ABSTRACT
Terrorism is technology's stepchild, an off-spring of the dependence of modern society on complex networks of technology, the accessibility of sophisticated weaponry a compliant mass media. A continuum running the gamut of political violence from terrorism to civil war to coup d'etat illustrates that while the ultimate goal of terrorism is to gain access to the corridors of power, terrorists by and large are ill equipped to achieve that goal. The relative quiet of terrorist activity on the American domestic front is seen as confirmation for the popular assertion in government circles that terrorism is not a serious problem for domestic concern. The unwillingness of the Carter administration to conceive of terrorism as a serious threat stems in small part from our success in countering certain types of terrorist operations. Effective policy to deal with terrorism has been lacking in the United States because terrorism is not seem as a serious threat to governmental stability.
