituals include the drinking of water that has been used to wash dead bodies. The purpose of the water is to protect members from the ghost of their victims once they have killed them. The belief in the living dead and spirits of the departed is found in many African traditional religions (Mbiti, 1969). Members are anointed with oil from the group’s ritual specialist and take part in a communal drinking of animal blood. The oil that is used in rituals of protection may consist of motor oil. Numerous members of Badoo have been found smeared with motor oil and some have testified that motor oil is frequently used by the sect. The gathering of blood and remains after attacks is collected to be taken to a ritualist to be used in magical operations. (Usman, 2017) These operations include offerings to various local deities that are believed to bring about financial success. In some cases the blood and remains are sold to clients who are seeking spiritual guidance by the group’s ritualists. Sacred Spaces: Nigerian Police has destroyed a number of shrines utilized by the Badoo. Many of these shrines appear very similar to those dedicated to local deities of the Yoruba and Igbo tribes in the region. Shrines are decorated in some cases with images of spirits and deities and contain a number of statues of the same. Some shrines have been discovered containing human remains including skulls and various bones. Various bowls

Badoo Member Arrests

of materials and bottles of liquid substances used as components in spiritual work are commonly discovered at the shrines. Social Structure: The Badoo recognize a number of social positions within the group. Primarily these consist of spiritual leaders in the group that are recognized as ‘ritualists’ and in some cases ‘herbalists’. Authorities have identified a number of individuals considered financial ‘backers’ of the Badoo sect although their role is not clearly defined. There have been a number of cases involving Badoo members that have been attacked and killed by members of communities that fear the sect. A number of members have been beaten, burned and lynched in Nigeria. Members of the sect are very secretive about their identity and affiliation with the group.

The African Context The beliefs and practices of the Badoo appropriate elements from the culture of African traditional religions. Concepts related to spirituality, rituals and magic can be found among the many indigenous cultures of Africa. Africans for centuries have celebrated and preserved a number of traditions that recognize the importance of spiritual practices, wisdom of ancestors and tribal based rites of passage. The ability to invoke the favors of a spirit or deity through offerings of blood is a concept found in many African traditional religions. This practice is observed in many communities through the act of animal sacrifice in which the blood of an animal is given to a deity. The energy that is contained in the blood is exchanged for the energy from a deity or spirit. In some traditions the offering or use of human remains is used to gain magical or spiritual power. The use of human remains in magico-religious practices is practiced in some cultures clandestinely as recorded as early as the 1800’s by Scottish an-

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

This practice can be seen in the rituals and history of many traditional African cultures. Among the Congolese people of the Atlantic coast of Africa, traditional healers known as ‘Nganga’ use the bones of the dead to connect with the spirits of the dead. Bundles known as ‘Minkisi’ were created using bone, the dirt from graves, sticks and figurines. The bundles are manipulated by the healer to bring about healing to members of the community and sickness to those who would seek to harm the community. However the use of remains among the Congo healers has primarily been through using bones of deceased ancestors. Culturally it would be offensive and dangerous to secure the work of a spirit that a healer has murdered. For this reason ritual murder is not part of Congo minkisi creations or culture. In South Africa traditional healers known as ‘Sangoma’ utilize a form of spiritual energy known as ‘muti’. Muti, a Zulu word is harnessed in most cases as a form of medicine that can be attained through specific plants and herbs. South Africa however has seen a number of murders committed to obtain body parts to be used in the attainment of muti. Muti murder is defined as ‘a murder in which body parts are removed from a victim for the sole purpose of using the victim’s body parts medicinally.’(Labuschagne, 2004) As in the Badoo rituals, the healer or ritualist is not typically the perpetrator. The remains are obtained by others in the group or by outsiders seeking to sell the remains. And like those in the region of the Badoo sect, most of the region’s traditional healers in South Africa look down on such practices with disdain. In recent years authorities in East Africa specifically Kenya have seen ritual murders being committed by members of the ‘Mungiki’ terrorist sect. The Mungiki seek to re-establish the practices of the Mau-Mau revolutionary group among members of the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Members of Mungiki combine Judeo-Christian practices with African traditional religion as a spiritual basis for the sect. Like the Badoo, Mungiki members take an oath to become a member of the sect. Police have documented cases where Mungiki members have beheaded and dismembered men, women and children. In some cases members of the sect have removed body parts from victims such as hands, breasts and genitalia. Kenyan police report that the human remains are used in various rituals by the group.

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Acts of violence to obtain human remains for rituals have also been documented in the country of Tanzania. Some traditional healers known as ‘mgangas’ have taken part in the homicides of several adults and children with albinism. There is a belief in local folklore in Tanzania that the flesh, bone and hair of an albino victim contains magical substances. Traditional healers have been documented as using the remains of albino victims to create charms and potions for the purposes of attracting good luck and financial success. Some Tanzanian fishermen have been allegedly weaving the hairs from albino victims into their fishing nets in order to bring a more bountiful catch. The legs of albino victims appear to have special significance as several murders have been focused on the removal of limbs. Authorities in Tanzania have investigated cases where the remains of albino victims have sold for thousands of dollars. Police in Tanzania have reported that a complete set of body parts including the arms, legs, genitals, ears, nose and tongue have sold for close to $70,000 American dollars. There have been some cases where home invasions have occurred in Tanzania where assailants have stormed homes and attacked children with albinism for their limbs.

Investigations Victims of Badoo related attacks in the majority of cases have suffered blunt force trauma to the head. A stone is typically used to render the victim unconscious and is used to crack the cranium open to allow access to brain matter. Authorities have discovered in many cases that members of the sect leave the stone at the scene of the murder. Investigators working scenes suspected to be Badoo related should look for the presence of stones and cloths possibly used to collect blood and matter. Badoo culture borrows many concepts from traditional African religious cultures. Investigators

should be aware that intelligence and interviews may be hard to obtain from witnesses as there is a tremendous amount of fear, respect and regard for aspects related to spirituality and traditions. In addition to fears surrounding physical threats to informants there are also a number of magical and spiritual threats that may be held members outside of the Badoo culture. It is important to note that a number of ritual objects used by the Badoo sect are commonly used in many African religious communities. The mere presence of herbs, powders, oils and statues at scene or in a residence does not necessarily indicate criminality or violence. The social network surrounding Badoo culture traditionally includes spiritual workers that administer oaths and perform protective rituals. Ritualists and herbalists may also be responsible for performing ceremonies using human remains. Badoo members typically do not perform rituals alone. Investigators working cases involving Badoo members should look for associates who perform rituals for the group.

Conclusion As African law enforcement agencies continue to unravel the mystery behind the Badoo phenomena, the occurrence of Badoo related homicides appear to be rising. Because there is no central sacred text for the group or historical data outside of contemporary testimonies of members, police records and victims, the profile of the Badoo sect is small but growing. As information regarding the group’s behavior and culture emerges so will a better understanding of this violent sect. The recent history of the group and their propensity toward violence reveals a magico-criminal society that poses a threat to Nigerian communities. The

African Ritual Homicides

African Ritual Homicides Group

Location

Primary Weapon

Parts Removed

Victims

Mungiki

Kenya

Machete

Head; Limbs; Breasts; Genitalia Head; Limbs; Breasts; Genitalia; Eyes; Body Fat; Throat Head; Limbs; Breasts; Genitalia; Blood Head; Limbs; Blood; Hair

Children and Adults Children and Adults

Sangoma South Africa Badoo Mganga

Nganga

Nigeria Tanzania

Congo Region

Bladed Instruments including knives, machetes Grinding Stone Machete, Firearms NA

Bones from deceased

potential for Badoo activities taking place in other countries among Nigerian communities is possible as the culture migrates and international communities are exposed to specifics of Badoo culture through the Internet. The phenomena of religious terrorist groups that subscribe to a form of ‘magical thinking’ can present additional variables that counterterrorism professionals should consider. As many Latin-American drug trafficking organizations believe themselves to be spiritually empowered through the adherence to traditions related to folk saints and Afro-Latin traditions, so the members of Nigeria’s Badoo sect believe themselves to magically protected by African deities. This psychological ‘edge’ can give members a false sense of security and aggressiveness that might create an increase in attacks and criminal activities. Understanding the logic behind this magical thinking can potentially help us understand the motivation and mindset of the spiritually empowered criminal.

About the Author Tony M. Kail is the Southern Regional Director for the Symbol Intelligence Group, a private law enforcement resource firm specializing in counter-terrorism research and education. As a former deputy sheriff and practicing cultural anthropologist, he has over 25 years experience in researching and documenting African and esoteric religious cultures throughout the U.S. and Africa. Kail has provided training and consulting for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Capitol Police, United States Attorney’s Office and the United States Army. He is the author of several books including A Cop’s Guide to Occult Investigations (Paladin Press, 2003); MagicoReligious Groups and Ritualistic Activities: A Guide for First Responders (CRC Press, 2008) and Cults: Understanding the Use of Afro-Caribbean and Mexican Religious Cultures in the Drug Wars (CRC Press, 2015) Kail’s books are listed as suggested reading on the 2011 Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of suggested books on narcocults.

References 1.

South Africa, Gerard Labuschagne, Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 1:191-206 (2004) 2.

Children and Adults with Albinism NA

Suspected Badoo members drink water used to bath dead bodies during rituals, Evelun Usman, Vanguard, January 6, 2018

Children and Adults

Features and Investigative Implications of Muti Murder in

Debility and the Moral Imagination in Botswana, Julie Livingston, Indiana University Press, 2009

The History of Black Africa Vol. III, Endre Sik, Beekman Books, 1974

Where Can We Get A Beast without Hair? Jeremy Evans, African Studies, Vol. 52, Iss.1, 93

They Cut Segametsi into Parts: Ritual Murder, Youth and the Politics of Knowledge in Botswana, Charlanne Burke, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 73, No.4, Youth and the Social Imagination in Africa, Part 2 (Oct., 2000), pp 204-214

African Religions and Philosophy, John S Mbiti, Heinemann, 1969

Strategies for Off-Duty Encounters By Jim Weiss and Mickey Davis

W C ommonly, these off-duty officers and agents carry concealed weapons. However, many concerns are involved when an offduty law enforcement officer or agent draws his or her gun in response to such threats and crimes. Muddy Boots Tactical Training conducts an Off-Duty Concealed Carry training course as a Public Safety: Criminal Justice In-service course. The one monitored for this article

Muddy Boots instructors and law enforcement course attendees critique the results of an off-duty canceled carry training scenario.

hat are the best responses for off-duty police officers and state and federal agents to take in this often inhuman era of flat-out terrorism, violent felonious crimes, vicious anti-police and anti-government behavior often involving the threat of--or actual--deadly encounters, and criminals utilizing terror to accomplish their crimes?

was held at St. Petersburg College’s All State Center in Florida. “Strategies for Off-Duty Encounters” is an 18-hour course that provides a comprehensive approach to law enforcement education, instructed by progressive and motivated veteran law enforcement officers. The hands-on learning experience uses a scenario-based format replicating real-life situations derived from studies of actual happenings in modern policing.

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

In a scenario, for example, an off-duty police officer is in line at a bank and an armed robber appears, making his or her demands. The situational elements to the bank robbery scenario include: Is there more than the one robber in the bank that the officer is not aware of or hasn’t identified? Is there eminent danger for the officer and others within the bank if the off-duty officer fails to intervene? Would it be better for the off-duty officer not to officially give an armed response, but rather be an observant eye

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witness? And if the off-duty officer is in the bank with his or her spouse and children, how might that play out? Are there environmental factors such as civilians, multiple suspects, available cover, and darkness? Is the off-duty officer alone? According to Muddy Boots, its staff extensively researches incidents where injuries and/or deaths of law enforcement officers have occurred. They gather data showing trends and patterns in these incidents so strategies and advanced tactics can be developed to better prepare officers for deadly encounters. These research-based, data-driven criteria serve as the driving force behind each course. “Strategies for Off-Duty Encounters” is designed to better prepare sworn police officers, state attorneys, law enforcement agents, and off-duty personnel who carry firearms to be better prepared for an off-duty encounter. Topics included: case law, methods of off-duty carry, liability, workers’ compensation, off-duty mind set, off-duty response to incidents, and tactics. Training objectives are for law enforcement officers to have a better understanding of ways to deal with situations that can occur while off-duty in regard to carrying concealed firearms. These objectives include: 1) identifying the difference between “on duty” and “off duty;” 2) knowing which actions should be taken; 3) being aware of statistics concerning officers injured or killed off duty; 4) knowing the situations where a response would be required; 5) selecting an off-duty weapon; 6) knowing workers’ compensation requirements if injured while taking action; 7) having a plan for off-duty action; 8) knowing case law for actions taken off duty; 9) learning defensive tactics; and 10) learning carry methods.

Samples of Case Law for Off-Duty Actions Taken U. S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Huffman v. County of Los Angeles – An off-duty deputy from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in civilian clothes was seated alone in a restaurant and bar carrying his personal off-duty revolver concealed in the waistband of his pants. He consumed five alcoholic drinks. Huffman and his girlfriend arrived and sat a different table; they also consumed alcohol. The deputy did not know Huffman before this evening. Reportedly, Huffman continually got into the off-duty deputy’s face, and was verbal and vulgar but not angry. The situation progressed. Huffman eventually put up $40 for the deputy to go outside to settle it, and they went out. At no time did the deputy identify himself as law enforcement or act in an official capacity. Huffman, who had wrestled in high school and college and coached college wrestling, took the deputy down. The deputy’s gun came out; the deputy grabbed it and fatally shot Huffman.

On duty In a scenario, for example, an off-duty police officer is in line at a bank and an armed robber appears, making his or her demands. The situational elements to the bank robbery scenario include: Is there more than the one robber in the bank that the officer is not aware of or hasn’t identified? Is there eminent danger for the officer and others within the bank if the off-duty officer fails to intervene? Would it be better for the off-duty officer not to officially give an armed response, but rather be an observant eye witness? And if the off-duty officer is in the bank with his or her spouse and children, how might that play out? Are there environmental factors such as civilians, multiple suspects, available cover, and darkness? Is the off-duty officer alone?

“On duty” signifies the officer is engaged in his official role with a duty to take action, and has no legal obligation to retreat. On-duty officers are properly armed and equipped to take action, dispatch knows their location, and their families are not present.

Carry options Muddy Boots recommends an outside waistband holster, similar to an on-duty carry rig; it’s comfortable and in the same spot. Some concerns might be that the handgun is difficult to conceal, off-duty holsters don’t have weapon retention, and it is difficult to re-holster in off-duty rigs. Another option is an inside waistband holster rig. Shoulder holsters are Hollywood and Muddy Boots doesn’t recommend them, nor does it consider an inside pocket holster a good idea. There are holster shirts and gun clips to select from, too. A further recommendation is to carry an extra magazine, and should an off-duty officer be the victim of a robbery, to carry two wallets--one with his cash and such, and the second with his police ID/badge. This makes it easy to surrender the cash wallet and perhaps avoid being assassinated or beaten by the bad guy.

At a police station, the deputy registered a rather high blood alcohol reading. Huffman’s autopsy showed a high blood alcohol reading, and about a one-and-a-third line of cocaine use. The conclusions drawn were that the deputy did not act within the scope of his duties, and Huffman’s death came under the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause which forbids the State from depriving a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Issues raised included the fact that the county failed to prohibit deputies from carrying guns while drinking, and the sheriff’s office had devoted insufficient attention to the unlawful use of firearms by off-duty deputies, including while intoxicated. Basically, the officers were not trained or qualified to act when off duty. Miller v. Visser: Two off-duty officers were liable for $32 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages for allegedly frightening members of a family by pulling their car over, shouting obscenities at them, and threatening them with guns drawn. The two officers, a married couple, claimed that they had only stopped the car after someone in it threw something at their vehicle. No damages were awarded against the employing city, as the jury found that the officers acted outside the scope of their employment. (Reported in The National Law Journal, p. B2 (July 29, 2002).

A Look at the Course Demonstrations: In the mat room, Muddy Boots demonstrated defensive and control tactics such as takedowns, weapons index, and moves such as the palm heel strike and an open-handed strike with the reactionary hand to stun the suspect and gain distance. In the front kick, a kick is made with the weaponside leg targeting the suspect’s center mass, and a follow-up knee spike is made to the face. Another demonstration had to do with concealed carry weapon

retention from the hip holster because most off-duty holsters don’t have the retention of today’s duty holsters. Muddy Boots instructors also demonstrated the difficulty of retaining a weapon in an ankle holster and re-holstering it. Weapons: For off-duty carry, Muddy Boots recommends a smaller version of what the police officer carries on duty, but feels that the best gun is the one you have on you at the time, “on you” being the operant words. An example cited was that of a female deputy who walked into a grocery store armed with her .380 handgun inside her purse. A suspect ran up behind her and ripped her purse from her shoulder. The deputy fought hard, but was unable to retain the purse and weapon. The suspect fled and was caught days later, but the deputy’s weapon was never recovered. The point is for law enforcement officers to have the weapon on their person rather than in a sling bag or purse. Had the purse-grabber looked into the bag and found the deputy’s I.D. and firearm, he might have changed his plan and harmed the deputy. Issues for off-duty action: An officer is considered off duty when he is not engaged in official duty, does not have proper equipment, and is not easily identified as a law enforcement officer. Some legal issues include those relating to alcohol, the severity of the crime, injuries, and concealed carry methods. What are the ramifications for involvement in an off-duty incident? What does the department expect of its police officers? Liability concerns for taking enforcement action while off duty may involve innocent bystanders, family, the officer, and the suspect. In deadly force off-duty encounters, there are also issues of friendly fire, criminal prosecution, the mindset of deadly force, and posturing. Course scenarios: Role playing situations involve the off-duty officer identifying himself, and following and complying with the instructions of arriving law enforcement officers, especially those who might not know the offduty officer.

Selected Course Role Player Scenario Examples Scenario: An off-duty Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) approaches what is evolving into a domestic altercation between a man and woman; one pulls a gun and shoots the other. When presented with this scenario, some deputies drew their concealed carry gun and shot, while others identified themselves as police. (Under Florida Statutes, a LEO doesn’t have to ID him/herself before engaging in an exigent circumstance use of deadly force). The scenario continued with uniformed LEOs responding and ordering the off-duty LEO to drop his gun. The off-duty deputy complied, but was careful not to turn and inadvertently point his gun toward the on-duty LEOs, or to drop his gun near the downed domestic violence role players. Scenario: Inside a bank, role players were in a line for a teller. A robber with shotgun entered through one door right after an off-duty deputy entered through the main entrance. The robber ordered all role players in the teller’s line to lie down on the floor. Ideally, the off-duty officer would lie down to and follow the robber’s instructions, becoming a good witness. An interesting aside was that when put through the scenario, by instinct an off-duty student made a move for his concealed off-duty gun, the robber noticed this and responded by slowly attempting to point his shotgun at the LEO. Instead of continuing his draw effort, the off-duty LEO turned and ran out the door before the role-player robber could further respond. It worked. This could also have been a good situational response. Scenario: A violent altercation took place, with one man down on the ground and another beating him with a large wrench. This was an eminent danger situation. The officer called 911 and engaged the bad guy. In this case, deadly force was justified. Students were reminded that once 911 is called, they shouldn’t cancel it.

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He/she should not turn and face the on-duty officers with a gun when ordered to drop it but rather put the gun down when ordered, preferable not in the vicinity of others. Off duty with family: Muddy Boots suggested that law enforcement agencies should talk to their officers about what to do in offduty situations. They should work out code words with spouse and children so family members know when to break away from the immediate location and call 911, or, in other circumstances, find cover. The family code words can be something like “blue-blue-blue,” which means “get away from me.” When the off-duty officer and/ or a member of his family contacts the police, they should give detailed descriptions of the situation, the officer, and the bad guy, and should do not hang up. Children should be trained not to say something like, “My dad’s a cop and he’s going to arrest you.” In a restaurant, off-duty officers should try to sit near an exit door, window, or bathroom area exit. Stay out of corners, and plan an escape route for your family. Think family mode first, rather than cop mode. Be aware of surroundings. Being off duty doesn’t mean that you are on autopilot. Remember you, the police officer, are trained in high stress situations; your wife and children are not. Your family could experience psychological aftermath seeing you roll around with a bad guy or shooting. In one situation, an off-duty deputy and his 13-year-old daughter were in line when a robber with a gun went into action. The officer surveyed the situation, thought about whether to fight or run, and located cover. He noted the crowd and decided not to take action unless a shot was fired, letting the robbery go down and he became a witness. There is much to decide before you pull the trigger

Examples: Barstow, California 1997: A robber with a lengthy criminal record and just out of prison entered a

restaurant through the employee entrance and handed the manager a robbery note. An off-duty police officer observed what was happening. The exit door was locked, preventing his family and others from getting out. The officer tried to intervene, but the bad guy shot, killing a nine-year-old girl. The officer shot back, fatally wounding the robber. The store’s camera later showed it was the bad guy’s bullet that had killed the girl, but the result was harsh police media publicity. LEO approaches what evolves into a domestic altercation between a man and woman; one pulls a training gun and shoots the other. In this exigent circumstance, some deputies drew their concealed carry gun and shot, while others identified themselves as police and tried to go that route. In this circumstance, the off-duty deputy shot the role player who had shot the other person in the domestic violence altercation. As an on-duty deputy approaches, the off-duty deputy follows his instructions.

An off-duty law enforcement officer approaches an evolving domestic altercation between a man and woman when one pulls gun and shoots other. In this exigent circumstance, some deputies drew their concealed carry gun and shot, while others identified themselves as police. The off-duty officer in the background observes what is taking place in this training scenario.

In this concealed carry off-duty training scenario, an off-duty law enforcement officer takes control of a situation where the role player was armed and engaged in a violent domestic altercation in which one role player shot another role player.

In another robbery, an off-duty deputy and his wife walked out of a mall and noticed a man acting suspiciously. The deputy called 911. The bad guy put on a mask and attempted a carjacking. The deputy shot him. The deputy was not departmentally qualified with the .380 pistol that he used, but the ruling was that any weapon in defense is okay; this was an exigent circumstance. However, the shooting had a grave impact on the deputy’s wife. She became withdrawn and there were marital issues, basically because of the action the deputy had taken. Paterson, NJ 2007: People who have been arrested have long memories. Because of this, off duty law enforcement officers need to avoid shopping or eating in areas where they work, although in small rural towns this is difficult. In January, off-duty police officer Tyron Franklyn of the Paterson (NJ) Police Department was shot while placing an order in fast food restaurant in the area where he worked. A gang member committed an armed robbery, and when Franklyn struggled with the robber, he was shot a number of times. When people in the eatery identified Franklyn as a police officer, he was shot two more times, killing him. St. Cloud, Minnesota 2016 -- An off-duty St. Cloud police officer shot and killed a terrorist suspect who had reportedly injured ten people in attacks with a knife. The suspect had been referring to Allah and reportedly asked one victim: If he believed in they were Muslim.

Many types of incidents (both big and small) could happen--and have happened--within churches all over the country. The Muddy Boots concurs, “Strategies for Off-Duty Encounters,” addresses this growing concern in an eminent danger situation training scenario.

What to consider: Within a three-year period, there were 10 active shooters in malls; in three incidents off-duty officers engaged the bad guys in firefights before on-duty officers arrived. Muddy Boots suggests you call 911 before you engage if possible, and as an off-duty officer, first consider your physical fitness level and use of force skills. Are you physically prepared to engage? How serious is the crime? Do you have to become involved? If it’s a burglary or shoplifting, call 911. Bad guys recognize cop traits like high hands, interview stance, reactionary gap, guns bulging from waistband area, etc., so don’t wear clothing that advertise you are an off-duty police officer.

About the Authors Lieut. Jim Weiss (Retired) is a former Army light infantryman, schooltrained Army combat engineer, a former school-trained (regular Army) Army military policeman, former State of Florida Investigator, and a retired police lieutenant from the Brook Park (OH) Police Department. Mickey (Michele) Davis is an award-winning, California-based writer and author. Her young adult novel, Evangeline Brown and the Cadillac Motel, won the Swiss Prix Chronos for the German translation. Mickey is the wife of a Vietnam War veteran officer and a senior volunteer with her local fire department.

Vision Part 1:

The Eyes & Mind By: Anthony Ricci

I 38

n previous articles I have discussed time and distance, scanning the road way, looking well ahead and breaking down the time and distance math. These are all great topics and though we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about them all the time while we are driving, we still need to understand the theories in order to be a higher-level driver. These topics may not seem like it but they all start with the operatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes and mind. With a general knowledge of these topics we can start to comprehend how important saving time and understanding our environment (visual clues) allows us more distance for turning and braking. In this article we will delve deeper into the eyes and mind, and look closer at how important good visual acuity is for the task of driving.

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Why Vision? The eyes and mind work together every day of our lives to allow us the information we need to survive. While driving the eye and mind supply the driver with the information we need to safely navigate our vehicle. Drivers have a variety of skill levels, health and age factors, along with hundreds of other factors that can allow them to perceive and react to these informational pieces as they make themselves visible. But visual acuity is the first step. Do you really know just how much detail and how far ahead you can see? Visual acuity known as the sharpness of one’s vision tested against a fixed standard should be tested far more often than just upon license renewal. Many people may not think detail sight is needed when driving and in fact many people with less than perfect vision see less detail. While driving this means seeing hazards earlier which allows a driver to interpret the details. This early recognition of detail may be the difference between seeing a stop sign with enough distance to make a smooth controlled stop versus a later recognition which would require a more abrupt drop in speed, or worse a sudden stop. Seeing early just comes down to allowing more time and distance, which is well needed. The difference for a driver with 20/10 vision versus another driver with 20/40 vision would be the ability to see details on the roads like signs, moving pedestrians, smaller vehicles like scooters and cyclists up to 4 times earlier. Of course, these drivers would have to interpret the data correctly in order to act on it, but they do have the ability to see it, which is the first step. People with better visual acuity will have an advantage, however only to see clearer at a farther distance. More important than acuity is peripheral vision: the ability to see your surroundings while not fixating on one particular item in your sight picture. Anytime that a driver sees motion in his/her sight picture they would be directed toward that object and study it quickly to decide if it would be deemed hazardous. Utilizing peripheral vision correctly allows the driver to react to motion rather than an actual object. Think about the last time you were startled by a fast-moving bug or spider that flew by or dropped down next to you. You’re not actually sure what it is but you begin to

move, scream, or swing at this movement. At first identification you see something move but you cannot see detail until you direct your central vision at it. Some people are better at controlling this however; using peripheral vision to its full advantage can be a powerful tool. Simulate putting blinders on your eyes with your hands and navigate around your house, you will become much slower even in a familiar environment. Now think of driving a vehicle with no peripheral vision it would be very slow and delayed and almost impossible. With this knowledge we now know that peripheral vision is your data collector. You’re driving along and say to yourself

vision is so important in the driving system. Peripheral vision should be studied in Drivers Education programs in order to be understood and applied by every driver. Eye movement studies show that .25 seconds are required for fixation on a sight picture. If we travel at 60 miles per hour we are moving at 88 feet per second therefore it would take 22 feet to fixate and closely inspect part of our sight picture every 22 feet traveled. Would it be feasible knowing this data to closely study every object? We would run out of time. What would we do to see the rest of the picture? Thus, the reason peripheral vision is so important we use it to identify or sense the rest of the sight picture, and our brain fills in the gaps (which can be both good and bad). Imagine trying to identify every little detail in your sight picture it would be impossible. Eyes alone are not the only thing that can handicap peripheral vision. We can hinder peripheral vision by wearing the wrong glasses; it could be tinted windows, car design (blind spots), seat height, a large hooded sweatshirt or large rear-view mirrors. Anything that takes away from your sight picture can inhibit the driver from reacting as quickly as possible. Work to build your peripheral vision and reaction skills. Stand about 3 feet away from a wall and have two friends stand behind you just out of your peripheral sight picture and toss balls against the wall that you will have to catch. They should each be equipped with several balls and have no pattern as to their tempo or direction. As you get better at catching the balls they can change speed and area of the wall they throw the ball at. Distance from the wall can get tighter or further away depending on your ability to react. You should concentrate on not looking for a ball but using peripheral vision to react. Have fun with this and start slow and work up to speed slowly.

“I think I see something crossing the road up there” and in milliseconds your brain tunes in to the object with a part of the retina known as the fovea which magnifies the area allowing you to make a quick decision to avoid or brake. Foveal vision is known as tunnel vision or when you stop eye movement and read a word or identify an object versus just knowing it is there.

This was an introduction to two of the most common aspects of vision: acuity and peripheral. But this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the eyes and mind. In my next article we will discuss more vision factors that can slow down vehicle control and human reaction time.

If we put this theory into some basic math calculations we can see why peripheral

Anthony Ricci is President of ADSI (http://www.1adsi.com)

About the Author

IACSP Q&A

with David Ignatius

avid Ignatius is the bestselling author of “The Quantum Spy,” “The Body of Lies,” “The Increment” and other spy thrillers. He is also a prizewinning columnist for the Washington Post and he has been covering the Middle East and the CIA for more than twentyfive years. He lives in Washington, DC.

David Ignatius

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

Leon Panetta, a former director of the CIA, said the following about David Ignatius’ latest novel: “The Quantum Spy provides a thrilling window into the future world of high-tech espionage. David Ignatius may call it a novel, but for those of us who know the work of the intelligence community, this book is nothing less than a real-life insight into the ongoing battle for dominance in the digital world. The names may be fictitious, but what they are fighting about is very real!” David Ignatius was interviewed by Paul Davis, a contributing editor to the Journal.

IACSP:

I enjoyed “The Quantum Spy,” as I’ve enjoyed your other spy novels. Although my computer skills and knowledge are somewhat limited, I enjoyed reading about the computer advances and the tech world you describe in your novel. To begin with, why did you write “The Quantum Spy”?

Ignatius: In each of my novels I’m looking for something that is new and interesting. Many of my novels are set in the Middle East, but in recent years I’ve tried to branch out. My previous novel, “The Director”, was about the collision of hacking and espionage and about the way in which the Russians had been penetrating the world of hackers. In this Vol. 23, No.4

book I got interested in the developments in quantum computing in the way a quantum computer was becoming much more possible, according to the engineers I talked to. And as I did my research, it became clear that there was a real competition underway, almost a new Manhattan Project, a race between the U.S. and China to build a quantum computer first. I thought that a book about China and how its intelligence service operates was fresh territory. We’ve had what seems like a million novels about the Russian intelligence service and its battles in the U.S., but very few about China. So I began doing as much research as I could both on the computing side and on how the Chinese service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), operates.

IACSP:

For our computer-challenged readers, and I count myself among them, can you briefly and simply describe quantum computing?

Ignatius:

The best description I can give is that a quantum computer would be built on a fundamentally different architecture, starting with the bits. A standard computer, even a supercomputer, has bits that are either zero or one. They are open or closed, on or off. And a quantum computer’s bits, known as qubits, are in a quantum state, which means they are simultaneously zero and one. And that, obviously, vastly multiples the number and direction of computations as you entangle zero and one simultaneous qubits into an array that has some computing power. There are two big difficulties in building a working quantum computer. The first is assembling enough qubits together to do real computing. The second, and more difficult, is keeping those qubits from decohering, losing their quantum state. Often it is only milliseconds that they stay in this quantum state. The enemy of quantum computing is noise. That would be one way to put it. Heat, any kind of interference, whether it is literally temperature or electromagnetic interference, and anything else that disrupts the quantum state leads to the decoherence of the qubits. In most of these quantum experiments the quantum chip is kept in a super cold state.

IACSP: Is quantum computing truly as powerful as you describe in the novel and will it truly be a problem if the Chinese gets it before the United States?

Ignatius: Quantum computing, the purists say, is vastly more powerful than any existing technology. What would take thousands of years could be done in a few seconds by a quantum computer, as amazing as it sounds. That’s the power if they can make it work. So, the first country that gets it essentially owns digital space. It is an immensely valuable tool and the country that gets it first is going to have advantages. It’s not the end of the world, and there will be countermeasures to deal with a quantum computer once it exists, but it

is a big prize. I don’t think it’s crazy to liken it to a Manhattan Project. It will have some real consequences for national security.

IACSP: I don’t want to give away the plot, but in

IACSP: Do you consider yourself a technologist?

Ignatius: That kind of “wet work,” assassination, is not a characteristic of the MSS and let’s just call that a novelist’s bit of license. It is the case, I think, when the MSS identifies U.S. agents operating in China. It has been utterly ruthless when taking down those networks.

Ignatius:

No, I’m not. I’m a liberal arts guy. I studied economics, so I have that slightly technical background, but what I am is a good reporter. So, when I began work on the book I went to Craig Mundie, who for many years was the chief technology officer at Microsoft, and he introduced me to the top physicists working with Microsoft on quantum computing. I did the same thing with IARPA, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency, and they were kind enough to introduce me to some of their people, who in turn took me to see some of the unclassified projects that they’re funding. I also visited D-Wave, a company in Canada that is already building what it says is a quantum machine. So in each of those conversations I tried as a non-technologist to get people to explain things to me in language that I can understand and then try to take that simple explanation they gave and share it with readers. This is complicated stuff, but I don’t want people to think the book is like a toothache or an extra credit problem. I don’t let technology get in the way of the story, but it took a while to do the reporting.

IACSP: How realistic is your description of the

Chinese MSS? How much literary license do you allow yourself in this novel and your previous novels as well? Where does the line between fact and fiction come for you?

Ignatius: Well, these are novels. The characters and stories are imaginary. I do a lot of research on real cases, real people and real events, but then I reweave the story. People who look at my books thinking it’s a recipe on how to bake a cake are going to end up with a mud pie. In the case of the Ministry of State Security, I did a lot of research there. I talked to people who are really knowledgeable about its operations and people. I think the Chinese characters in the book are believable and this is the way the Chinese intelligence officers operate, going after the U.S. and often seek to try target and exploit Americans of Chinese ancestry - their whole modus operandi. I think I basically got it right. One of the things I thought would be interesting was to open a space that people haven’t explored. The Chinese service is very aggressive. The Chinese are after anything that involves technology. Russia is not really in the same league now. The Ministry of State Security, as I say in the book, in real life, is in great stress. It has been a principle target of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive. The things I say in the book about the MSS being targeted are accurate and they have been taken down a peg in real life, as some of their most senior officers have been hauled in on corruption charges. Those parts of the book are very much drawn from real life.

the book the MSS murders an American. Are there any cases of that? I don’t know of any.

IACSP: Despite what is seen in many spy thrillers and movies, I’ve often told people that KGB and CIA officers didn’t kill each other in the Cold War. CIA officers were killed in the Middle East and in Vietnam, but as far as I know, the KGB and the MSS never killed an American.

Ignatius: I think this is a good caution to readers. They shouldn’t imagine that this is a shoot ‘em up world. IACSP:

Of course, the Chinese kill their own people. They execute people for espionage.

Ignatius: That they do.

IACSP: Have you received any feedback from

former and active CIA officers, or perhaps the Chinese? Or from computer techies?

Ignatius: I have received some feedback from all those directions. This novel has been widely read in the intelligence community and the intelligence readers like it and think it is generally accurate. In terms of Chinese reaction, obviously, I get less of that, but I haven’t had any indignant protest letters from Beijing. IACSP: Along with the beneficial advances in technology, comes cyber threats. In your view, what are the major cyber threats today?

Ignatius: I think people should be concerned about potential attacks from every direction. There is no major country that doesn’t have computer scientists who can learn hacking skills. It’s like a sport. We have been reading a lot about Russian meddling in our elections. The view from our intelligence agencies is overwhelming. There is no question that the Russians did mount an aggressive attack. The Russians have weaponized their hacking tools so that they have a covert action component. They seek not simply to capture information, but to alter the political landscape with false or manipulative information. We are in era in which our perceptions and reality all come from digital systems that are subject to manipulation and we have to be aware of our vulnerability. IACSP: Thank you for speaking to us.

IACSP Homeland Security Bookshelf By Dr. Joshua Sinai

This column capsule reviews recent books in the areas of terrorism, counterterrorism (and counter-insurgency), and countering active shooters.

Inside the Covert War Against Terrorismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Money Masters

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Samuel M. Katz, (New York, NY: Hachette Books), 304 pages, $27.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-3163-9905-0.

errorist groups like ISIS raise hundreds of millions of dollars to finance their activities and attacks through illicit means. The Islamic Republic of Iran bankrolls its Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Heiballah proxies with large flows of cash. Hezbollah raises additional funds by engaging in criminal enterprises such as narco-trafficking across several continents. Hamas, from its base in the Gaza Strip, raises funds from taxing its population, from goods that are illicitly smuggled into its territory, and it also smuggles funds to its operatives in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. These and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups also raise funds from their supporters in Europe and the United States, which are sent back through illicit means to their safe havens in the Middle East.

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As described by the authors, the Harpoon task force was established in 2001, shortly after the election of Arik Sharon as Israel’s Prime Minister, when he agreed to Major General Meir Dagan’s request to transform his former unit on countering terrorist financing into “a true task force.” With General Dagan appointed to command the task force, the next step was to provide it a codename or numeric designation for bureaucratic budgetary purposes, which is how it became known as “Harpoon.”

As described by the authors, the Harpoon task force was established in 2001, shortly after

Terrorist groups’ activities, such as sustaining their organizational structures, acquiring weapons, organizing terrorist operations, as well as managing their non-terrorist activities such as managing their social-welfare and educational services, are dependent on continuous funding streams. Counterterrorism agencies, therefore, understand that their terrorist adversaries’ funding sources represent an important center-of-gravity to significantly weaken their overall warfare effectiveness.

An important insight by the authors of how effective counter-terrorism is conducted is their explanation of how a financial task force, such as Harpoon, complements the work of other operational components in combating terrorist adversaries. As they write, in the case of Israel, “Both the Shin Bet [the domestic secret security service] and military intelligence had developed a unique expertise in unraveling the human makeup of a particular terror organization, from the top political leaders down to cell commanders and the knuckle-dragging muscle they employed. Arabic-speaking analysts laboriously followed flow charts linking men to other men who were linked to masterminds. Family ties were examined, as were cellular phone logs and even school and mosque connections. Dagan [who eventually became head of Mossad, the external secret security service], when he sat in on the biweekly Harpoon meetings that included the delegates from the Shin Bet, the IDF, and even the Israel Prison Service, directed that forensic analysts and detailed charts be drawn up connecting the commanders of the various terrorist organizations with their sources of income.”

In Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism’s Money Masters, Israeli activist attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is the president of Shurat HaDin, a Tel Aviv-based law center that represents the families of terrorist victims in lawsuits worldwide, and Samuel Katz, a New York City-based veteran author on counteringterrorism, shed light on previously classified accounts of how Israel, facing wide-ranging terrorist attacks from groups such as Hamas, Hizballah, and others, forged its intelligence, military, police, and diplomatic services into an effective task force, code-named Harpoon, to counter terror-based financing from its terrorist adversaries around the world.

This methodology is used by the authors, in what are spy movie-like dramatic accounts, to describe numerous operational exploits by Harpoon’s task force against Israel’s terrorist adversaries. These consisted of ‘conventional’ and ‘unconventional’ tactics. ‘Conventional’ tactics included intercepting banking records and telephone calls of terror financiers to track and thwart their logistical movements, including stopping them at border crossings; targeting several financiers for assassination in Middle Eastern countries (such as the January 2010 assassination by an Israeli covert cell of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a top Hamas military commander and financial operative in his hotel room in Dubai, which

it a codename or

the election of Arik Sharon as Israel’s Prime Minister, when he agreed to Major General Meir Dagan’s request to transform his former unit on countering terrorist financing into “a true task force.” With General Dagan appointed to command the task force, the next step was to provide numeric designation for bureaucratic budgetary purposes, which is how it became known as “Harpoon.”

generated sensational media reports worldwide); and directing Israeli fighter aircraft to bomb Lebanese banks that were transferring funds to Hizballah during the July-August 2006 war. ‘Unconventional’ means included covertly conducting financial con games (such as entering into a fraudulent dealing with Salah Haj Ezzedine, a Hizballah financier, to bankrupt him and embarrass his group); and unleashing invasive and destructive computer malware attacks against banking institutions holding terrorist funds. In what is relevant to the United States, the book also discusses the new battlefield in the war against terrorist finances that involves lawyers. This includes the work of the co-author’s Shurat HaDin law firm in filing lawsuits against banking institutions that have some involvement in holding accounts with links to Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist groups, as a way to pressure them by obtaining financial damages against them to sever such linkages, thereby depriving these groups of access to international banking institutions. Many of these lawsuits, the authors explain, have been filed in the United States, whose legal system is hospitable to be used as an instrument for victims of terrorist attacks to sue such banks for damages. Also discussed are the extensive ties between Israel and the United States in countering terrorist financing, such as Israeli cooperation with the U.S. Government’s Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP), which was established after al Qaida’s 9/11 attacks. There is much to commend in this highly revealing account, which is one of the best books on best practices in countering terrorists’ financing.

Robert Manne’s The Mind of the Islamic State: ISIS and the Ideology of the Caliphate (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2017), 175 pages, $18.00 [Paperback], SBN: 978-1-6338-8371-0.

Ideology plays an important role in terrorists’ warfare. It provides them with a rationale, legitimacy and motivation for attacking their adversaries and a prism through which they perceive events affecting them, particularly the “illegitimate” actions of their enemies whom they are justified in killing because they have transgressed the tenets of their ideological framework. It is also an important recruiting tool to radicalize new adherents with a narrative to join their cause. As an extension of these drivers of terrorism, ideology also enables terrorists to justify their violence by displacing the responsibility for their violence onto their adversary governments, including even blaming such responsibility on the victims of their attacks, since they are all responsible for the state of affairs which the terrorists claim led them to adopt the tactic of vengeful violence to redress their selfperceived grievances in the first place. This is important in understanding the nature of the ideologies adopted by a variety of terrorist groups since it helps to explain the “why and the how” of their warfare, which is one of the first steps required to effectively counter them physically and in formulating counter-ideologies that might serve to weaken what are generally extremist ideologies and persuade their adherents to cease supporting them ideologically. With al Qaida and ISIS the primary Islamist terrorist groups threatening Western countries – and their own, as well – it is crucial to understand the militant jihadi ideology that drives them. In this regards, Robert Manne’s The Mind of the Islamic State: ISIS and the Ideology of the Caliphate is an important and well-argued book that traces the evolution of the jihadi ideology that drives such groups to justify their engagement in terrorist violence in pursuit of their extremist objectives. It is important to study this ideology’s origins

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and evolution because, as the author insightfully points out, “Political ideologies take decades to form. The mind of the Islamic state represents the most recent iteration of an ideology that has been developing over the past fifty years.” The book’s discussion begins with an examination of Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian author of Milestones, which was published in 1964, and which the author cites Gilles Kepel, the French expert on Jihadism, as regarding it as “the Islamist version of Lenin’s What Is to be Done?” According to Qutb, for the Muslim faithful to overcome jahiliyya (ignorance) and to achieve hakimiyya (the sovereignty of God on earth), an Islamic vanguard is required to wage violent jihad “until the Day of Judgment has arrived.” Other noteworthy jihadi tracts discussed by the author include the Egyptian militant Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj’s The Neglected Duty, which called upon Muslims to carry out jihad in order to re-create the caliphate destroyed in 1924, with a “true Islamic state” forming its “territorial nucleus.” The political importance of Faraj’s treatise, the author explains, included its influence on Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s current leader, who had merged his section of the Egyptian al-Jihad terrorist group with Usama bin Laden’s al Qaida in mid-2001.

The Palestinian Abdullah Azzam’s The Defense of the Muslim Lands and Join the Caravan, which were published in the 1980s were also important works, which greatly influenced Usama bin Laden, in particuar. Azzam wrote that jihad takes two forms: offensive jihad in foreign lands (such as the West) where “only Muslims or people who submit to Islam” would remain, and defensive jihad, where the “non-believers” who occupy Muslim lands (such as Israel or Afghanistan, which was ruled by a Russian-backed government at the time) are removed. Interestingly, Azzam

had collaborated with bin Laden in Afghanistan, until he was assassinated under mysterious circumstances.

The current Salafi jihadist movement of al Qaida and ISIS, the author points out, “which originated in Egypt during the late 1960s and the 1970s, and expanded during the 1980s in the war against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, represents the fusion of Salafiinflected Egyptian revolutionary jihadism and politically awakened Saudi Wahhabism.” Now, these extremist ideologies, the author writes, find expression in al Qaida’s “Inspire” and in ISIS’s Dabiq online magazines.

Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International

A final jihadi treatise the author discusses is the Egyptian Muhammad Khalil al-Hakim’s The Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Umma Will Pass, which was published in 2004. As indicated by its title, the author notes that “What is perhaps most chilling about [it] are the very many passages explaining forensically the political logic behind the infliction of extremist violence on the enemy.” He adds: “None of this violence is random or meaningless. Its simple purpose is to ‘fill the enemy’s hearts with fear’ and to leave them with feelings of ‘hopelessness.’” Such brutality is also intended to attract new recruits to “join the jihadist caravan.” Attesting to this treatise’s importance, it greatly influenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose terrorist group in Iraq had practiced such brutality in its warfare, and which laid the basis for the brutality of ISIS, its successor. The current Salafi jihadist movement of al Qaida and ISIS, the author points out, “which originated in Egypt during the late 1960s and the 1970s, and expanded during the 1980s in the war against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, represents the fusion of Salafi-inflected Egyptian revolutionary jihadism and politically awakened Saudi Wahhabism.” Now, these extremist ideologies, the author writes, find expression in al Qaida’s “Inspire” and in ISIS’s Dabiq online magazines. In the conclusion, the author warns that “Fifty years after Sayyid Qutb’s execution, this is what the tradition of Salafi jihadism, the mind of the Islamic State, has become. There are no more milestones to pass. We have finally reached the gates of hell.” The author’s discussion of these extremist ideological foundations of al Qaida and ISIS provides a valuable guide for understanding one of the centers of gravity that need to be addressed to effectively defeat them at the multiple levels in which they operate, whether physically on the ground or virtually in cyberspace. The author is Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, Emeritus Professor and Convenor of the Ideas & Society Program at La Trobe University, in Melbourne, Australia.

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Iddo Netanyahu, Yoni’s Last Battle: The Rescue at Entebbe, 1976

(Springfield, NJ: Gefen Books, 2013), 232 pages, $10.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-9-6522-9628-3.

Lt. Colonel Yoni (Jonathan) Netanyahu earned worldwide fame as the commander of the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit that was deployed on July 4, 1976 on what proved to be a successful mission to secretly fly more than 2,000 miles from Israel to Uganda to free a hijacked airliner with 105 mostly Israeli hostages that was heavily guarded at Entebbe Airport. During the latter part of the rescue mission Yoni Netanyahu was shot by a Ugandan soldier and was the only unit member to die. In this book, Iddo, his younger brother (whose third brother was Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister) utilizes extensive documentation and interviews with the unit’s members, with access to such documentation also based on his own service in this elite unit, to describe with great authoritativeness and gripping detail about the rescue mission’s planning and execution phases, including how pre-mission decision making was conducted at the highest political, military and intelligence service echelons. This book was first published in Hebrew in 1991, when it became a bestseller, with this English-language edition published more than 10 years later, with only a few minor details revised. The book includes informative photos and schematics of the rescue aircraft’s flight path, photos of some of the unit’s commandos, the Entebbe airport’s layout, and how the rescue mission was executed. The author is an Israeli physician, author and playwright.

The Wiley Handbook of The Psychology of Mass Shootings

Laura C. Wilson, editor, (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2016), 432 pages, $195.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-1190-4793-3.

This is one of the few psychology reference handbooks focused exclusively on the state of the literature on the empirical examination of mass shootings. As defined by the volume’s editor, a mass shooting is “an incident in which a gun was used to kill four or more victims.” The editor admits that this definition may be “controversial and flawed” because of its “restrictions on the number of victims and type of weapon.” 48

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The forty contributors to this volume are leading authorities on this topic from the multidisciplinary fields of communication, criminal justice, criminology, psychiatry, psychology and sociology, and come from diverse countries such as Finland, Norway, and the United States. The handbook’s chapters are organized topically into six parts. The first part, “Background of Mass Shootings,” introduces the topic by identifying the challenges associated with empirically investigating such incidents, the prevalence and key features of such incidents in the United States from 1915 to 2013, and theories to explain the types and patterns of mass shootings. The second part “The Psychology of Perpetrators,” discusses the causes and psychobiological features to explain the aggression by mass shooters, and issues related to predicting dangerousness by such individuals prior to their attacks. The third part, “The Role of Media in the Aftermath of Mass Shootings,” focuses on the influence of media coverage of such incidents in shaping public attitudes, the increasing role of social media in providing a form of “vicarious exposure,” the role of technology as a medium for the expression of grief, and the impact of journalistic coverage on the grieving communities. The fourth part, “Psychological Considerations for Impacted Individuals,” covers the mental health outcomes of those directly affected by such mass casualty incidents, the secondary impact of “post-disaster psychopathology” affecting rescue workers, and distress among journalists who cover the incidents. The fifth part, “Clinical Interventions for Impacted Individuals,” discusses empirically-based trauma therapies, the view of public relief efforts from an international perspective, the utilization of mental health services following such incidents, and upgrading resiliency and facilitating post-traumatic growth following the incidents among the survivors. The final part, “Prevention, Ethics, and Future Directions,” discusses the basic principles for conducting threat assessment in terms of developing pathway to violence models, understanding the difference between violence prevention and prediction, and applying threat assessment methods to assessing such risk in the workplace and in schools. Two final chapters examine the need for ethical conduct in researching the aftermath of mass shootings, such as respecting the privacy rights of victims, and future research directions, such as the development of theories to examine the uniqueness of the phenomena of mass shootings, methods to minimize the impact of mass shootings, and how to minimize the likelihood of public mass shootings. In conclusion, one may disagree with the editor’s decision to avoid listing the names of the shooters who have perpetrated the mass shooting incidents discussed in the book. While, as the editor notes, this may avoid the dilemma of further contributing to their notoriety, it also makes it difficult for other researchers to follow up on their motivations, backgrounds, and pathways to violence, in order to learn how to identify such early warning signs in other potential attackers for preemptive prevention. This handbook, nevertheless, is an important contribution to the literature on explaining and understanding the phenomena of mass shootings, and how to minimize the impact of such attacks on their victims and those indirectly affected by them. Two of these reviews were published in The Washington Times. They are republished, with some revision, by permission. Dr. Joshua Sinai is a Senior Analyst at Kiernan Group Holdings (KGH) (www.kiernan.co), a counterterrorism and homeland security research and consulting firm, in Alexandria, VA. He can be reached at: Sinai@kiernan.co.

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