Midterm Assignment: The Evolving Terrorist Threat
Please answer the following:
1. According to the "The Evolving Terrorist Threat:" article by Joshua Sinai, several examples of the types of warfare terrorists generally employ to achieve their objectives were listed. What were they and how does each empower the terrorist?
2. According to Gerstein, general agreement now exists that terrorists are "rational" actors. Their actions may not be understood by their victims or the governments and law enforcement agencies that attempt to deal with these threats, but they are far from random irrational acts. Chose a side of this argument and support it with a minimum of three different references.
3. This is a 2 part question 1) Fully explain the CBRN agent threat posed by the group in the video "Rajneeshpuram: An Experiment to Provoke God" (the video can be found in the Week 4 Lesson); 2) and expound on if the key CBRN agent(s) threat they used in their actions is or is not a threat to our homeland today. Base your answer to the second part of the question upon additional research you conduct from the Internet or other reliable sources.
4. Fully explain the threat posed by 4th Generation (Novichuk) Chemical Weapons. How have they been used by the Russian government and what makes them different from previous types of chemical weapons. Your answers should be based upon class readings and additional research you conduct from the Internet or other reliable academic sources.
5. According to Sparrow's Syria: Death from Assad's Chlorine there is good chlorine, bad chlorine and deadly chlorine. How would the same characterizations made in Syria be applied to chlorine use and homeland security in the U.S.?
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Midterm Assignment
1 According to the "The Evolving Terrorist Threat:" article by Joshua Sinai, several examples of the types of warfare terrorists generally employ to achieve their objectives were listed. What were they, and how does each empower the terrorist?
Conflicts, military power, economic supremacy, socio-cultural changes, and technological advancements trends in the international community have contributed to the evolvement of terrorist tendencies. According to Sinai, terrorists are changing their attack approaches due to the application of competent countermeasures against terrorism. Consequently, evolving terrorist threats have changed emergency management and prevention caused by terrorism. Sinai (2007) has expounded ways that terrorists have adopted to accomplish their objectives.
Notably, terrorist organizations apply different warfare tactics to maximize the set objectives. For instance, Sinai has highlighted the convectional low impact that includes the use of military practices like bombing s and shooting. The low impact warfare has undergone changes through training and radicalization of the military that has already undergone training. According to Sinai (2007), these attacks have few victims and could be used against soft targets. Radicalization has led to mass shootings in churches, schools, or public transit buses. These attacks can be used in creating awareness, testing loyalty among potential terrorists, or targeting specific targets.
Sinai (2007) has also expounded on conventional high impact attacks as part of evolving warfare. Chemical energy is used in the application of conventional weapons like cluster munitions, missiles, and bombs. Convectional high impacts weapons have been applied in most terror attacks to cause mass deaths and damages. An example is twin tower attacks in New York and train station attacks in Europe.
Lastly, weapons of mass destruction have also been explained in Sinai's article. These weapons include radiological, nuclear, biological, and chemical. Importantly, continued research has facilitated the evolution of weapons of mass destruction. Consequently, security and specialized care should be emphasized while handling weapons of mass destruction due to their potential for mass destruction.
2 According to Gerstein, the general agreement now exists that terrorists are "rational" actors. Their actions may not be understood by their victims or the governments and law enforcement agencies that attempt to deal with these threats, but they are far from random irrational acts. Choose a side of this argument and support it with a minimum of three different references.
Terrorism can occur from different perspectives, including religion, state, domestic, international, and ideology. Terrorists have set objectives that lead to their actions. For instance, political ideologies can be used to facilitate terrorism whereby terrorists are used to airing their views. According to Nalbandov (2013), politically rational terrorism has occurred in most regions whereby political ideologies are the main causes of terrorism. A review of most Middle East-related terrorism activities has political backgrounds that lead to the interference of other states. Victoroff (2005) has applied different variables to comprehend whether a terrorist is a rational actor. He has used relation to authority, target, methodology, political ideology, financial motivation, spiritual motivation, and the military status to understand a terrorist's mind.
According to Victoroff (2005), the integration of terrorism's dimensions will understand the status and level of terrorism. However, terrorist should not be treated as rational actors. Notably, terrorists apply violence to coerce and intimidate the civilian population or the government to obtain political or social objectives. Consequently, terrorists engage in irrational acts that cause mass casualties while they gain self-interests.
Concerning rationality in terrorism acts, terrorists should embrace legal avenues to air their objectives. For instance, Victoroff (2005) has expounded on political, spiritual, and economic dimensions that influence terrorism. Such ideologies should be campaigned through judicial systems or the set constitutional channels of achieving such objectives. For instance, revolutionary terrorism and religious extremism have been used by terrorist to radicalize other individuals to coerce governments leading to mass violence. Consequently, terrorists should not be treated as rational actors due to the deadly impacts and rise of self-interested individuals.
3 This is a 2 part question 1) Fully explain the CBRN agent threat posed by the group in the video "Rajneeshpuram: An Experiment to Provoke God" (the video can be found in the Week 4 Lesson); 2) and expound on if the key CBRN agent(s) threat they used in their actions is or is not a threat to our homeland today. Base your answer to the second part of the question upon additional research you conduct from the Internet or other reliable sources.
Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons have been sought by terrorists in cases where they want mass casualties. CBRN weapons have mostly been used in civil wars where specific clans could be wiped out with chemical weapons, as seen in Syria. Concerning the Rajneesh movement as portrayed in the video, there was the radicalization of cult members against Oregon laws. For instance, the cult had planned to execute Oregon's attorney, Charles Turner, due to the leader's personal interests.
The video depicts the application of CBRN agents whereby Rajneesh purchased a salmonella strain of bacteria to limit the number of voters in a local election. According to Meulenbelt (2018), Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh has directed his cult members to poison salad bars and doorknobs with Salmonella typhimurium bacteria. Rajneesh attacks on unknowing members were a part of the CBRN agents that can be used by terrorists.
In his cult, Rajneesh has set regulations that did not match Oregon's or the fe...