Counterterrorism in Areas of Political Unrest

??Political transitions often create new law enforcement challenges. This Brief provides an examination of such special law enforcement challenges in the Northern Caucasas, both due to the unique structure of the crime groups that are active in the region, and to the unique social and political environment in which they operate. 

In 2002, Russian President Vladamir Putin declared the end of the war in Chechnya.  In 2006, he announced the insurgency was defeated.  Yet today, Russia maintains a significant Internal Police  presence in the Northern Caucasus to contain approximately 700 insurgents at a cost estimated to be more than the equivalent of $1 billion per year. Russian law enforcement, armed forces, and their local proxies are fighting irregular forces that operate in a manner akin to organized crime groups or terrorist cells.  These groups have formed flexible networks which can sustain heavy losses, including the 'decapitation' of their leaders, only to reconstitute themselves ready to fight another day.
Beginning with a historical overview of the police and military structures in the region, this Brief provides a case study into the origins, structures, and unique strategies for counter-terrorism policing in these complex conditions.  It also provides recommendations for the future, and a framework for understanding similar cases of terrorist operations in areas of political unrest, an increasing global threat.?   

Ethan S. Burger, A.B. Harvard University (Soviet/Russia Area Studies, Magna cum laude, 1981); J.D. Georgetown University Law Center (Cum laude, 1989); Member, the District of Columbia and Maryland Bars; Admitted to Practice: the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Columbia and Maryland (USA). Dr. Serguei Cheloukhine's areas of expertise are Corruption, Corrupt Networks, Organized Crime, Anti-Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism, Criminal Justice and Policing. Dr. Cheloukhine worked as a police officer in Caucasus and Chechnya, and then professor and the Department of Social Sciences chairperson at the Rostov-on-Don Law School (former Higher Police Academy) for ten years. From 1997 to 2001, he was the first Russian police officer working at the Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption (Toronto, Canada) as a researcher and finishing his PhD. Cheloukhine participated in projects that studied Transnational Organized Crime, Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorism, International Policing. Current Cheloukhine's research and publications focused on organized crime and corrupt networks in Russia and Countries of Independent States. Government Officials and Law enforcement in Canada, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Brazil, Italy, China, Kazakhstan and Russia highly accredit Cheloukhine's academic and practical contributions.