Live in Peace

Strategy – In the world of terrorism

Shakespeare famously wrote in Henry V - "We are but warriors for the working-day. Our gaiety and our gilt are all besmirch'd, with rainy marching in the painful field." But, every age has some characteristics peculiar to itself, and in modern times, warfare has taken a completely new dimension – you don’t even have to leave the safety and comfort of your sweet home, to join the gory battlefield of the fiercest of the wars. The palimpest of history might as well be filled with numerous instances of outrageous crimes and heinous terror acts, but the present generation is experiencing something completely new – terrorist groups might be too small to impose themselves against the might of the vast armies of the US, UK, Russia and India, but they are effectively using the means of intimidation and terror aided by the modern armoury comprising of plastic bomb, bazooka, the nuclear mini-bomb, and last but not the least the ever increasing fear of cyber-warfare.

There are three ways that one can react to the Porter’s five forces acting in an industry – it can either adopt a defensive strategy and work in sync with the way the forces act, that is going with the flow of the river, or it can adopt an attacking strategy and change the forces that define the industry to suit its own core competencies; or else can be opportunistic and use the changes occurring in the industry to create an advantage over its competitors. As the world was rocked by the digital boom, modern warfare also used it to its advantage. The use of computers in warfare was pioneered by the US Army when it used specifically built computer video games to train soldiers. The extremely popular video game America’s Army was in fact developed by the United States Army to provide the youth with an engaging, informative and entertaining experience which would motivate them towards joining the Army. The Gaming Industry took this as an opportunity and now personalised gaming packages are sold to the armies for their simulative training purposes, as they have realized that it is far cheaper and adaptable way to train new soldiers. Henceforth, various armies across the world have used 3D games and simulation training programmes to make the soldiers in sync with the realistic battlefield scenarios, but the US Army always had the first mover advantage and the other countries were just following suit.

The advent of cyber-warfare might have been an engrossing concept at the start, which helped many a countries with technically and economically better training methods, but what the world failed to realize was that the terrorist organisations were lurking behind in the hidden corner, to make use of whatever modern techniques was being used. Al Qaeda, Taliban and Afghanistan have been the mascot of terror, but no sooner will an online version evolve or maybe it has already evolved.
The saying goes that with change in the external environment, you have to adapt to stay in the competition, and Al Qaeda made no delay in adapting to the rise of cable television and internet with a killing efficiency. Osama made no mistake by giving rhetoric and media propaganda an equal billing with the missile and human bombs. Media gained even more importance in the actions of Al Qaeda after the US Army captured its base in Taliban, with renowned CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen famously calling it Al Qaeda 2.0.

With no physical territory where it could have worked upon continuously without the US eyes prying upon it, it made the cyber world its primary place of political action. Taking a cue from the problem that the insurgents earlier faced in finding a place for training and rehearsing their units for attacks, the terrorist organisations have instead used the internet. The biggest problem that they faced was communicating and connecting with the instructors, trainers and recruits, dispersed domestically and globally through their terrorist networks. Before 9/11 happened, the jihadis used to come to training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but with the US, UN and NATO forces operating heavily in these areas, and hunting down the camps, this approach is now open to serious danger. The secure websites might as well be used for recruitment and indoctrination, but using them for training purposes is highly unlikely and unviable, and offers limited scope. The emergence of virtual world can provide them with a solution, and it won’t be long before they start using something like a Second World to train the jihadis. The use of Second Life for money laundering by terrorists has already become a cause of concern.

Cyber crime is very different from traditional crimes, as it has no geographical boundaries and therefore requires local, state, nationwide, and even international cooperation at times, in order to be thoroughly investigated. To tackle the increasing use of cyber warfare by the terrorist organisations, the cyber crime branches have to enter into international partnerships so that nations can fight together in this war. They have to continuously improve their technology so that they don’t lag behind the terrorists and keep finding new ways to coordinate with state and international partners from different nations. For communicating the matter to the general audience, the Cyber Crime Branches have to first educate about the consequences of the small actions that they might do unknowingly. The strategic priorities are:
• Deliver law enforcement training
• Support and enhance prevention of cyber crime and information sharing activities
• Promote and develop common operating procedures and standards
• Generate funds for cyber crime programs
• Amend the law regularly for abetting newly evolved crimes like money laundering through Second Life, communicating to jihadis through You Tube, etc.

Former UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, once famously said “There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace.” And if we want our future generation to breathe in peace, then the world must join hands in this war against terrorism.