NCJ Number
138780
Date Published
1988
Length
50 pages
Annotation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a two-fold mission with regard to terrorism: to prevent terrorist acts and to effectively investigate incidents that do occur. In 1988, the FBI recorded a total of seven incidents occurring within the United States and Puerto Rico; three terrorist attacks were prevented.
Abstract
This report reviews 1988 terrorist activity, focusing on incidents, suspected incidents, preventions, and significant accomplishments. These successful domestic and international counterterrorism accomplishments included indictments, arrests, and convictions. Another section of the report summarizes trends in terrorism between 1984 and 1988, analyzing the number of persons killed and injured in terrorist attacks by group, target, and type of attack. Topical issues discussed here include nuclear, biological, and chemical terrorism; the Japanese Red Army; radical Palestinian terrorism; skinheads; and law enforcement agency cooperation. In its threat analysis, the FBI points to Puerto Rican independence groups, left-wing revolutionaries, white supremacists, environmental groups, and animal rights groups as the primary domestic threats. Internationally, the greatest threats stem from state-sponsored Palestinian terrorism and the Japanese Red Army. 4 appendixes