Al-Qaeda

Keywords terrorism al Qaeda chemical terrorism biological terrorism radiological terrorism nuclear terrorism state sponsored terrorism threat sensors. 

As discussed above, several states that support terrorism have some CBRN capabilities, so the technical constraint alone is not limiting. Rather, the potential backlash against any state that provides a terrorist organization with CBRN has been a sufficient deterrent to this point. However groups such as al Qaeda, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Tamil Tigers have shown significant interest in one or more types of unconventional weapons. 

There can be no doubt that, if given the opportunity, terrorist groups such as al Qaeda would not hesitate to use disease as a weapon against the unprotected to spread chemical agents to inflict pain and death on the innocent or to send suicide-bound adherents armed with radiological explosives on missions of murder [10]. 

To establish themselves as significant players in the political realm, splinter groups tend to be both more violent and more experimental than their parent groups. For example, Ansar al-Islam, a splinter from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) that associates with al Qaeda, established a lab in northern Iraq to manufacture and test chemical and biological agents, including ricin, for use in terrorist attacks [40]. 

The discovery in January 2003 of remnants of ricin, castor beans, and recipes for a half dozen other chemical and biological weapons in the London apartments of terrorists aligned with al Qaeda,... 

Unearthed terrorist documents in Afghanistan indicating al Qaeda s interest in nuclear, radiological, and biological weapons [56],... 

Al Qaeda in particular continues to pursue unconventional weapons, both leveraging existing commercially available agents and technologies and creating CBRN weapons. According to Rohan Gunaratna, The... 

There are a number of reasons for the absence of CBRN attacks including the technical and material challenges. In addition, while al Qaeda is set to destroy the West, few other groups have the motivation to kill large numbers of people. Other factors include terrorists prefer the certainty of conventional weapons to the uncertainty of CBRN the weapons can be hazardous to the terrorists themselves the response to a CBRN terrorist attack may result in further degradation of terrorist capabilities and finally political support of the terrorist organization s base may be turned away by the use of unconventional tactics. 

The war in Iraq has energized al Qaeda affiliates and other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight the United States and other members of the coalition,... 

Bonner, Raymond, Philippine Camps are training al Qaeda s Allies, Officials Say, New York Times, May 31, 2002 as cited in Gilmore 2002. 

Finn, Peter and Dana Priest, Weaker al Qaeda Shifts To... 

Higgins, Andrew, Karby Leggett, and Alan Cullison, How al Qaeda put the Internet to use, The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2002, http //www.msnbc.com/news/833533.asp70si as cited in Gilmore 2002. 

Hoffman, Bruce, Al Qaeda, Trends in Terrorism And Future Potentialities An Assessment, 2003, RAND P-8078. 

Williams, Mike Analysis What next for al Qaeda November 22, 2001, http //news.bbc.co.Uk/l/hi/world/south.asia/1678467.stm, as cited in Gilmore 2002. 

Zakis, Jeremy and Steve Macko, Major Terrorist Plot in Singapore Discovered al Qaeda Believed well Established in the Asian Region , January 12, 2002 available at www.emergency.com/2002/jamaah.islamiyah.htm as cited in Gilmore 2002. 

Camp X-Ray—The Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison, which houses al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. 

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