Protecting the United States from Terroism (Research Paper Sample)

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Protecting the United States from Terroism
After America was attacked on 11/9/2001, the country has learned how to be well prepared in case of emergencies. The 11/9 attack made the country learn using first-hand information on the serious threats that were posed to the country by terrorists and countries supporting them. The attacks in America were performed by terrorists who did not respect the national borders or the human life. To protect its citizens against further terror attacks, the US government has put considerable efforts in fighting terrorism. The U.S agencies work with the State Department and foreign governments to make sure that there is peace in the country. To achieve this, the country has identified the major terror organizations in the world investigated how the terrorist organizations carry out their activities (Bennett 102). The American government has tried shutting down the financial networks of the terrorists, which has helped in bringing terrorists to justice.
America is not as good security wise as many people tend to think, which suggests that the country should not be surprised if it can be attacked by terrorist. The most form of attacks that are likely to plague America are truck bombs and homicide bombs. However, due to the security level at airports, there are fewer chances of registering plane hijacks in the country. Before the terror attack on America on 11/9, America thought that it had good security, which was a false sense. Before these attacks, America had remained hugely immune of terror attacks while other countries were battling against terrorism.
The 2001 terror attack in America brought terrorism in America, with the citizens shifting from seeing terrorism as an occasional or a distant threat to an imminent danger that lived within them. The American citizen feared the threat posed by the terror activities to the institutions, families and their workplaces. There was a great loss of life and destruction of property, which traumatized the Americans and affected the economic status of the country. Thus, there is a strong argument that the American government should protect its citizens from future terror attacks. There have been many changes in the domestic and international environments, which have increased the danger posed by terror to levels that that were not witnessed some years before. These threats require the government to find ways in which they can be minimized, which would result to assurance of security in the country.
In recent years, technology has advanced rapidly, which has made the efforts of fighting terrorism in the country complex. Almost all the critical infrastructures in America and across the world rely on technology, computers and advanced technology in their communication. These infrastructures are also connected using the internet. The systems are interconnected, which means that for one system to function, it has to depend on the other systems. The critical infrastructures in America have been interconnected through information systems and cyberspace (Guiora 19). However, though it plays a great role in helping different systems to communicate, it has created new vulnerabilities, as foreign intelligence services, terrorists and criminals can learn how the weapons and tools of cyberspace can be exploited. Several factors exacerbate Americas vulnerability to external threats. Most of the infrastructures used in the country rely on off the shelf and commercially available technology, which means that a company cannot minimize its vulnerability in software and hardware. Also, some of the infrastructures in the country are interconnected and interdependent, which makes it hard for the defense department to predict how the one disrupted infrastructure can have on the other systems.
To protect the country against terrorism, the country should have a good strategy that should promise results. The American government can protect its country against terrorism by having a strategy that would focus on three levels. The first level of the prevention program would focus on preventing terrorism in the country. The program would then focus on investigating the terrorist incident and threats in the country. The third stage of the program would involve the prosecution of the accused. Prevention of terrorism in the country should be the highest priority in protecting America against terrorism (Hunsicker 56). Making the prevention of terrorism a priority would be of importance since it would help in saving life and property. Prevention of terrorism can also help in reducing the need to prosecute individuals and investigating crime. The American government cannot sit and wait for the country to be attacked by terrorists for it to start making arrests and investigations.
Strategic objective 1: Prevention
The main idea of prevention will be to defeat terrorism before it occurs by preventing and disrupting their operations. The American government should develop a comprehensive study that would help it understand the intentions of terrorist groups. However, the government will be required to have effective mechanisms, which will be used to receive every available information on a timely basis. Receiving available information will help the government in developing intelligence products that will be programmed technologically, which will provide the security enforcers with improved exploitation, dissemination and evaluation of the recorded information. The government should then work hand in hand with the Office of Homeland Security, the FBI headquarters,state and local partners, FBI field offices and the American Intelligence Community in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating the information that can be used to stop terror threats (Loeb 51). After identifying the threats, the involved parties should use appropriate investigations, which should always aim at preventing terror attacks in the country successfully.
Strategies to achieve the prevention of terrorist activities
There are several strategies that the government should use to make sure that the objective of preventing terror activities in America are achieved. The first strategy would be an establishment of anti-terrorism forces, which should be done in every judicial district in the country. The anti-terrorism forces would be useful in coordinating the anti-terrorism activities. The anti-terrorism forces would be appointed by the Attorney General’s office. These forces would be required to work with all the other agencies in the district, which include the Secret Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, the DEA and the INS (O'Hanlon 78). The anti-terrorism forces should also work with the police officers in the region to help them in constituting their forces. These forces would be adapted in every district in the country, which would help in coordinating the development of protective and investigative strategy across the country.
The second strategy would involve building and maintaining a full capacity FBI bureau, which would help in detecting, deterring, countering and preventing terrorist activities in the country. The FBI should focus on developing an objection of deterrence, which would be part of the Counterterrorism Program in the department. The FBI should identify the most important elements of its full capacity, which should help it in accessing its specific risks, unacceptable vulnerabilities across the country, significant performance gaps and its current capacity (Rubin and Judith 341). This information would help the government in developing strategies that can help it in strategizing how to increase its capacity and reduce risks of terror activities in the country.
The third strategy would involve developing an intelligence capability, which would be used to support the counterterrorism efforts of the department. In developing the prevention program, the government, with the helps of Judicial Districts, would develop a comprehensive intelligence system, which can easily detect emerging patterns and threats. The intelligence system would also help in finding the relationships among groups and individuals, where it would help by providing timely information to investigators.
Strategic objective 2: investigation
Although the government should emphasize on prevention of terrorist activities against the Americans, the government should also use the organizational structures and investigative tools used as preventive measures to investigate terror activities. Sharing of information and gathering intelligence are as useful as coordination of task forces in the prevention program, which makes them important elements that can be used in investigating committed terror crimes (O'Hanlon 78).
Strategies to achieve the investigation program
The first strategy that can be used to achieve this objective is deployment of the anti-terrorism forces, which should be created in every judicial district. The main aim of these objectives would be to coordinate how terror incidents in the country are investigated. The task forces would achieve effective coordination by facilitating the proper dissemination of information, which would be achieved throughout the country.
The second strategy would be the promotion of new authorities and legislation to take part in the investigation of terror activities. Since the modern terror activities defy authorities and the fighting laws, the defense department will have to develop changes that will be used in strengthening the probability of criminal terrorists being arrested and lined up for justice. These changes should, however protect the civil liberties. The department should also use wiretapping and surveillance laws, which should be used to make sure the law enforcement can trace how the terrorists communicate (O'Hanlon 78). This can be done by tracking cell phones and ...