Oil and Gas: Terror's Next Target?

Oil and Gas: Terror's Next Target? Concerns over Security of Energy Infrastructure Explored in Latest Journal of Intl Security Affairs

Contact: Jim Colbert of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, 202-667-3900

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Attacks on the West's oil and gas infrastructure -- from production facilities to pipelines and tankers -- are likely to be the next "mega" target of terrorists, and could wreak havoc with the world's economy, according to an in-depth analysis of the susceptibility of the energy industry featured in the latest Journal of International Security Affairs (Winter 2004).

Terrorist groups with global reach -- in particular, al Qaeda -- have identified the world's energy system as "a certain way to deliver a blow to America's oil dependent economy, as well as to the global economy at large," writes Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. He notes that such attacks have already become frequent, though little reported, against oil targets in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and that Saudi Arabia's oil system, upon which much of the West depends, remains "target rich and extremely vulnerable."

The Journal of International Security Affairs, a public policy magazine available nationally at book sellers, newsstands, and by subscription, is published biannually and edited by former Ambassador Harvey Feldman. In addition to energy security vulnerabilities, several facets of terrorist threats facing the West are explored in the latest JISA, including:

-- A report by Washington Post investigative journalist Douglas Farah on al Qaeda's shift of its funding operations from the formal banking sector -- where assets are traceable -- to commodities, including gemstone trading in corners of Africa with little or no government control.

Farah quotes Belgian diamond trading experts who note that few diamonds showed up in Antwerp or other world markets in 2001, despite record mining activity, indicating that "someone bought and is hoarding a large stock of diamonds, worth many millions of dollars." Most troubling, reports Farah, is that Western intelligence agencies are not devoting nearly enough resources or attention to the issue.

-- An examination of the causes and foundations of the "new terrorism" - global rather than local, theological rather than Marxist, without geographic boundary, extremely sophisticated and well-financed -- by Shabtai Shavit, head of the Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency, from 1989 to 1996. Shavit calls for a coordinated global response, including an "internationally agreed upon, specific definition" of what constitutes terrorism and terrorist acts.

-- A report on continuing and emerging terrorist activity in South America by National War College professor Cynthia Watson, who notes that Columbia's Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC) has previously joined forces with the Irish Republican Army and Libyan terrorists and remains a major threat.

Other contributions to the Winter 2004 JISA include an objective analysis by Magdelena Kouneva and Robert Taylor, former United Nations officials working in Kosovo, on the UN's "nation- building" track record and its ability to handle the enormous task in Iraq; a provocative study on the American Empire by scholar Alexander Joffe; and reviews of new books on US-China relations and the use of airpower in fighting terrorists, insurgents and other "small wars."

The Journal of International Security Affairs is published each winter and summer by the Washington, DC-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), an independent, non-partisan educational organization established in 1976 to educate the public on national and international security issues. JINSA's home on the Internet is http://www.jinsa.org

"WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Attacks on the West's oil and gas infrastructure -- from production facilities to pipelines and tankers -- are likely to be the next "mega" target of terrorists, and could wreak havoc with the world's economy, according to an in-depth analysis of the susceptibility of the energy industry featured in the latest Journal of International Security Affairs (Winter 2004). "

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I can believe it. AQ wants to destroy the world economy, not just kill people here and there.

One small plane flown into Statfjord field in the north sea would be an ecological and financial disaster.

All the Norwegian offshore platforms are under constant terrorist alerts where fishing boats and planes are not allowed within specified distances.

When will the "West" realize this is serious sh*& and start trying to take OSBL and AEZ out for real? I could care less if we don't leave a blade of grass alive in Waziristan or some SH city in EyealsoRan. How can people justify Hamburg, Dresden, Hiroshimi, and Nagasaki while rejecting going after these guys? Time to forget shock and awe and go back to some interlocking blast rings!

ping...

these are the kinds of reports which convince me the communists are in bed w/ the terrorists. Any means necessary to re-start October revolution...

5 posted on 01/15/2004 5:21:34 AM PST by gobucks (http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/laocoon)

And why would they destroy one of the most profitable financial sources they have? Oil and gas ain't a target, IMO, it's a diversion.
It would actually be counter productive to them to attack such a lucrative Arab market where they have some semblance of influence.
They would also further alienate themselves with their own people, many of whom derive their incomes from oil and gas revenues.

7 posted on 01/15/2004 10:09:00 AM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)

it would raise the price of ebergy if Western resources are hit.
A mighty big "if" and the annual summer price increases probably raise the price of 'ebergy' as much as "a hit" would.
You'll also note that only Eastern sources have been hit so far. Maybe access has already been a problem? It would explain why Western sources haven't been hit yet. The desire is there yet...
And after personally going through some of the increased security measures enacted in the last couple of years I say "good luck" to hitting the oil and gas industry.
They'd better concentrate on something else if they want results.

the full article is available online and worth reading:

Terror's next target
By Gal Luft and Anne Korin
The Journal of International Security Affairs, December 2003.
http://www.iags.org/n0111041.htm

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