Contemporary Italian Terrorism: Analysis and Countermeasures,

Current Italian terrorism, whose most menacing manifestations derive from groups that professs to be acting in the name of communism, has been attributed to diverse roots. To some, it is a phenomenon that is self-contained and self-supporting. To others, it is sponsored by the forces of reaction, that include not only local neo-fascists but agents of Western powers as well. To yet others, East European patron states are behind Italys terrorist bands. This last hypothesis is partially built upon recurring evidence of clandestine operations conducted in Italy since 1945 by the intelligence services of the Soviet Union and its East European satellites. The mounting intensification of Italys various terrorist actions has heightened the demand for more effective enforcement of existing legislative, judicial, and police countermeasures and for adequate intelligence collection on all matters relating to terrorism. Of currently available technical measures, intelligence collection is perceived as being the least efficient because of operational drawbacks resulting from the 1977 reform of the intelligence and security services and because of continuing political exploitation of certain deviations within those services prior to the reform. The following study therefore, endeavors to examine contemporary Italian terrorism through the end of1978 and dedicates particular attention to the role of Italian intelligence before and after the reform of 1977.