The Role Of Terrorism And Terrorism

With preparation at the local and federal level things such as precautions and safety measure implemented in strategic planning, training, and response; first responders can minimize the risks associated with a terrorist attack. Terrorism can take many forms creating a variety of potential risks to first responders. With this in mind, responding agencies and other factions of the government must evaluate their vulnerabilities, their capabilities, and the preventative measures that they have in

The United States face many challenges and threats. The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review identifies six challenges that pose the most strategically significant risk to the United States over the next five years. These challenges include the terrorist threat, cyber threats, biological concerns, nuclear terrorism, transnational criminal organizations, and natural hazards (Department of Homeland Security, 2014). Of these six challenges, the terrorism threat seems to create the biggest fear and concern among U.S. citizens. There are several terrorist organizations that wish to cause harm to the United States, its citizens, and its interests. Along with the threat posed by terrorist organizations, there is the threat of lone wolf terrorists and those who are terrorist sympathizers. The United States government has developed plans and programs to counter terrorism inside the U.S. and outside its borders. Additionally, the U.S. has come up with ways to minimize the impact terrorist have in the event a successful terrorist attack occurs.

The physical and symbolic attacks on the United States and its political and cultural powers that occurred on September 11, 2001 opened a new academic debate on the issue of terrorism. The abundant literature on the topic, which predominates in the West, reflects an unfaltering focus on Islam and the Muslims, attributing to them the adjective ‘terroristic’.

First responders encounter numerous associated risks when responding to a terrorist attack. First responders face physical, health and environmental hazards; all of which effect life, health, and safety (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2002). Rarely, if ever, has a first responder dealt with a terrorist attack due to their rarity (LaFree, 2017). In recent years, the United States has experienced fewer than 25 terrorist attacks. Mass attacks such as September 11th, 2001 are even rarer (LaFree, 2017). The hazards associated with such attacks range from conventional explosives/ low tech devices to chemical, biological or radiological (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2002).

Emergency personnel are inherently at risk when responding to a disaster. That risk can be easily exacerbated during a terrorist attack. When responding to the aftermath of a terrorist attack emergency responders must be aware of the conditions of the area they are responding to. For example, the attack could be chemical, biological, or nuclear in nature. Emergency responders must be able to identify the characteristics of an attack quickly and accurately. The initial assessment and reaction to an attack will determine whether the impacts are curtailed or become catastrophic.

Before the horrors that unfolded on September 11th, the workers of New York City were awake and working, while other residents were still sleeping or just enjoying the almost cloudless, bright morning on that Tuesday.

Terrorism has been a constant threat in America for hundreds of years. Terrorism is defined as attacks against unprotected civilians by private groups. Way before the country became a superpower, Americans developed a sense of vulnerability because of all of the outside forces. One of the first acts of terrorism in our country was led by the Barbary Pirates, who attacked American merchant ships from some North African countries. This group, sponsored by a Muslim organization in Turkey, was fought by our Navy between 1801 and 1805. An example of a terrorist attack from inside the country was started by a man name John Brown who fought against slavery by going to Harper’s Ferry and raiding the supplies of the American army (Johnson). Even though

Sadly, terrorist attacks have become more common in our modern, industrialized world than any other time in history. Over the past few years, there has been a concentration of these savage events in major Western European countries such as, but not limited to, Great Britain, France, and Belgium. Powerful terrorist organizations, like ISIS, have used these highly developed nations as backdrops to inflict havoc on innocent tourists and civilians. Once a symbol of peace and prosperity, Western Europe is currently enveloped in a state of turmoil where people everywhere are fearful for their safety, the military and law enforcement officers are on high alert every second of the day, and the notion of personal freedoms and civility seems to be a distant memory. While some industry insiders and travel enthusiasts claim that travel to Western European countries is stable or improving, the dangerous circumstances that have arisen because of the onslaught brought on by terrorism have instead hurt the perception of Western Europe in many ways, leading to the potential downturn of travel to this region of the world.

The study of terrorism is as complex as the problem itself. How the many factors of terrorism, such as fear and popular support, are interwoven make this a difficult problem to understand, let alone defeat. With this in mind it becomes clear that understanding the problem is, perhaps, the all-important first step to defeating it. To that end, the five most important things about terrorism and counterterrorism I learned from this course are: 1) Our National Strategy for Counterterrorism is flawed, 2) Terrorism can be an effective tactic if executed properly, 3) Terrorism begets terrorism, 4) Media and terrorism are perpetually linked and 5) The importance of quickly collecting, analyzing and acting upon intelligence.

When you think of the word terrorist, what comes to mind? ISIS, Al Qaeda, or bearded Muslims? Terrorist are all over the world, including in the United States. They look just like me and you. Since 9/11 a lot of Americans think of people of middle eastern descent adorned in hijabs as terrorists due to that tragic event. We as Americans have discriminated towards “brown colored” people because that is what the media around us has ingrained into our minds. In actuality, a smart terrorist looks just like you and me. A terrorist is a person who uses terrorism as a tool in the pursuit of political aims. This semester, I came to understand that terrorist has multiple meanings and faces. In my opinion, a Terrorist is a person who conspires against the government and uses violent acts to prove points or send messages. Many terrorists see their act of terror as heroic. Based on information I’ve gained through this class and coursework, I have come to believe that the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) is a terrorist group. The KKK, just like any other terrorist groups around the world argue’s their attacks on civilian targets to spread fear for some alleged political goal.

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

The crime – terror nexus of narcotics traffickers and terrorists is a phenomenon that has been discussed for several decades. While there exists widespread agreement that the violent non-state actors and criminal narcotics organizations share similar characteristics and cooperate, there is a great deal of disagreement regarding strategies to combat these two when they occur simultaneously. In the current case of Afghanistan, where the international community has been engaged in both counterinsurgency and counternarcotics campaigns for over a decade, the effects have not been as successful as was once hoped. The recent Global Terrorism Index Report indicating terrorists acts are again on the rise (The Institute for Economics and Peace, 2014 p. 17) is complicated by the release of the recent UN report which revealed that opium-poppy cultivation levels are at another all-time high (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2014 p. 12).

From the angle of criminology, psychological warfare also known as Terrorism is an enrapturing trouble that offers a hard plausibility for academic reflection on various hypothetical, experimental, and sensible inconveniences. The segment of the fear based oppression thinks about generally envelops both psychological oppression as a particular side interest including the curse of harm for specific capacities, and counter-terrorism, in regards to practices and organizations required with characterizing and reacting to fear based oppression. Criminology examines psychological warfare as wrongdoing or aberrance and researches counter-terrorism as social control. The extraordinary commitments of criminology make it a prized expansion to the more extensive train of fear based oppression contemplates.

First responders around the United States risk their lives every day so that other Americans could live out their lives with some definition of safety, security, and harmony. However, in recent decades, it has been more apparent that first responders are involved in much more than the risks they take at their day to day shift-work jobs. Countering a terrorist attack involves man hours and resources that first responders often cannot provide in order to efficiently do their job. Some first responders even risk the chances of themselves and their family becoming a target from intelligence gathering on possible terrorist subjects. When terror strikes on United States soil, officers, firefighters, paramedics, and other first responders put their lives on hold for those involved in the attack. At times, these first responders work 24 hours a day until they are ordered off the front lines by their superiors. The best way of reducing those risks taken by first responders is by studying what is on the forefront of issues

In the past, Sudan had been designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism regarding support for international terrorist groups. However, Sudan has changed its approach ever since the 9/11 attacks has been aiding the United States in diminishing the pervasiveness of terrorist groups in Sudan, and in the world. Recently, Sudan has remained cooperative with the United States in its war on counter terrorism. Sudan has taken many preventive measures to keep these terrorist groups out of Sudan, and we are currently attempting to limit their influence and use of Sudan as a base for their operations. Currently, unfortunately, Sudan is plagued with terrorist groups who are seeping in, but there are limitations being placed and we are in the process of eliminating these terrorist groups once and for all.