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Assassination as Terrorist Tactic

Assassination is a tactic used by nearly all terrorist groups, although far less frequently than other types of armed attacks. Assassination, when used as a terrorist tactic, is the targeted killing of a country’s public officials or individuals who represent the political, economic, military, security, social, religious, media, or cultural establishments. The killings can be motivated by ideology, religion, politics, or nationalism. Most terrorist groups conduct assassinations to eliminate enemies, intimidate the population, discourage cooperation, influence public opinion, decrease government effectiveness, gain media attention, or simply to exact revenge.

Simple terrorism-related assassinations can be carried out with a minimum of personnel, training, or equipment, and they are usually successful when aimed at public figures who are protected least. An example of such an attack was the 2004 killing of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a Dutch-Moroccan extremist in the Netherlands. By contrast, assassination operations directed against highly protected individuals, such as heads of state, are difficult and costly. Although impressive when successful—such as the 2007 killing of former Pakistan prime minister and party leader Benazir Bhutto—these operations are rare and prone to failure. Similar to attacks on other hard targets, they require extensive planning, financing, personnel, training, and equipment.


There have been 26 incidents of terrorism-related assassination attempts in the United States over the past 100 years. The last events of this type were in 1990, when Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane and Qur‘anic scholar and teacher Rashid Khalifi were killed by extremists linked to foreign terrorism. Only eight of these attacks may be directly or indirectly attributed to foreign groups or state sponsors of terrorism. The majority of US assassination attempts have been conducted by homegrown violent extremists with little or no connection to foreign organizations and most often directed against public figures having minimal security, if any. 

Terrorism-related attempted assassinations of highly protected public figures are an extremely rare occurrence in the United States, with the 1950 attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists the only one that truly qualifies as such. Robert F. Kennedy, whose killer claimed an international nexus due to Kennedy’s support for Israel, is on the chart but cannot be considered a highly protected official. He had minimal personal security when he was killed, and it was this assassination that generated future Secret Service protection for presidential candidates. Anyone who does not have a high level of security should vigilantly pay attention to their surroundings, vary their everyday routines and travel, and be aware of individuals loitering nearby.

Source: http://www.nctc.gov/

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