Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 60

der Bundespolizei, or GSG-9, Germany’s first dedicated movie Mohammed, Messenger of God, starring Anthony
CT unit.18
Quinn, which they believed to be an affront to Islam.20
Shortly after what became known as the Munich
The thirty-nine-hour siege ended without a significant
Massacre and the establishment of the GSG-9, France
loss of life. Of the 149 hostages, two died from gunshot
followed
wounds received
suit with the
in the initial
creation of
attack, and the
Groupe d’Inremaining
tervention de la
hostages were
Gendarmerie
released after
Nationale, or
negotiations
GIGN.19 A
led by Egyptian
significant
ambassadors.
difference beDuring
tween the two
the siege, U.S.
organizations
leadership
was GSG-9’s
called upon the
status as a law
Federal Bureau
enforcement
of Investigation
organization
(FBI) and the
and GIGN’s
Department of
position as
Defense (DOD)
(Photo by Jacky Naegelen, Reuters)
a unit of
for assistance
French soldiers secure the area where shots were exchanged five days earlier in Saint-Dethe French
with a potential
nis, France, near Paris, 18 November 2015, during an operation to catch fugitives responArmed Forces. sible for the deadly attacks.
hostage-resThis is a signifcue mission.
icant distinction because there are NATO nations whose
Neither the FBI nor the DOD had units trained with
militaries may not be allowed to operate in a law-enthe appropriate CT capabilities.21 It had not been a
forcement capacity, and other partner states that do not
priority in a Cold War military or in a domestic law
allow foreign militaries to operate within their borders.
enforcement community that believed terrorism was
The legal distinction of NATO SOF in a member state’s
largely a European problem, but both the FBI and
Article 5 response is beyond the scope of this discussion,
DOD would initiate efforts to develop significant CT
but it is an important distinction if NATO adopts SOF
capabilities within a year.
CT capabilities and responsibilities as a principal mission.
Each of these incidents represented a change in the
The United States chose to develop CT capabilities in
national threat level, which required an increase in naboth law enforcement and armed forces, but only after
tional CT capabilities; in turn, 2015 has seen a dramatic
its own hostage crisis, the Hanafi Siege, 9–11 March
change in the European threat level. Transnational ter1977. Homegrown violent extremist (using the modern
rorism in Europe and the increased lethality of complex
vernacular) and Muslim convert Hamaas Abdul Khaalis
terrorist attacks should be the impetus for NATO SOF
raised a group of twelve gunmen to lay siege to three
to adopt CT as a principal mission, before the formal
buildings in Washington, D.C., holding 149 hostages for
request for collective defense arises.
thirty-nine hours. Khaalis’s group seized one floor of the
John A. Wilson Building, the B’nai B’rith headquarters,
NATO Special Operations Doctrine
and the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. The gunmen and Counterterrorism
made several demands that included the U.S. government
With an increased likelihood of NATO SOF being
handing over several men convicted of killing members
called to support a member state’s special forces CT
of Khaalis’s family and the destruction of all copies of the
element or law-enforcement CT unit, NATO needs to
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July-August 2016  MILITARY REVIEW