Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Globally Aum
T2 - the Aum affair, counterterrorism and religion
AU - Reader, Ian
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Aum’s activities have had a global impact on counterterrorism thinking. Its useof chemical and biological weapons caught the attention of policy makers andsecurity forces globally, and Aum became a seminal influence on the way securityand government agencies, especially in the United States, conceptualizedthe future of terrorism to be chemical, religious, and apocalyptic in nature.Such perceptions conditioned counterterrorism policies in the years prior to11 September 2001, and strategic studies specialists now debate whether thisled the usa in particular to underestimate threats from other more conventionalmodes of terrorist violence. Even after 9/11, Aum continues to feature incounterterrorism discourses and military training manuals, and continues torepresent, for security services and policy makers, the “public face” of chemicaland biologically oriented terrorism. This article examines these issues andshows how the Aum Affair was not simply restricted to Japan but had a globalimpact and profile.
AB - Aum’s activities have had a global impact on counterterrorism thinking. Its useof chemical and biological weapons caught the attention of policy makers andsecurity forces globally, and Aum became a seminal influence on the way securityand government agencies, especially in the United States, conceptualizedthe future of terrorism to be chemical, religious, and apocalyptic in nature.Such perceptions conditioned counterterrorism policies in the years prior to11 September 2001, and strategic studies specialists now debate whether thisled the usa in particular to underestimate threats from other more conventionalmodes of terrorist violence. Even after 9/11, Aum continues to feature incounterterrorism discourses and military training manuals, and continues torepresent, for security services and policy makers, the “public face” of chemicaland biologically oriented terrorism. This article examines these issues andshows how the Aum Affair was not simply restricted to Japan but had a globalimpact and profile.
KW - chemical and biological weapons (cbw)
KW - global security
KW - Al Qaeda
KW - counterterrorism policies
KW - us government
M3 - Journal article
VL - 39
SP - 177
EP - 196
JO - Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
JF - Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
IS - 1
ER -