Liberty university
Current issues best practice paper
Richard Bivens
Professor Jared Perry
HLSC 530-B01
Since the September attack as known as 9/11, America has really woken up when it comes
to terrorism. It made us believe this is real and it is a big issue. Terrorism is not something that
should be taking lightly, especially with attacks that has happened in the past and present.
terrorism could be just about anything: bombings, mass shootings, assassinations, kidnappings,
hijackings, cyber attacks, or even far more serious attacks involving nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons. Who is likely to be a victim of terrorism? While no one person is at high
risk, some places are more at risk to be targeted than “Since 1950,there has been over 3,000
terrorist attacks ranging from the Ku Klux Klan's campaign of terror against the civil rights
movement, through the waves of attacks by neo-Nazi and militia groups to the activities of
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network ( Routledge, 2003). Terrorism has been a growing issue of
concern for the United States because it’s something you really can not predict, it’s more of a
situation that you can be prepared for an know how to react. When dealing with terrorism it is
important to practice prevention metigation, preparedness and to have a beneficial response and
recovery process.
Terrorism is usually understood as the use of threat or violence to further a political cause
( Roser, Nadgy, & Ritchie, 2013). There are many types of terrorism for example state terrorism,
political terrorism, non political terrorism civil disorder, limited political terrorism, And Quasi
terrorism. State terrorism is any violent action initiated by an existing government to achieve a
particular goal. Most often this goal involves a conflict with another country.political terrorism is
used by one political faction to intimidate another. Although government leaders are the ones
who are intended to receive the ultimate message, it is the citizens who are targeted with violent
attacks. Non political terrorism is is a terrorist act perpetrated by a group for any other purpose,
most often of a religious nature. The desired goal is something other than a political objective,
but the tactics involved are the same. Limited political terrorism are acts are generally one time
only plots to make a political or ideological statement. The goal is not to overthrow the
government, but to protest a governmental policy or action. Quasi terrorism is a violent act that
utilizes the same methods terrorists employ, but does not have the same motivating factors. Cases
like this usually involve an armed criminal who is trying to escape from law enforcement
utilizing civilians as hostages to help them escape. The law breaker is acting in a similar manner
to a terrorist, but terrorism is not the goal. These are some examples of the types of terrorism e
face today in the U it’s states.
Police officers have important duties like public safety which is their main duty. Officers also
have a important role in preventing terrorism. Officers learn many things an investigating local
terrorist threats within their jurisdiction is one of them. Filling the first of these functions,
investigation of terrorists, will require police to extend their normal community policing
activities and improve their handling of information. Filling the second function, protecting
vulnerable targets, will require greater adjustments. “They will need to become more expert in
crime prevention and security matters, and they will have to develop partnerships with
businesses and a wide range of public and private agencies. However, these changes are
consistent with current best practices in policing”(Newman, 2007). Police officers play a big part
in the prevention of terrorism because it is there duty to serve and protect
The increased threat of terrorism, public, private, and governmental agencies face an increased
need to understand and manage the risk to their employees and organizational assets. The U.S.
counterterrorism community has dramatically ramped up its intelligence capabilities. Determined
to “connect the dots” in the future, the U.S. government created new agencies and instituted a
new paradigm for intelligence share by rule, withhold by exception and set up a slew of “fusion
centers” and joint task forces to foster interagency cooperation. Borders were hardened, cockpit
doors reinforced, and watch lists created.
Tightening up the United States boarder can decrease the change for terrorist attacks. With the
boarder being a lot tighter then it would be hard for potential terrorist to come and attack or plan
things out for a much easier attack on United States soil. “On several occasions in October 2018,
President Donald Trump and some administration officials suggested that migrants from Middle
Eastern countries might have traveled among the thousands of Hondurans in a U.S.-bound
column. Later, the president stated he had "very good information" that Middle Eastern migrants
had been traveling through Latin America for a number of years, independently of migrant
columns, that "there could very well be" Islamic terrorists in this traffic, and that U.S. Border
Patrol has intercepted "some real bad ones" (Bensman, 2018). There’s no current information on
who these people might be but terrorist come to gather information to help them. “From
intelligence community sources with access to protected government information, the Center for
Immigration Studies has learned that at least 100 migrants from "countries of interest",3
encountered between 2012 and 2017 at or en route to the southern border, matched the U.S.
terrorism "watch lists" known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), or the
Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). The number of such law enforcement land border
encounters with such watch-listed migrants has risen drastically each year after 2012, according
to the information, which is deemed credible but could not be independently
corroborate”(Bensman, 2018). There is multiple amount of information about terrorist that have
been found inside United States territory. .
Preparing for a terrorist attack can be difficult. Not only the government should prepare for
terrorist attack citizens should always prepare for attacks too and keep track and being updated
on current events. There are many common terrorist attack among us in the United States like
active shooters at schools. Since school shootings started there have been thousands of schools
that prepare their students with drills and ways to stay safe in these types of situations.
The Department’s efforts to prevent terrorism are centered on a risk-based layered, approach to
security in our passenger and cargo transportation systems and at our borders and ports of entry.
People have different responses when it comes to terrorism. It affects some people more than
others An leave people traumatized. For example a school shooting would affect a lot of children.
The children’s that may physically be caught in the situation actually seeing the shooter an
shooting will act differently an be affected differently then a child who was told to evacuate the
school. After a school schooling a child might develop PTSD( post traumatic stress disorder). It
can be hard Thor a child to overcome.
References
Hewitt, C. (2003). Understanding terrorism in America: From the Klan to al Qaeda. London:
Routledge.
Heymann, P. B. (2000). Terrorism and America: A commonsense strategy for a democratic
society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kushner, H. W. (1998). Terrorism in America: A Structured Approach to Understanding the
Terrorist Threat. Charles C. Thomas
.Roser, M., Nagdy, M., & Ritchie, H. (2013, July 28). Terrorism. Retrieved from
https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism
Stohl, M. (1988). The Politics of terrorism. New York: M. Dekker
.Terrorism. (2016, May 03). Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism
