Nexus of Homeland Security & Terrorism Social Sciences Research Paper

The Nexus of Homeland Security and Terrorism Author’s NameInstitutional AffiliationTable of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1.Introduction PAGEREF _Toc24965302 \h 31.1Terrorism PAGEREF _Toc24965303 \h 31.1.1Terrorist Group: Boko Haram PAGEREF _Toc24965304 \h 31.2Homeland Security PAGEREF _Toc24965305 \h 63.Emergency Management and phases of emergency management PAGEREF _Toc24965306 \h 73.1Mitigation PAGEREF _Toc24965307 \h 73.1.1Risk Assessment PAGEREF _Toc24965308 \h 93.1.2Mitigation Strategies PAGEREF _Toc24965309 \h 93.2Preparedness PAGEREF _Toc24965310 \h 103.2.1First responder community PAGEREF _Toc24965311 \h 103.2.2Homeland security community PAGEREF _Toc24965312 \h 103.3Response PAGEREF _Toc24965313 \h 103.4Recovery PAGEREF _Toc24965314 \h 114.Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc24965315 \h 115.References PAGEREF _Toc24965316 \h 12
The Nexus of Homeland Security and Terrorism
1 Introduction
Even though there is no globally approved definition of terrorism, the term can largely be viewed as a proves of oppression and intimidation which uses violence to threaten people, groups, societies or state to spread panic for the achievement of ideological and political objectives (Sandler, 2014). Terrorism in the modern context has a legal definition which does not consider it as typical violence but exemplary ‘terrorist triangle’. Terrorism in present-day encompasses violence particularly against vulnerable civilians, military services and government officials.
1 Terrorism
The history of modern terrorism dates back to nineteenth-century where targeted assassination was the leading violent action. Technological advancement at the end of the 19th century contributed to the increase in terrorism. Dynamite was readily available to the insurgents allowing them to have a widespread impact on their violent activities. On the other hand the developments in communication technology facilitated in broadcasting of the events and activities rapidly across the globe. This assisted in influencing the individuals and terrorist groups located in other regions of the world. The revolution in transportation further helped the militant groups to travel across the borders for political sympathies.
1.1.1Terrorist Group: Boko Haram
* Overview of the Terrorist Group
The 21st century saw a dramatic change in the world order when the humankind witnessed the dawn of War on Terror following the 9/11 incident. It was a global campaign launched by the United States in 2001 as in international response to terrorism and violence. This led to the activation of several terror groups across the globe that were already present as a philosophy (Omenma, 2018). One such progression was the growth of Boko Haram in Nigeria. The group was founded by Mohammad Yousuf in the year 2002. Yousuf was leading Alhaji Muhammadu Ndimi and Daggash mosques but later expelled from both the mosques due to his extremist philosophies (Taylor, 2014). The principles of the group developed during all those years strategically and tactically.
The group ideology was based on the establishment of Sharia government. Yousuf could not achieve any position in Islamic institution due to his extremism approach which led him to establish his personal Islamic school and mosque in accordance to his own extremist views (Okoli & Iortyer, 2014). He gathered young students as part of his radicalism with the intent to reject western schools and education system which was a sin according to him. Virginia (2015) discusses that Boko Haram made an attempt to form ‘state within a state’ where so-called ‘virtuous’ Islamic teachings could be implemented. Failure to do so resulted in the idea of displacement of secular government to form a Salafist government, the annihilation of everything that comes in the way for their own interest.
The militant group was not involved in any violent activities until the year 2009. The uprising of the Boko Haram in the year 2009 was the aftermath of Operation Flush launched by Nigerian state police in 2008 arresting the group members and confiscating weapons. In response to this, a joint military task operation was carried out followed by homicide of more than 700 people, the majority of them were Boko Haram’s militants (Patricio & Julia, 2015). The event also caused destruction of government facilities, schools and church. The leader was detained and died in jail. The command was taken over by Abubakar Shekau (Omenma, 2018). The government was satisfied and expecting international praise for crushing the force of a terror group unaware of future uprising.
Table 1
Overview of Boko Haram Terrorist Group
Name

Boko Haram

Country

Borno, Nigeria

Ideology

Salafist Jihadism
Establishment of Sharia government rejecting western education and western ideology.

Overview

The group was founded in the year 2002.
Violent activities started in the year 2009.
Killed more than 10,000 people and displaced 2.3 million of population.
Ranked as the world’s deadliest terrorist group of the year 2015 (Global Terrorism Index, 2015).

Geographic Makeup

The group was founded in Borno, Nigeria and received training in northern Mali with a strong presence in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Today they have their base in Sambisa forest.

Size

According to Zenn (2014), there are 15000-20000 members present in the group.

Activities

Bomb attacks and shootings.
Raids in towns and villages.
Setting the government facilities and villages on fire.
Kidnapping females and school children.
Fighter bombs and suicide attacks.
Abduction of government officials.
Attacking foreigners, migrants, refugee camps, foreign exploratory teams and aid workers.

Group Tactics

In the beginning, the terrorist group targeted federal infrastructure and government institutions but then civil infrastructure and population including schools, markets and religious facilities were their targets (Zenn, 2014).
The females and child suicide bombers were the primary tactic used.

Group Methodology

The terrorist group used the small arms and weapons in the start but they used different methodologies including IEDs, car bomb blasts and suicide attacks following the year 2011 (Stanford, 2019).

Funding

Boko Haram is said to receive funds from AQIM (AL-Qaeda in the lands of Islamic Maghrib) i.e. North African arm of Al –Qaeda (Zenn, 2014).
The group also made funds through bank robbery, smuggling, kidnapping, ransom money, extortion and different forms of trafficking (Stanford, 2019).

Figure 1: Boko Haram controlled areas in a grey shade, from Cannon & Iyekekpolo, 2018;
Explaining Transborder Terrorist Attacks: The Cases of Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab, African Security, 11(4), 370-396
2 Homeland Security
The evolution of terrorism must be followed by an evolution of war against terrorism. The global threat of terrorism is increasing with every passing day. The countries are under huge threat of domestic violent activities along with border security. It has become significantly crucial for the governments to develop community resilience against any such terror threat. The latest techniques and different tactics of the terrorist groups have increased the threat of national security.
Homeland security is an expression used to describe the national effort to ensure that your country is safe from terrorism through combined efforts of government and public and has the resilience to counter the terrorist activities and other crisis. It ensures that the country has emergency vigilance and response to any tragedy. Countries need to build...