ABSTRACT
Counter-terrorism has become such a broad, catch-all category bandied about in government circles and popular parlance that it risks losing any precise meaning. To begin with, a clear distinction must be made between counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. Insurgency is an organized effort to overthrow the established government through a combination of subversion, guerrilla warfare, and terrorism. Insurgents tend to focus on a particular state or region, and they use terror quite selectively to avoid alienating people whose support they need in order to succeed. In its broadest sense, the term counter-terrorism requires no definition at all.
Simply put, it consists of any and all measures taken to oppose or ‘counter’ terrorist acts. Historically such measures have fallen to the police and special agencies tasked with addressing espionage and political crime. Today the term has come to signify a comprehensive approach, what in conventional war would be called a ‘grand strategy’, for opposing terrorism. Both the US military and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), however, have a more precise definition for counter-terrorism. However, a truly comprehensive and effective counter-terrorism strategy has yet to be devised.
