Super-terrorism means terrorist attacks with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Since it does not target a selected crowd or a location or an object, the disaster it could cause is immense. In order to counter such moves the governments have to train local authorities in chemical and biological weapon detection, defence and decontamination with casualty treatment taking priority in controlling super-terrorism. It was in the early 1990s that the USA took serious effective measures to meet the disastrous effect of such attacks.

Religious fanatics and extremists are the most prominent groups who would launch a major attack on the civilized world to create chaos. Super-terrorists are aware that the chances of political and physical survival are rare and the terrorists take time to master the art of using weapons of mass destruction and ensure the number of potential suspects is very small.

So far only two groups, Aum Shinnyo (Japanese) and the American Covenant, could be called super-terrorists. Such terrorist groups as Hamas, Jihad or Hizbullah do not come within the definition of super-terrorists. However, only an extremist mindset completely devoid of political and moral considerations will think of an effective super-terrorist attack. Super-terrorism uses chemical or biological agents to bring about an unexpected massive destruction of life.

The danger in the release of biological and chemical issues into a building is that hundreds of lives within the building could be easily lost even before they realize what had happened. This happened in March 1995 in a Tokyo subway. It does not take much skill to use such weapons. They could be manufactured with the use of such material as those used in the manufacture of paints or ballpoint pens. Some chemicals used by the medical community could be used to make such weapons.

Nuclear super-terrorism denotes the use of nuclear weapons or radiological weapons in acts of terrorism. With the increase in trade in nuclear material for commercial purposes, the danger of the use of nuclear material for terrorist purposes too will increase. In legal terms, nuclear super-terrorism means an offence committed by using radio-active material in any way with the clear intention of causing destruction.

Another category of super-terrorism is the use of radiological weapons. They are also called ‘dirty bombs’. It would consist of waste by products which upon detonation would spread deadly radioactive particles into the environment.

Cyber terrorism could be defined as disruption attacks against information systems.

What is the degree of awareness of the people about the danger of super-terrorism? Better equipment and mass awareness is needed to deal with it. This will be the biggest problem we have to face globally in the years to come.