Risk Analysis for Terrorist Targets

Terrorism has become popular among extremists who are employing different dynamic strategies to thrive in their agenda. Understanding the terror groups is fundamental principle to overcome them or counter the sects. Modern terrorism has additionally advanced. Today 's assaults are less incessant, however all the more savage. Terrorists beforehand acted like renegades trying to connect with the foe (Miller, 2013. This was trailed by a period of kidnappings and plane hijackings. States create first class counter-terrorist strengths, extraordinarily prepared at prisoner transaction and salvage. Like the youngster 's amusement - paper-scissors-stone the following phase of advancement was the appropriation of bombings as the favored strategy (Roberts, 2014). Bombs can be delivered from basic materials, put and exploded remotely, with generally okay to the planes and little open door for counter-terrorist strengths to catch them. Terror groups like the IRA, Al-Qaida, ISIS and Boko

For our purposes, we will use the Title 22 of the US Code, Section 2656f(d), to define terrorism. It defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Examples of terrorism persist on a near daily basis around the world. Unstable countries, such as Afghanistan and Syria, deal with terrorist attacks on a constant basis. The common thread of these attacks is deliberate targeting of civilian populations in order to achieve political objectives. The best known and largest example are

This paper will discuss religious terrorism in particular. Religious terrorism can be defined as “the terrorism [is] carried out based on motivations and goals that have a predominantly religious character or influences.” (“Religious Terrorism”) An example of this will be the 9/11 attacks. It was “a series of four coordinated terrorist attack launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.”(“September 11 attacks”) This attack had led to a serious causality, “almost 3000 people dies in the attacks.” (“September 11 attacks”) Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, declared a “holy war against the United States” (“September 11 attacks”) In his “letter to America”, he stated the motives as follows: In opposition to western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia; supporting the Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir; the Jewish aggression against Muslims in Lebanon; the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia; U.S support of Israel and the sanction against Iraq. (“September 11 attacks”) The disastrous attack leads to a serious attention of re-constructing the old version of counter terrorism strategy, which had failed to protect the citizens against terrorism. However, ‘terrorism is far to complex for one solution to be effective in dealing with all the possible threats.” (Lygutas 146) Therefore, some of the measures have difficulties in balancing the rights of

Criminal activity and terrorist activity have a relationship that is closely related, with only minor differences separating the two. Terrorist activity are criminal acts that are motivated by a higher cause beyond the basic causes of crime. Terrorist attack are highly planned out, and the same can be said about criminal activity. Serial killers often plan out their acts just as much as terrorist organizations, however the same cannot be said for certain crimes like random assaults. (Newman & Clarke, 2008) The relationship between crime and terrorism is brought closer when terrorist organizations use common crime to fund their attacks. For example, a terrorist organization may resort to stealing chemical agents to make their dirty bombs. The

“Terrorism's particularly heinous but highly attractive means to achieve political objectives or even radically restructure political foundations is manifest within societies in all reaches of the world. While the practical application of terrorist methodologies comes across as a relatively straightforward craft, the conceptual and ideological understanding, and subsequent evaluation of its socio-political influence, implementation, and psychological impacts present difficult questions, and in some cases conceivably insurmountable obstacles” (Romaniuk 2014, para

Since then, the number of attacks that took place have had a considerable impact in different parts of the world has exceeded fifty, leaving uncounted car bombs in Spain, Iraq, Mexico, Israel and Afghanistan. Most of these acts of terrorism have been blamed on jihadists (the most aggressive and radical within political Islam) or Al-Qaeda groups and have targeted several cities in several countries. (International Terrorism)

In nearly 100 countries throughout the world al-Qaeda had followers in which would carry out attacks, without question, when told to do so. In addition, locals within these countries, alongside professional

“In addition to communicating messages of fear to the mass audience, terrorists also may polarize public opinion, make converts, mislead the enemy by spreading false information, win publicity, advertise causes and movement, and discredit victim(s), to name just a few (Denton, 2004, p. 3)”. These terrorists wanted to get across this message that they wanted the United States citizens to stay out of the Middle East and to destroy or corrupt Christianity. Their main tactic in accomplishing their goals, was to scare off whoever they thought were intruding on their customs and country.

Although terrorism has been around for ages, their styles and methods have evolved. Back in the day terrorists "....had a sense of morality, a self-image, operation codes,....[wanted] group cohesion, avoid[ed] alienating perceived constitutions, and avoid provoking public outrage..." ( Forest & Howard, 2013, pg. 30). Nowadays, terrorists don't bother being tied down by those constraints. They've gone from just wanting media coverage to making the most of the situation, deaths. The more of an impact on lives they can make, the better. Also, they are not picky or choosey with their victims; as long as people die, they're good.

Vulnerability assessments on terrorism were designed to establish any loopholes in a security system that are prone to harm or attack by a person who may have intentions to harm a particular location, an event or an individual. The main goal of terrorism vulnerability assessments is to establish the weaknesses of facilities across a variety of probable threats. Once such threats are assessed, physical and operational measures of improvement are put in place so as to make sure that such facilities are adequately protected. Such assessments can be administered to a vast range of facilities ranging from existing site management and new construction design over the life of service of such structures. This paper will delve into critical vulnerability assessment of three locations. The first location being Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden City, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and lastly Corriell Institute for Medical Research.

In the past weeks we have explored what makes up the mind of a terrorist by considering various psychological and behavioral factors of terrorism. Another factor we discussed was Osama Bin Laden: Terrorist CEO and the evolution of Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. I will summarize categorizing the means of communication and influence they have upon advancing terrorist narratives, the psychological and behavioral factors within Al-Qaeda leadership and affiliate groups, compare and contrast his ability to communicate and exert influence upon these various audiences from the years preceding 9/11 until his death. All these factors play a part with one another in order to understand the big picture.

Terror related attacks in the United States is a vastly growing situation. From non-government organizations, to individual lone wolf attacks. Numerous attacks and circumstances can be related to the American way of life, as well as the foreign policies and procedures the U.S follows. There are various aspects in which are the “why” of the attacks, relating to government and religion are two dominant reasons for attacks.

To recent times, terrorism has taken a different purpose. Todays terrorism is religiously based. One of the most significant events that has occurred on the United Stated is the attacks of September 11th. These attacks have lead to groups, such as al Qaeda, to bring light to what their goal is, which is trans- or supra-national Islamic rule (Hoffman 2014). Al Qaeda has described their own seven-stage victory, which the final stage states their goal is to triumph over the rest of the world by 2020 (Hoffman 2014). For many of the attacks following September 11th, al Qaeda has shown their seven-stage victory has slowly become true, not only within the United States, but throughout the world. In 2004, attacks on commuter rail bombings in Madrid killed 191 individuals. The following year, suicide bombers on several busses in London, killing 52 people and several other plots that were never followed through with.

A multitude of factors contribute to any type of reasoning or psychological makeup of an individual; whether it is a person’s history of behavioral problems, inability to maintain a functional relationship, or in this case becoming part of a terrorist organization. In Sarah Kershaw’s “The Terrorist Mind: An Update”, we are able to see what drives a person to commit acts of terror where it is praised in a given community.

After the attack of 9/11 many American citizens sought out an answer to why one would hijack a plane and run it into the Twin Towers, killing millions. According to the Huffpost, Islam became the main reason for the attack and furthermore labeled religion as the inspiration for many terroristic attacks (Gibson, 1). According to many Muslims, however, the attacks are anti-Islamic because the Quran states not to harm civilians who are not involved with war and to avoid it at all possible times (PBS, 3). The conflict between Muslims and Americans is growing and many issues in the Middle East has become the focus for religious terrorism.