Researchers find promising counterterrorism strategy

The targeted capture of a terrorist leader shows promise as an effective counterterrorism strategy, according to a study by FIU researchers.

The study was done by criminal justice professors Stewart D’Alessio, Lisa Stolzenberg and Dustin Dariano. It has been accepted for publication in the journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.

Stewart D’Alessio

The researchers examined the targeted capture of Abimael Guzman, the leader of the Shining Path, by the Peruvian government in 1992. Six months after Guzman’s capture, they found that the number of terrorist acts – bombings, armed assaults and assassinations – carried out by the Shining Path significantly declined. The Shining Path, a Maoist guerilla insurgency group, operated in a top-down organizational structure where strategies and decisions were first conceived by one or a few top leaders and then disseminated further down the organizational structure.

Other research has found the capture of a terrorist leader can help governments reduce attacks and diminish the overall level of violence perpetrated by the terrorist group by impeding its operational capability. A targeted capture also maintains the possibility a plea agreement might be reached with the stipulation the group discontinue its attacks.

According to the FIU researchers, one should be cautious about the generalization of findings pertaining to the effectiveness of targeted capture based on a single study of a single terrorist organization with its own unique organizational characteristics.

“It is of vital importance for other researchers to conduct a similar type of study using other terrorist organizations with a more decentralized command structure,” D’Alessio said. “Such research will go a long way in helping us to better deal with the specter of terrorism.”