AUTHORITIES FEAR BOTH THAT TERRORISM COULD ESCALATE FROM THE CURRENT PROPERTY DESTRUCTION TO KIDNAPPING AND ASSASSINATION AND THAT GOVERNMENT OVERREACTION TO THE YOUTH PROTEST MOVEMENT COULD FOSTER THE GROWTH OF A TERRORIST MOVEMENT. THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION HAS RESPONDED TO THE TERRORISM THREAT BY INCREASING SURVEILLANCE OF MILITANT RADICAL GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS, INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SECURITY GUARDS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND AT WASHINGTON EMBASSIES, AND PROPOSING LEGISLATION TO CONTROL SALES. DURING 1970, SEVERAL HUNDRED BOMB EXPLOSIONS, ACCOMPANIED BY ARSON INCREASES, HAVE OCCURED IN MAJOR U.S. CITIES. TARGETS HAVE BEEN BUSINESS, MILITARY, GOVERNMENT AND POLICE FACILITIES ALL OF WHICH SYMBOLIZE TO MILITANT GROUPS THE ESTABLISHED POWERS. THE DISCOVERY OF BOMB FACTORIES HAS HEIGHTENED CONCERN ABOUT A POLITICAL TERRORIST CONSPIRACY. POLITICAL ANARCHISM AND TERRORISM HAVE BEEN LINKED SINCE THE 1901 ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY. THE KLU KLUX KLAN, MOLLY MAGUIRES, WOBBLIES, AND THE RED SCARE THAT BEGAN IN 1919 EXEMPLIFY EARLY FORMS OF POLITICAL TERRORISM. MORE RECENTLY, LITERATURE OF THE NEW LEFT GROUPS AND OF GUERILLA MOVEMENTS HAVE SUPPORTED KIDNAPPING AND ASSASSINATION AS POLITICAL WEAPONS. NONVIOLENCE AS A GUIDING PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL PROTEST DECLINED ALMOST TO THE POINT OF NONEXISTENCE. TWO ORGANIZATIONS, THE STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY (ESPECIALLY ITS WEATHERMAN FACTION) AND THE BLACK PANTHERS, ARE THE STRONGEST ADVOCATES OF VIOLENCE AND REVOLUTION TO ACHIEVE POLITICAL GOALS. GREATER THREATS TO THE COUNTRY'S FUTURE, HOWEVER, ARE POSED BY CONTINUED STRUGGLES AMONG OPPOSING POLITICAL GROUPS AND A POTENTIAL BACKLASH AGAINST EXTREMIST DISSIDENTS. FOOTNOTES WHICH INCLUDE REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (CFW)