Analyzing Domestic Terrorism Intelligence Essay

Analyzing Domestic Terrorism Intelligence
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Analyzing Domestic Terrorism Intelligence
History
Terrorism is defined as violence, or the threat of violence used to cause fear and lack of peace. The terrorism act is conducted so that the violence can be for two reasons; a long-range political reason or far-reaching psychological consequences on a given target group. (Riley & Hoffman, 1995). In the 1970s, terrorism was viewed as a phenomenon by the poor and the most desperate individuals. Therefore it needed to be confronted sympathetically. It was believed that terrorism occurred where there was oppression, terrorists had genuine grievances, and it was concluded that once grievances were eradicated, terrorism disappeared. (Lacquer, 2012)
Terrorist activity is mainly designed to make a statement, to communicate, and leave a mark. It becomes a statement as terrorists know that the media likes to cover events and tragedies such as attacks. Once the media covers it, this provides a platform for the terrorist to express what can be done physically and psychologically to affect those who view the activity. The terrorist activity introduces itself in various forms such as bombings, arson, property damage, and assassination. These activities take weeks, some even months, for planning and execution to happen. (Ronczkowski, 2012).
Terrorism history dated back very many years ago, but it did not appear as frequently and with great intensity. As a result, it was regarded as a new phenomenon when it reappeared after a period of relative calmness. Terrorism does not offer defined lessons simply because conditions varied from one country to another, age to age. However, specific patterns were evident, one being that throughout the history of terrorism, it has been politically influential and brought about the opposite of what it was intended to achieve. It brought more repression than it did liberation. (Lacquer, 2012)
Over the years, terrorism has been alarmingly rising, and this can be attributed to:
* Technology advancement has made it very easy for terrorist groups to connect and recruit new members, manufacture better weapons, easier manufacturing bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.
* Ease of radicalization. Due to the nature of certain economies, i.e., poverty and unemployment, it has become easy for terrorist groups to recruit young people to conduct crimes, homicide in their own countries to make a living, and signal hatred to their authorities, governments.
* Existence of multiple terrorist movements. That has posed a significant threat in many countries as it has increased the level of terror in countries that had minimal threats of attack, such as African countries. Initially, terrorism was believed to be a Western countries problem with Al-Qaeda attacking countries such as the United States. Today, however, terrorism is quite rampant in countries around the world and can happen anywhere.
Where it first began
According to a panel report presented to the United States Congress in 1998, intelligence plays an essential role in preventing terrorist attacks. It assists law enforcers in arresting and prosecuting persons/groups suspected of committing terrorist acts before or after a terrorist attack has happened. Terrorism-related intelligence began in 1998 in the United States. An advisory panel started it to assess domestic response capabilities for terrorism involving that involves weapons of mass destruction
The US-based panel officially began its work in January 1999, led by Curt Weldon in Pennsylvania, supported by the United States Congress. The panel was tasked to assess terrorist threats and potential for attacks targeted against the United States, with the main concern beginning whether the country was willing or able to respond appropriately to an attack, especially of a weapon of mass destruction if it occurred.
The panel was able to present three reports in 3 consecutive years:
First Report (1999)
The report assessed the threat and the concern of an attack of very destructive weapons. The report concluded that an attack like this was less likely than a conventional attack.
That can be explained by the fact that in the late 1990s, technology was not advanced. Therefore there was minimal chance of terrorist groups having great machinery and weapons to conduct an attack that involved mass destruction.
Second Report (2000)
This report was based on baseline threat with important policy conclusions:
* A comprehensive national strategy: This was needed to prepare for the high likelihood that a major terrorist attack would occur. It would mean the inclusion of Federal state and all local elements in the creation of this strategy
* A national Office of Homeland Security: It was recommended that the office be given authority such as budgets, certification authority, and Senate confirmable to enable coordination work.
Third Report (2001)
It focused on border security, the use of States, and the health sector. That helped prepare for a bioterrorism attack, the military's service, which has to be carefully handled, and cyber terrorism due to its civil liberty implications. A study conducted concerning intelligence and information sharing within the State and local agencies gave the following findings:
* Lack of mechanisms to analyze and share intelligence information horizontally across the Federal structure, FBI, CIA, and NSA (Gonzalez & Mueller, 2005).
* Inability to share information vertically with the governors, state police, localities, health care workers, emergency operations organizations
The study was conducted on intelligence and information sharing over time through a survey on State and local agencies. The most common response concluded that intelligence sharing lacked a real system, which posed a danger. Sharing this information posed a threat to everyone; the people providing it and the United States' capacities to gather it. This report showed the need for the intelligence authorities to come up with secret, coded language to ensure top secrecy among the authorities.
The commission recommended to the US congress that there needed to be a proper way to share information, establishing a national strategy and development of systems necessary to make the country safer while protecting the American people's freedom and values. Ronczkowski (2003) States that in the 1990s, intelligence's immense growth and organization was experienced. Several professional associations dealing with intelligence and analysis were started, and most of them operate to date. Several books were also written in the area of intelligence and several training programs being developed.
Current Intelligence Related Methods
According to the USA Patriot Act (2005), in the United States, the primary method of intelligence used is to identify and arrest potential terrorists, apprehending them if there is probable cause of their engagement in criminal activity and prosecution. The United States government also turns informants on their associates but doesn't use blackmail to do this.
Intelligence agencies...