The modern media often use the
term ‘Terrorist cell’ but rarely explain what exactly a terrorist cell
is. The ‘Cell system’ is an effective and long established method of
organisation for terrorist or resistance groups. It has been and still is
being used by terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda to great effect.
A terrorist cell is a small group
of terrorists who have a specific task and operate together normally all
knowing each other but having very little contact if any with anyone else in
the terrorist organisation. This allows an efficient specialisation of role but
also reduces the damage to the organisation if a cell is infiltrated or members
captured. Think of the cell system as a damage control mechanism, once a cell
is captured it is easy to prevent the damage spreading into the rest of the
organisation and some cells may actually be physically close to each other and
not know of each others existence. Cells are tightly knit and all members know
each other well making infiltration very difficult and time consuming as
strangers are rarely trusted. The leader of the cell may have infrequent
contact with the next person in the chain, a regional commander who will have
contacts with several cells as and when they are needed.
Al Qaeda has a highly developed
cell system in some areas with specialised cells. In the aftermath of September
11th a cell was discovered in Italy whose function was purely to produce fake
passports and other ID. Some cells will be recon cells where the members have
no criminal record and do not get involved in illegal activities. These cell
members can move about without attracting suspicion and are used to find out
details about potential targets. For example a recon cell can travel to an
airport and discreetly make sketches and take photos on mobile phones and then
never visit the area again and since they have a clean record they rarely
attract any attention on CCTV. The information they gather can then be used to
plan and attack and passed onto a planning cell that may also acquire and make
explosives; this can then be passed onto an attack cell often via an equipment
dump so the bomb makers and attack cell may never meet. This allows skilled
bomb makers to remain fairly safe and allows groups to use enthusiastic
amateurs who are expendable to actually carry out the attack; it would be a
waste to use a skilled bomb maker to carry out a suicide attack. Cells that
specialise in recruitment and recon pose particular problems for the security
services, often they require careful surveillance but don’t actually do
anything that’s illegal or if their actions are illegal this can be difficult
to prove in a court of law. The cell system is far from a new idea and was used
by various resistance groups during World War 2, it has become highly developed
in modern times and means that the current war on terrorism is a long war of
attrition rather than likely to end quickly.
Source: http://www.historyofwar.org/
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