Peter Lehr – författare

Structured in three key parts, this book takes a critical and historical approach to the study of maritime terrorism. Focussing on the terrorist actors’ perspectives, chapters investigate existing academic literature, official reports, newspaper articles and the actors’ own descriptions of their acts of terrorism. Lehr considers the motivations and expectations behind why terrorists take terrorism to the sea; the weapons and tactics used to do so; where they struck, and against what; and ultimately what they achieved. Considering the lessons learned from the history of maritime terrorism, the book concludes with an examination of the near-future trajectories it could take.

A vivid and detailed account of the various forms of maritime terrorism that have emerged in the last century, this topical book will be invaluable to students and scholars of international relations, terrorism and security studies, and maritime politics and policy. Its comparative analysis of the patterns in the actors, locations and tactics in maritime terrorism will prove useful to practitioners seeking to plan and execute counter-terrorism operations.

This book critically discusses the role of technology for counter-terrorism in general, and for securing our vulnerable open societies in particular. It is set against the backdrop of the terrorist threat posed by the combined forces of Al Qaeda and ISIS/Daesh in the foreseeable future. 

The book commences by illuminating current and foreseeable tactics and weapons used by these implacable enemies – weapons that may well include chemical, biological, radiological and potentially even nuclear (CBRN) devices. In a second part, it introduces technologies already available or in development that promise an increase in safety and security when it comes to the dangers posed by these terrorists. This part also includes a critical discussion of advantages and disadvantages of such technologies that are, quite often, sold as a ‘silver bullet’ approach in the fight against terrorism. Controversies such as those triggered by the abuse of millimeter wave scanners deployed at severalWestern European airports will demonstrate that there are costs involved with regard to human rights. The third, analytical part takes the critical discussion further by arguing that the uncritical fielding of new surveillance and control technologies in parallel with the on-going outsourcing and privatization of key services of the state could well lead to dystopias as envisaged in a rather prescient way by the so-called cyperpunk novels of the 1980s. The book concludes with the question that any liberal democracy should ask itself: how far can we go with regard to hardening our societies against terrorist threats?