Disrupting Escalation Of Terror In Russia To Prevent - Belfer Center ...

The panel should also share its non-classified findings with the expert and academic
community to formulate a full range of policy options and recommendations from which the
leadership of the country can choose, whether it be such a daring option as a complete overhaul
of the intelligence community, as recommended by the U.S. Senate’s 9/11 Commission, or larger
budgets for human intelligence. The president also needs to enhance civilian oversight of the law
enforcement and security community to ensure that they remain focused on implementing
enhanced anti-terrorist policies.
Beyond immediate and direct anti-terror related measures, we recommend a change in
Russia’s heavy-handed policy in the North Caucasus, including an end to abuses of the civilian
population by police and troops, preventing ethnic strife, and defusing the political and economic
frustrations that feed terrorism.
The practice of forming entire elite commando units of the Russian armed forces with
ethnic Chechens in Chechnya should be applied to the rest of the North Caucasus. It is critical,
however, to ensure that these units observe Russian laws and human rights. Federal authorities
also need to tame corruption among officials of law enforcement and other agencies in the region
and elsewhere, in order to limit terrorist groups’ capabilities and to prevent them from easily
gaining access to both materials and targets.
As stated above, we believe Russia can fight terrorism without major sacrifices of
individual and collective freedoms if its law enforcement and security agencies focus their
powers and resources on identifying and preventing terrorist attacks and keeping agents of terror
on the run. However, while relentlessly pursuing agents of terror, these agencies must not be
indiscriminately cracking down on all groups and individuals suspected of radicalism.
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