The Role Of Terrorism In The United States

Terrorism is an act that threatens or carries out violence with the intention to disrupt, kill or coerce against a body or nation in order to impose will. This means that a lot of groups use this method to get what they want. The groups use a variety of methods, groups such as:

There is no single, universally accepted definition to define terrorism but the U. S. Code of federal regulations defines it as any violent act or acts dangerous to human life that violates the criminal laws of the U.S. or any State or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the U.S. or any State. (18 U.S.C § 2331). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) divides terrorist attacks that face the U.S. into two broad categories - international and domestic. (18.U.S.C. § 2331).

What is Terrorism? The FBI definition of Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. The goals and objectives of terrorism can vary. They can used terrorism to gain money and power, or control over a government, or it can be used as a form of hate crime. There goal depends on what there objects is? For example if a small group is unhappy with there government they can use terrorism to try and change the government or take control of it. Another form of terrorism is the use of force to intimidate a certain group of people for money or power. Terrorism can also be used to

Due to its changing nature and different political viewpoints, terrorism is hard to define. Most definitions tend to include some form of fear created through an act of violence. While violence is the tactic, the goal is fear which will serve to create a desired change as a result. However, this definition has not always been appropriate for terrorism. Take for instance the words of Edmund Burke, a British philosopher, who described the situation in France in the 18th century French Revolution as a “Reign of Terror,” (White, Jonathan. 2013. "Defining Terrorism in Modern History." In Terrorism and Homeland Security 3-27, Wadsworth Centage Learning pp 7). In this time period terrorism was a word of the people in describing the brutal tactics of the government which were meant to keep the people in line. Because one time period is looking at

The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.

If one were to ask a cross-section of individuals to define what terrorism means, there would ultimately be multiple definitions similar in many aspects but not able to be unified to create a single definition. Terrorism is a

Terrorism is hard to be defined accurately as no universal agreement has been made on the definition of terrorism. This is because the term is politically and emotionally charged. The National Security Council (NSC) of Malaysia defined terrorism as “unlawful use of threat or the use of force or terror or any other attack by person, group or state regardless of objective or justification aim at other states, it citizens or their properties and its vital services with the intention of creating fear, intimidation and thus forcing governments or organisations to follow their impressed will including those acts in support directly or indirectly”.

Dictionary.com defines terrorism as, “The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for

Terrorism is something that has affected the lives of the American population in the United States at least once in their lifetimes. It is something that Americans have read about in history books and have seen on national television. The United States defines terrorism under Title 22 of the U.S. Code (USC) Section 2656f (d) as a, “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” The U.S. Code breaks terrorism down into two subsections under 18 USC 2331 as “international terrorism” and “domestic terrorism”. International terrorism is defined as:

There is a saying that says, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” The definition of terrorism varies depending on whose prospective it is coming from. Three good definitions of terrorism come from The United States Department of Defense, The Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI), and the U.S. Department of State. The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” The FBI defines terrorism to be “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” Thirdly, the U.S. Department of State

• League of Nations Convention Definition of Terrorism (1937): terrorist acts are “all criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public.”

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines terrorism as “the use of violence acts to frighten the people in the area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal” (Terrorism, 2013). The United States Code 113B, recognizes two forms of terrorism, international and domestic terrorism.

The United States has many different definitions of terrorism in almost every government organization’s code. In Federal Criminal Code Title 18 of the United States defines terrorism and lists the crimes associated with terrorism. In Section 2331 of Chapter 113(B), defines terrorism as:

Terrorism is a word that brings up many emotions, but no one agrees on a singular definition for it. Chernotsky and Hobbs, define terrorism as “The threat or use of violence to change an existing political order” (Chernotsky and Hobbs 2013: 107). The UN has a similar definition with, “acts of violence that targets civilians in the pursuit of political or ideological aims” (UN Factsheet No 32: 5-6). Both of these definitions agree that terror attacks target civilians with the goal of changing something. They disagree in what terrorists change with Chernotsky and Hobbs say its purely political and the UN says it could also be ideological. The FBI has very specific definitions for terrorism with different definitions for international and domestic terrorism. It has even more reasons why a terror attack may occur with, “Appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping”(VOX, “How do we define terrorism?”). With these varying definitions of terrorism, it is hard to determine what is and is not terrorism. One person’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. In an interview with the Atlantic Martha Crenshaw describes some of the many reasons as to why it is hard to define terrorism such as a person’s view on whether or not a person is a terrorist. Crenshaw states that terrorism is

From the lips of the FBI, “Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objective.” On September 11, 2001 the United States of America experienced such actions, it was the largest terror attack experienced by any country. The affect this had on America was tremendous,