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by David Nuttle

Created on: September 14, 2008   Last Updated: July 02, 2010

For the average person, the emotional impact of any one terrorist attack declines dramatically over time. The usual exception is for survivors and relatives/friends of those killed in any terrorist attack. By having a direct relationship with any victim, a person's emotions remain stronger for a longer period of time. Terrorists typically seek to kill civilians, because, from experience, they know fear and panic is best created by attacking civilians rather than military personnel. Those of us who fail to understand the objectives of the any group of terrorists are more inclined to forget and become less emotional about their attack(s).

Most terrorists do not think in terms of armed conflict against police, paramilitary, or military forces. Terrorists are engaged in a type of psychological warfare, directed at civilian populations, seeking victory by three means: 1) To create fear and panic at a level high enough to cause the economic collapse of the nation being targeted; 2) To cause the targeted government to undertake extreme counterterror measures resulting in the defection of their own population; and 3) To persuade the target nation and government to meet essential terrorist demands.

The emotional responses to major terrorist attacks move through a series of stages starting with denial and then moving (one by one) to anger, sadness. depression, search for reasons why, "striking out," and then eventual acceptance, or even forgiveness (for some). During my days as a CIA Special Operations Officer, then engaged in counterterrorist activities, I had long discussions with leaders of terrorist organizations who had defected, and were fully cooperative. All of these former leaders of significant terrorist organizations told me that they knew from their own experiences that the emotional impact of any one terrorist attack declines over time.

Every former terrorist I spoke with believed that sufficient levels of fear and panic could only be achieved if terrorist attacks became more horrific over time. One of the terrorist leaders I most respected for his wisdom, Tong, told me that the al-Qaeda terrorist organization seeks to employ weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) against the U.S. as a means to soon achieve levels of fear al-Qaeda believes will cause a collapse of the U.S. economy. The terrorists know they cannot ever hope to defeat our military forces.

In some respects the terrorists have been winning. When the U.S. approved the use of torture against terrorist suspects after 9/11, this is the kind of extreme, self-defeating reaction the al-Qaeda terrorists were looking for. Once the U.S. Congress approved the extreme, self-abusing measures of the Patriot Act, I am certain there were "cheers" in more than one al-Qaeda cave, in Pakistan. We think of defeating terrorists in terms of using our conventional military forces. The terrorist seek to avoid conflict with our military forces and engage in unconventional warfare using psychological means to achieve specific goals that may, or may not, include total defeat of persons, groups, or nations identified as an enemy.

Terrorist organizations are innovative and willing to take as much time as necessary to plan and conduct an attack. Most terrorist groups have been skillful in raising needed funds, and in recruiting others to assist in their cause. Bioterrorism and cyberterrorism are just some of the new weapons the terrorists plan to employ. The use of planes as missiles, suicide bombers, and IEDs (improvised explosive devices), have only been the immediate means of attack.

The emotional impact of 9/11 (09/11/2001) has declined more rapidly than I anticipated because Americans, and the U.S. Government (USG) are not well focused on, or prepared for, the kinds of terrorist threats that we may soon face. Our overall poor lack of preparedness, for future terrorist attacks, gives testimony to the fact that our emotional impact from 9/11 is mostly gone. If a single weapon of mass destruction (WMD) was used by terrorists anywhere in the U.S., our attitudes will change quickly and the emotional impact of such a major attack will last for many years. For now, I must fear for my children and grandchildren because the emotional impact of 9/11 did not last long enough to help keep us safe.

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