Thirteen years have passed since two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York and two others crashed respectively at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, causing a total of nearly three thousand deaths.
Behind these tragic events hid the hand of Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization led by the Saudi Osama Bin Laden. From that day the entire international community found itself in agreement to start a war on terrorism that had no precedent in history. A fight against an invisible, silent and perverse enemy that still today, framed in the current international context, is still scary.
To better understand what terrorism is and what are the best tools to face it we met prof. Vittorfranco Pisano, lecturer and consultant in the field of security, intelligence and unconventional conflict as well as rector of the Multinational Intelligence Studies Campus of Lugano (CH). The professor. Pisano taught at Georgetown University and the Defense Intelligence College, both based in Washington, and at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". He still teaches at the Roma Tre University. He has held numerous international posts in the Military Police - US Army with the rank of colonel and has been a consultant to the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism of the United States Senate and reviewer of courses offered by the United States Department of State under the Program of Anti-Terrorism Assistance.
Professor, 11 September 2001 marked a very important moment in contemporary history. The whole international community has become aware of the global threat constituted by international terrorism, above all of a political-religious nature. Is it possible to define terrorism?
What is meant by unconventional form of conflict?
Symmetrical wars have given way to so-called asymmetric conflicts. Who benefits most from this change?
What are the tools you believe can be used by the international community to deal with international terrorism?
Just a few days ago there was a terrorist attack against the Jewish museum in Brussels by a French subject who seems to have fought in Syria. How do you judge this event also on the basis of the fear of the main western states regarding the possibility of a continuation, at home, of jihad?
Do you believe that the international community and in the first place the US are doing enough to counter international terrorism, especially of a religious nature?
Wanting to try to make a forecast for the future, do you think we will see a worsening of the international situation, with a consequent resurgence of the terrorist phenomenon, or will the international context reach a certain balance that will avert further attacks?
It seems evident, therefore, that despite the commitments made in all these years and the wars fought the phenomenon of international terrorism, above all of a religious matrix, is still to be completely eradicated. This is also due to a difficult classification of the phenomenon shared by the entire international community. Probably a definite uprooting will be impossible to achieve but this does not mean that democratic states are justified in lowering their guard. Diplomatic cooperation, collaboration on the exchange of information and police is imperative between Western nations that intend to safeguard their interests both within and outside national borders.
Andrea Strippoli Lanternini
