The Latest Terror Threat: Targeting the Elements of the US Information Infrastructure

1.) Asa Don Brown, the author of “Desensitization of Terrorism,” focuses on how the influence of the media and social media have desensitized us when it comes to terrorist attacks. Brown directs the article toward an audience who questions why they are no longer as surprised by terrorist attacks when they occur as they used to be. This seems like an extremely odd feeling to have when several people are killed and hundreds are hurt, however, it is the strange reality these days. Terrorist attacks have been happening for years and years now and while we would love to just stop them from occurring, this is blatantly impossible to achieve. He emphasizes in the article, the idea that when terrorist attacks and the terrorists themselves are

After September 11, 2001, U.S. citizens were shocked that over 2,900 people were dead because of Islamic extremists (Kean, et al. "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States"). More deaths occurred in the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. Tensions between the U.S. and Islamic extremists have not yet subsided. Americans receive information regarding Islamic extremists through the media, from which they form opinions on what the U.S.’s foreign policy with the Middle East should be, which affects military spending. To what extent has the media’s portrayal of Islamic extremists affected U.S. military spending and relations with the Middle East?

September 11th catalyzed a major revival in the American public’s concern for domestic national security, which had dropped off following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The attacks, which were the first on American soil since Pearl Harbor, prompted American leaders to respond with swift and ambitious military action. At this time, the public perceived security of American territory against “terrorism”–an intentionally broad and emotionally charged term– as its chief national interest. Following the attack, President Bush announced the launch of a “global war on terror”, an international effort to combat terrorist groups and the nations that harbor them–prompting him to establish the Department of Homeland Security later that year.

The OP-ED piece written by Peggy Noonan on Nov. 19th, 2015 attacks the reader on several different fronts, but allows the same reader to empathize with individual aspects of the piece, or all of them. Feelings take center stage at first and Ms. Noonan challenges how the reader feels by deploying evidence; a synopsis of terror throughout the last two decades. Relentlessly she shows how just how permeable humanity is to intimidate by terror, along with the failures of President Barack Obama. Obama’s approach is belittled, even claiming the President is “barely relevant” and she does not consider his viewpoint. On a glance, she opens with a personal experience and then depicts several terrorist events, while tying them to the failures of Obama, and finishes with an example of greatness and questions who should steward this country going forward.

The September 11th terrorist hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon caught the United States largely by surprise. Once the dust had settled, and the shock and horror of such an unprecedented event had waned, the American public began to ask questions. Names such as Osama bin Laden, countries such as Afghanistan, and organizations such as Al-Qaeda were brought into the public's consciousness for the first time. Through newspapers, talkback radio and television programs the nation asked ‘why do they hate us so much?' Others, such as those in the government and public service, asked ‘what could we have done to have prevented this?' It is

September 11, 2001 was one of the most influential days in the history of the United States to date. Although the physical attacks only happened in New York City, Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania, not a sliver of our country has been left untouched. 16 years later, our country is still facing challenges that can be directly tied back to the effects of 9/11. It was not just an event that changed the United States, but also has completely changed how the entire world has come to interact and cooperate. As a consequence, the way that we view terrorism and certain ethnicities have been drastically altered as a means to justify the excruciating crisis that our country went through at the turn of the new millennium.

Many Americans do not understand the implication and role of terrorism in the modern world. Terrorism is not a something that can be measured or held in hand. It is a theoretical idea that has many different meanings to many different people (Aziz, 2014). U.S. Citizens in general need to understand the full effect of modern terrorism. Blinded by media coverage and dramatized by slow-motion video replay of terrorist attacks,

In the aftermath of the worst terrorist attacks in American history, the September attacks of the world Trade Center in 2001, Americans are obligated to look at the mistakes that were made before and after the attacks, especially in recent lite of increased acts of terror globally. A critical mistake made before the attacks was the neglection of terrorism as a top priority in President George W. Bush’s administration. And after the attacks, inaction would also have been viewed negatively by the public, and so the government acted swiftly in retaliation to the attacks, resulting in the death of many brave American soldiers and a huge cost to the American taxpayer.

In this persuasive essay, Charles Krauthammer immediately speaks on the steady demise of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and how the war on terror was an “unconventional war by an unconventional enemy” that required an unconventional approach to win (Krauthammer 706). Krauthammer states that there has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States of America in over a decade. In turn, this supposedly demonstrates to the audience that the defensive apparatus created by President George W. Bush to counter terrorism has been very effective in getting its purpose done, and that is to protect the American citizens.

National security became the ground breaking concern in the United States after the tragic events unfolded on September 11, 2001. Many questions were brought to the attention of the public eye, such as why the September 11 attacks weren’t diffused prior to the deaths of

Attacks receive more coverage when they harm or kill victims, involve hijackings or aircraft, have known perpetrators, and select targets associated with Western countries. A study of transnational terrorism shows that attacks that inflict injuries are twice as likely to attract media attention as those that do not. The attacks in which the perpetrator can be identified are four times as likely to be reported in a newspaper and ten times as likely to be reported on television (The Media’s Role in International Terrorsim). Attacks in the Middle East or Europe are twice as likely to receive media attention as attacks perpetrated in Latin America (The Media’s Role in International Terrorism). There are very similar factors that influence media coverage of attacks that take place within the United States.

On September 11 2001, an attack was made on United States. Four systematic terrorist attacks were pulled off by the group al-Qaeda simultaneously bringing down the World Trade Centre in New York and damaging the Pentagon in Washington D.C. As extensive and in depth as the cause for the attack may have been, September 11 is an event that has undoubtedly left its mark in American history. A turning point, as some would call it, of the political, social, and economic systems of the United States. Quickly following the terrorist attack on 9/11, President George W. Bush called for a “war against terrorism.” Instead, what truly occurred was an act of counter terrorism. After 9/11, the political system of America took a turn for the worst;

September 11th changed the lives of many Americans, irrevocably. The horrendous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon altered the way American’s viewed their positions within the world, not to mention their lives and their safety. The attacks brought terrorism to the forefront of national attention, in every aspect. The government became immediately immersed in an effort to understand and defeat terrorism, and simultaneously, the media, with its perverse fascination with violence and profit-driven espousal to round-the-clock, up-to-the-minute coverage, demonstrated an obsession with the attacks, by broadcasting almost nothing but the latest developments in the search and rescue efforts and investigations

“If the media were not there to report terrorist acts and to explain their political and social significance...terrorism as such would cease to exist” said John O'Sullivan, an editor of the Times of London.1 This is also the way many other people feel about the recent increase in terrorist activity; they feel that the media is causing it. The media is doing this by fulfilling the terrorists' need for publicity.2 Terrorists need media publicity in order to get their views spread to the public.3 Because of this need for publicity, terrorists are committing their acts of terrorism in areas where a lot of publicity will be gained; the United States and Western Europe are the most recent targets. The bombings of the federal building in

In this opinion essay, Charles Krauthammer immediately speaks on the steady demise of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and how the war on terror was an “unconventional war by an unconventional enemy” that required an unconventional approach to win. Krauthammer states that there has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States of America in over a decade. In turn, this demonstrates to the audience that the defensive apparatus created by President George W. Bush to counter terrorism has been very effective in getting its purpose done, to protect the American citizens. Krauthammer concludes his opinion essay by stating