UCF White Paper Calls for More Innovative, Forceful Responses to Terrorism

By Global Perspectives staff Sept. 8, 2006

Photo: UCF File Photo

Stephen Sloan.

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The United States and its allies should “act more innovatively and forcefully to counter the elusive and uncertain terrorism threat,” a white paper released Monday by the University of Central Florida’s Terrorism Studies Program and the Global Connections Foundation concludes.

The release of the white paper, an initiative of the UCF Global Perspectives Office and the Global Connections Foundation, coincides with the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The paper was developed from a three-day working conference in November that was organized and hosted by UCF. The conference featured more than 50 specialists from 20 countries who have various operational and policy responsibilities related to terrorism.

The white paper asserts that to avoid complacency and deal more effectively with the challenges associated with terrorism, the United States and its allies will need to “review and overhaul their counter-terrorism policies.”

The paper’s recommendations include recognizing that terrorism maintains “local roots and connections” and needs to be combated on the local level. It also calls for expanding education about terrorism in schools and universities and avoiding “America-first” responses to terrorism to avoid perceptions that the war on terror is being waged by and primarily for the United States.

Among the participants in the conference that led to the white paper were Brian Jenkins of RAND Corp., Magnus Ranstorp of St. Andrews University in Scotland, Sebestyen Gorka of the Institute for Transitional Democracy/International Security in Hungary and Hekmat Karzai of Nanyang University in Singapore.

UCF’s Stephen Sloan, co-editor of the white paper, was the inspiration behind the working conference. A fellow in the UCF Global Perspectives office who coordinates the Terrorism Studies Program, Sloan has worked as a consultant on terrorism and peacekeeping issues to governments and corporations worldwide for three decades and has taught terrorism courses for 40 years. Sloan, who also is a political science professor, is the author of “Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context,” which was published in August.

The white paper made five specific recommendations, urging:

1: A “new mindset” – prepare government and society to anticipate the unexpected in the age of terrorism. This recommendation was designed to end the “perspective of denial,” a mindset that views terrorism and terrorists as “temporary irritants that time and occasional policing efforts will resolve.” The “new mindset” would encourage people in government and the general public to “think protectively and vigilantly 24/7” to create a powerful psychological defense against terrorism.

2. A “new focus” – recognize that all terrorism ultimately is local. Because 21^st century terrorists have global reach and the civilized world is fighting what is commonly referred to as “war against terrorism,” it is easy to think of the problem as an international monolith. However, terrorists “still largely maintain local roots and connections.” This reality requires individual countries and regional partners to “think globally, organize regionally and act locally,” particularly in the area of counter-terrorism intelligence.

3. A “new learning emphasis” – expand terrorism education at all levels. Paying attention to terrorists only when they engage in violence is not helpful in an age that faces an open-ended problem. Thus, “education on the nature of terrorism should be an integral part of any civics or social studies curriculum. It is also essential that institutions of higher learning encourage the development of programs – curricular and co-curricular – that enable students not only to learn about but to engage and even specialize in research on terrorism.”

4. A “new multilateralism” – avoid any “America-first” strategies against terrorism. Too many people appear to believe that the war against terrorism is being waged primarily by and for the United States. The key here is to “discard any strategy that even hints of special positioning of or benefits to the United States.” After all, “it is a war that delivers death, destruction and despair to people around the world.”

5. A “new sense of innovation” – counter terrorist propaganda with ideas and facts that expose the hypocrisies and attack the roots of the problem. Traditional psychological efforts to combat terrorism no longer work. “Today’s terrorism, aside from being non-territorial and international in scope, has another potent feature – that is, it is often religion-based, appealing to ‘hearts and souls.’” It is essential to “de-legitimize” terrorism using all available means, as well as to direct foreign aid to address its sources.

The full white paper can be viewed at www.ucfglobalperspectives.org.

Sponsors of the working conference that produced the white paper included the Global Perspectives Office; the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; the Institute for Transitional Democracy/International Security, Budapest, Hungary; and the Global Connections Foundation, a nonprofit, non-ideological, non-political organization dedicated to increasing international awareness about critical issues, including terrorism.

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