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Terror and Counterterrorism
9/11 is one instance of international terrorism because its planning and preparation transcended the national boundaries of the United States, and thus its perpetrators could have been prosecuted as international terrorists (Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code, 2015). Indeed, the counterterrorism activities before and after 9/11 indicate that there was a substantial and major shift in efforts to better comprehend and fight international terrorism post-9/11. A form of domestic terrorism, on the other hand, would be the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The methodology involved in this plot was to use homemade items to construct a bomb that would blow up a federal building.
The Oklahoma City bombing occurred in 1995, six years prior to 9/11. Yet counterterrorism had not sufficiently developed in those intervening years to be able to prevent 9/11. Perhaps the reason for this was that McVeigh and his accomplices were domestic terrorists -- or extremists, who were anti-government and were venting frustrations over the slaughter of the Branch Davidians by the ATF at Waco. Counterterrorism prior to the Oklahoma City bombing was best exemplified by the ATF at Waco, which focused on the Branch Davidian compound as a group of...
The ATF then proceeded to "terrorize" the Davidians into submission by blasting loud music at them day and night with loud speakers and assaulting the compound on various raids that ultimately ended in the compound being burned to the ground (Gazecki, 1997). Counterterrorism prior to the Oklahoma City bombing, which was described as revenge for Waco against the federal government, consisted of monitoring arms sales, as the ATF was doing (Collins, 1997). It encompassed gathering data within certain legal parameters while also upholding individual liberties such as a right to privacy. Prior to and even after the Oklahoma City bombing, one could take an airplane without having to be searched or strip searched. Today, in a post-9/11 world, that is no longer possible, as body scanners are everywhere and everyone is a suspect in the eyes of the various counterterrorism departments of the FBI, TSA, NSA, CIA, etc.
The vulnerabilities that were exploited in Oklahoma City was the sense that no American would be so inhuman as to blow up hundreds of innocent persons out of revenge for something the government did. Yet the bombing showed that America was no longer an innocent place: this act of terror exploited American naivete. Society responded by growing cynical, even doubting the truth of the story…
References
Collins, J. (1997). Oklahoma City: The Weight of Evidence. Time. Retrieved from http://www.webcitation.org/5wow32pJd
Dawson, R. (2013). War by Deception. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK6VLFdWJ4I
Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code. (2015). FBI.gov. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition
Gazecki, W. (1997) The Rules of Engagement. Fifth Estate Productions.
Rose, D. (2005). An Inconvenient Patriot. Vanity Fair. Retrieved from http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2005/09/edmonds200509
Moreover, the media plays a significant role as well in recognizing terrorism. Due to the media tendencies of quickly abandoning the story once it had lost its drama, issues on terrorism becomes any other news story that could be just thrown away and be forgotten. Thus, it is not surprising then that people fail to appreciate its context, or see it as one part of a long-running historical struggle. (Jackson,
Organized Crime / Counterterrorism AL CAPONE OR AL QAEDA?: ORGANIZED CRIME AND COUNTERTERRORISM AS LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIORITIES IN 2014 Should law enforcement in America prioritize fighting counter-terrorism or fighting organized crime? A full examination of the history and issues involved with both will, I would argue, make the answer clear: with the proper definitions involved of both terror and organized crime, it is the latter which genuinely deserves the attention of law enforcement, and
TERRORISM COUNTER-TERRORISM AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Counter-terrorism is popular as antiterrorism and incorporates techniques, practices, strategies, and tactics that militaries, governments, corporations and police departments adopt in attacking terrorist threats and acts either real or imputed. Both governments and insurgents use terror tactics. It is clear that some insurgents do not terror as tactics while others opt not to apply as other tactics have better outcomes for their particular contexts.
The USA Patriot Act: This was a law that was passed after September 11th. It is giving the police and intelligence officials the power to go after terrorists organizations easier. As it lifted various Constitutional protections when investigating these offenses. Counter Terrorism: These are the activities that: federal, state and local officials are taking to prevent future terrorist attacks. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): These are weapons designed to inflict large amounts
S. directly. Evidently, the long-term objectives indirectly face the smooth running of the U.S. government. Priority should be given to those aspects that will pull the resources of the country to extreme levels. The U.S. As a super-power is privileged when tackling issues affecting other nations; it is mandated to help developing long-term solutions. Long-term also implies that the impacts and effects need to be widespread in order to maintain balance
DOMESTIC VS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: WHICH IS THE GREATER THREAT? While many Americans today remember the events of September 11, 2001 when international terrorists flew aircraft into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and killed thousands, fewer will likely remember the largest domestic terrorism event in the nation's history which took place just a few years earlier when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April