As far back as the late 19th century, terrorism has been the tool used by many national, ethnic, political, or religious groups or movements to further their aims . Historical examples include the Irish Republican Army (known once as the Irish Republican Brotherhood), the Serbian Black Hand, and the Zionist Irgun Zvai Leumi, and a variety of anarchist groups. However, there is a problem of perception . No doubt that many movements have committed acts that can be interpreted as “terrorist. ” More often, though, criteria, such as politics , propaganda, and ethnic or religious sympathies , were more important when it came to labeling a group terrorist. One important characteristic of these many groups was that usually they confined their terrorist acts within the borders of the nation or territory in which they existed, and that national military or security forces dealt with them, if not always successfully.

The First Round: NSA’s Effort against International Terrorism in the 1970s – Cryptologic Almanac, November – December 2002 by Robert J. Hanyok [6 Pages, 1.6MB]