Dirty secret of war on terror? Low-tech can defeat high-tech, author warns

Updated Nov. 16, 2009 at 5:09 a.m.

Dirty secret of war on terror? Low-tech can defeat high-tech, author warns

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Note: The Skinny blog is written by Rick Smith, editor and co-founder of Local Tech Wire and business editor of WRAL.com.

RALEIGH, N.C. – In an ever increasingly high-tech world, terrorists try to avoid detection by the latest tools of cyber warfare yet at the same time they won’t hesitate to use the latest technology to execute attacks in the future.

So warned author and intelligence historian Christopher Andrew at a booking signing and program for his "Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5" on Saturday at Quail Ridge Books.

"Never in history have terrorists not used the latest inventions and technology as weapons," Andrew told an audience of more than 125 people packed into the Raleigh book store who came to meet and hear the first man authorized to write a history of the British secret spy service in its 100-year history. "That will not change.

"Human nature has not changed in 20,000 years. To believe that fanatics won’t use the latest technology for an attack – I can’t get my head around that one."

Later, in an interview, he stressed: "Any way of attacking other people after a technology is invented is going to proliferate and is going to be used."

His worst fear? A "dirty bomb" – the combining of radioactive materials with a conventional bomb.

"In the next 20 years, we will see the first explosion of a dirty bomb," Andrew proclaimed.

"Imagine a dirty bomb being set off in Washington or Raleigh or London," he continued somberly. "Large areas would be uninhabitable for many, many years to come."

Low-tech vs. high-tech

Ironically, Andrew pointed out that some terrorists such as Al Qaeda resorted to low-tech means in the past such as on 9-11-01 to hijack four passenger jets with not much more than box cutters.

They also combined ingenuity and low tech to nearly carry out an even larger attack out of London. By draining drinks and refilling the contents with liquid that could be ignited as an explosive and using the flash component of instant cameras, they sought to arm suicide hijackers with deadly devices that would not set off high-tech scanners and monitors.

Intelligence agencies can rely too much on high tech at the expense of other means to gain information, he warned. Eyes, ears, informants, double agents, human intelligence remain important.

Having been immersed in top secret and eyes only files at MI5 since 2003, Andrew knows first hand how high-tech has been used by all sides over the past 100 years in the never-ending struggle for global dominance.

Published in the U.K. as "In Defence of the Realm," the book includes stories about the ongoing war against terrorism. It has received considerable praise from critics in the U.K. as well as the U.S. as have his earlier works. Written in collaboration with former Soviet spymasters, they are as Raleigh Metro Magazine Bernie Reeves editor and publisher described them "the seminal texts" about the KGB and Cold War ("KGB: The Inside Story," and two volumes known as the Mitrokhim Archives – "The Sword And the Shield" and "The World Was Going Our Way.")

In writing the MI5 book and while living in a country where terrorists are every bit as major a threat – if not more – as in the U.S., Andrew is not one of those who assumes the war on terror has be won – or ever will be.

Like the worst virus, the leaders of Al Qaeda have adapted to threats. They were certainly astute enough to discover over time that the use of low-tech communications (messengers) and weapons was the best means to avoid detection by the world’s intelligence agencies. While MI5 circumvented some attacks with good detective work, others would have been successful if not for a bungle here, a mistake there.

Andrew does not discount the possible use of anthrax or other diseases in a biologic terror attack. "They’ve already tried to a bioterror attack in Great Britian," he said. However, he also stressed that bioweapons are "incredible complex" while a dirty bomb can used conventional explosives or ingredients (such as fertilizer) mixed with radioactive waste.

"We’ve already had some who tried to create and explode a dirty bomb," Andrew warned. "They are in prison."

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