ISSUE 107 : Jul/Aug - 1994 - Australian Defence Force Journal

52 AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL NO. 107 JULY/AUGUST 1994When the exercise is over, there is the debrief. Exercise Brindabella brought together officers from NSW,Victoria, NT, SA, Queensland and WA police services, the Australian Defence Force and ASIO.They provided the umpires, role players and controllers who guided the exercise to achieve the objectives.federal system of government, with States beingresponsible for law and order, means that arrangementsmust be based on cooperation. The size of thiscountry and the sparsity of communications alsomakes it difficult to maintain centralised responsearrangements. Arrangements in other western countriesvary considerably and are generally supported bymore stringent legislation justified by a higher level ofthreat from terrorism.In the United States, a single federal body, the FBI.has jurisdiction over any terrorist incident within thecountry. The US definition of terrorism is also muchbroader than our own. The FBI is provided with adequateresources to deploy it's Hostage Rescue Teamanywhere within the US at short notice and on arrivalit simply takes over from the local police.Counter terrorism in the United Kingdom is alsohandled by a single organisation and the relative sizeof the country allows deployment of its counter terroristforce in relatively short time. The actual UKarrangements are similar to those of Australia exceptwithout the State Crisis Centre. The major differenceis that the crisis management team, including theirduty minister, deploys to the scene and has authorityto make decisions on behalf of the government. Theirprimary counter terrorist force is also provided by themilitary.Canada faces similar structural and geographicproblems to Australia, but has legislation that permitsgreater flexibility at the national level. However.Canada has used the Australian model as the basisof its arrangements. The Royal Canadian MountedPolice, for many years, maintained the primarycounter terrorist force. However, that responsibilitywas recently handed over to the Defence Force.Most European countries maintain a single responsecapability supported by legislation giving themjurisdiction over all areas within their national borders.ConclusionSpecial arrangements are necessary to deal with aterrorist incident because terrorism is qualitativelydifferent from non-terrorist criminal activity. It isdifferent in the complexity of the operational, politicaland media issues involved. Operational commandersrequire specialist support and need policy guidance.