But in his 2007 memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," Tenet defended the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques on terror suspects, claiming that the information they elicited had prevented other attacks and saved American lives.
Mr. Mukasey appears likely to be questioned about recent disclosures about the action of the Office of Legal Counsel, which has produced a series of legal opinions authorizing the domestic surveillance program and the use of aggressive interrogation techniques on terror suspects.
Under the Khmer Rouge, an invisible organization called Angkar governed every aspect of Cambodians' lives, using techniques of psychological terror.
The Arellano Félix gang set up shop in Tijuana and won its reputation as the most ruthless criminal syndicate in Mexico, taking control of the frontier bordering southern California by the time-honored techniques of murder, terror and torture.
"There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas and who will use the techniques of mass terror -- the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.
Wilkerson signaled to Democracy Now! that he believes Bush administration officials should be held accountable when it comes to matters such as the authorization of warrantless wiretapping and the use of harsh interrogation techniques for terror suspects.
The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, for example, was a single very knotty event that, in turn, gave birth to hundreds of jihadist groups, each of which developed different methods of terror, particular techniques of attack and destruction, which themselves were always changing and evolving".
He orchestrated — and, according to the complaint, participated in — the harsh interrogation of terror suspects using sexual humiliation and the drowning technique called waterboarding.
This congeries of ideas included careful grassroots political work, patience, guerrilla techniques gradually leading to conventional operations as the opposition weakened, and the selective use of terror.
Its symbolism, punctuated by innovating techniques (e.g., inclusion of newsprint), transforms a local event to a universal icon of terror in the aftermath of violence.
