EUGENE MASTRANGELO, AN ANALYST WHO TRACKS DATA FOR RISKS INTERNATIONAL INC. OF ARLINGTON, VA., A SUBURB OF WASHINGTON, OFFERS STATISTICAL EVIDENCE THAT THERE HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM, PARTICULARY IN ACTS TA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100060004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
14 April, 1985
Eugene Mastrangelo, an analyst who tracks data for Risks International Inc.
of Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington, offers statistical evidence that
there has been a significant increase in international terrorism, particularly
in acts targeting businesses.
His figures show 3,525 terrorist incidents worldwide last year, compared to
2,838 in-1983. Last year, businesses were targeted 1,205 times, compared to 760
such incidents the previous year, Mastrangelo said.
He said Chile led the top 10 countries in terrorist incidents, followed by
Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, India, Lebanon, Spain, Northern Ireland
and Sri Lanka.
Mastrangelo said 63 percent of the 22,171 incidents he has recorded since
1970 have occurred during the past five years.
He acknowledged many incidents are not reported but said his statistics can
disclose patterns in terrorist activity.
''You can establish a track record for terrorist groups,'' he said.
''Knowledge is power.''
-Mastrangelo and other security consultants say there is a trend for
terrorists to shift their attacks from government and military installations to
business targets.
''Companies are cranking the terrorism factor into the cost of doing
business,'' Mastrangelo said.
''We are now dealing with a more sophisticated, better armed, more seasoned
group of terrorists. These people are willing to take risks. They are not just
leaving unattended bombs now. They are willing to come onto the scene, to throw
the bomb. They are willing to fight it out with security forces.
''They are dedicated. The average age of terrorists in West Germany now is in
the 30s. They are veterans who have been at their trade for over a decade.-Now
they are beginning to recruit a new generation.
''What this means is that the inept ones are in jail but the good ones are
still on the street. The veterans don't engage unless they think they're going
to win. They do a lot of reconnaisance.''
Mastrangelo said that if experienced terrorists observe that a targeted
person continually varies his movements and is protected by bodyguards they may
not strike.
''The frustrating thing in this business,'' he said, "is that we never know
how many attacks are thwarted.'.'
Mike Ackerman knows about frustration. In 1975, after 11 years of CIA work
took him to 20 countries throughout Latin America, Europe and Africa, he
resigned in protest against con ressional investigation of the agency, claimin
the probe " neutra ized his operational effectiveness.''
continues
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At the firm he founded, Ackerman preaches that the best defense against
terrorism aimed at businesses is ''a trained, alert, concerned executive.''
He contends that sophisticated terrorist groups are ''siply not intimidated
by small bodyguard complements. They can
overcome them.''
tend to select their
Ackerman and other consultants agree that
targets from among the more visible individuals
They urge their clients to blend into their surroundings, avoid publicity and
to be as unpredictable in their movements as possible. Regular pursuits, such as
jogging, are discouraged.
Executives, their staffs and families are taught how to recognize when they
are under surveillance.
Despite such efforts, there still is a worldwide proliferation of kidnappings
and much disagreement on how to deal with kidnappers.
The U.S. State Department will not help in ransom negotiations on the ground
that paying the kidnappers off only leads to more kidnappings.
Some foreign governments simply concentrate on trying to kill the terrorist
culprits to preclude thier using ransom money to buy arms -- a strategy that
puts the kidnap victim in grave danger.
Once an executive is kidnapped, the process becomes a deadly game of nerves,
with the kidnappers often threatening to kill the hostage unless a ransom is
paid.
Kidnappers sometimes send tape recordings s hostage
end
life, a tactic that might prompt his shaken colleagues
the ordeal. Then the kidnappers might simply double their demand.
Higher than usual ransoms in a particular area can prompt a wave of
subsequent kidnappings.
Although hostages usually are recovered, most kidnappers are not apprehended.
In the field of risk control, the goal is prevention of terrorism.
That is why Ackerman, who still talks like the CIA operative he was, sus
things like, ''Our thrust is predictive."
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