Address both quandaries fully.
Quandary 1 from the Kilroy readings:
After having read the assigned chapter and your own research explain the difference between a
state and non-state actor. What should be our biggest concern with terrorism in general? What
should be our overarching counterterrorism policy?
Quandary 2 from Ramsay and Kiltz readings:
After having read the assigned chapters and your own research how should we approach and use
intelligence regarding counterterrorism efforts? Are there examples in the Bible where biblical
figures used intelligence techniques in some form or capacity?
State and non-state actors do have their differences. The main difference that is easy to
notice is the type of power in which they use. State actors have access to state power where non-
state actors do not. Although, non-state actors do not believe that they need power of the state to
be successful in the goals they have set out. (Kilroy, 2008) State and non-state actors portray
themselves differently. State actors create a distance between their support of terrorism to avoid
being accountable for the acts, meanwhile non-state actors want for their acts to be known and
they also claim responsibility for the attack. (Kilroy, 2008)
With terrorism comes many worries and concerns regarding what can possibly happen.
The biggest concern with terrorism in general is the violence that occurs. The horrific plans that
people set out to do months, years in advance. Many people can define terrorism in their own
way but in most cases the definition you hear will have violence in the definition. Our
overreaching counterterrorism policy should consist of more goals and strategic plans for
combating various countries in case they set out to destroy or conduct terrorism upon our
country. In my opinion Al Qaeda should not be our biggest concern. There needs to be a focus on
as many groups that are known for terrorism and their possible connections and associations with
terrorist groups.
After reading the assigned chapters from Ramsay and Kiltz, it is very important that we
do not only approach and use intelligence regarding counterterrorism efforts from a law
enforcement matter. Making sure there is communication between all agencies is important and a
big portion of how to condense the amount of possible attacks or operations. We should allow all
agencies to be notified and aware of certain people who may be on a watch list, and there
possible location to allow for the best counterterrorism efforts, have everyone working together
and assure that there is proper communication.
The bible has examples of intelligence techniques. These techniques are about spying to
gather intelligence. Moses had used spies to see and analyze how the new prospective homeland
for the Israelites was to overlook the land and check o “The Lord said to Moses, send some men
to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. For each ancestral tribe send
one of its leaders” (Numbers 13:1-2 NIV). This bible figure is best shown as connecting to the
conversation because Moses was using people to spy and gain information on what the Lord
wanted to know.
