What Kinds of Threats Does Terrorism Pose?

The main goals of terrorism are to-

• Disrupt the public's sense of safety.
• Create feelings of vulnerability and fear.
• Intimidate.
• Coerce.

There are five categories of weapons terrorists use to accomplish these goals-

• Chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals,
• Biological agents or toxins,
• Radioactive dispersal devices or "dirty bombs,"
• Nuclear devices,
• Explosive and incendiary devices.

These are what are commonly known as "weapons of mass destruction," even if the scale of damage is not immense.