As Daniel Gilbert writes: Terrorism is a strategy based on

the idea that the best offence is the one that fails to trigger the best defence, and small-scale incursions are less likely to set off alarm bells than are large-scale assaults.

Although it may be possible to design a defensive system that counters even the smallest threat, such systems would be extra ordinarily intrusive and costly, in terms of both the resources required to run them and the number of false alarms they give rise to. A system like that would be an exercise in overkill. To be effective, a defensive system must respond to the threat; but to be practical, it must respond only to threats that exceed some critical threshold – which means that threats that fall short of the critical threshold may have a destructive potential that belies their diminutive size. Unlike large threats, small threats can sneak in under the radar.

Terrorism is an extension of true war and is essentially offensive. Since the strikes are sneak attacks on unsuspecting targets, they are difficult, if not impossible to entirely prevent. We can however be ready to react to such strikes appropriately, mitigate the effects and apprehend the perpetrators.

In such circumstances, action within the Country is mainly a Police / Intelligence operation and will only involve the Military as a last option for specific operations within the Country and ofcourse when action is required to be taken against identified targets / bases outside the Country. This is where the Military Special Forces, acting in conjunction with the Intelligence organizations as necessary, are needed to act as directed or to execute the orders passed by the Special Courts.

We need to apply all possible Political and Economic force, not only directly but also indirectly, to deter the Foreign host Country from supporting or encouraging Terrorist activities from within their Country.

It may be appropriate to recollect President J. F. Kennedy’s call for both National strength of Arms and an openness to Peace saying –

“We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our Arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed… so let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but also let us never fear to negotiate”.

The Alternative – the futility of a Soft, or even NO response;

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