Terrorism Essay

Terrorism is any act designed to cause terror. In a narrower sense, terrorism can be understood to feature a political objective. The word terrorism is politically loaded and emotionally charged. Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, fourteen people shot and killed and twenty two were seriously injured. A married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 29 were the cause of this mass shooting.

The United States face many challenges and threats. The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review identifies six challenges that pose the most strategically significant risk to the United States over the next five years. These challenges include the terrorist threat, cyber threats, biological concerns, nuclear terrorism, transnational criminal organizations, and natural hazards (Department of Homeland Security, 2014). Of these six challenges, the terrorism threat seems to create the biggest fear and concern among U.S. citizens. There are several terrorist organizations that wish to cause harm to the United States, its citizens, and its interests. Along with the threat posed by terrorist organizations, there is the threat of lone wolf terrorists and those who are terrorist sympathizers. The United States government has developed plans and programs to counter terrorism inside the U.S. and outside its borders. Additionally, the U.S. has come up with ways to minimize the impact terrorist have in the event a successful terrorist attack occurs.

Terrorism is the systematic use of violence by a group of people in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands. There are different types of terrorism like, State, Foreign, and Domestic. State terrorism is the systematic use of terror by a government in order to control its population. Additionally, there is religious terrorism which is terrorism that is motivated by religious ideologies. Foreign terrorism is committed outside the US, while Domestic is committed inside the US.

•The definition of terrorism is clear and simple is to inflict harm to innocent individual due to a religious, misguided belief or their actions are justified as the truth. The complexities of terrorism are everybody thinks that there mission is most important with so much conviction that they do honestly believe that their cause is valid. There varieties miss truths in our society due to race, dictatorship, and regional location in society culturally. The definition of terrorism is different in the United States than from Russia. The countries all over the world have to get their own house in order to effective against terrorism.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as "the unlawful use of force or violence against person or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or a segment thereof, in furtherance of political social objectives." The goals of the terrorist is to create fear, draw media attention to their cause, create destruction in areas that will effect the most people, harass and embarrass governments, actions such as these makes a government look as if they are not capable of securing their own country. (Dempsey & Forst, (2016)

Someone once said, “Terrorism is a significant threat to peace, security, prosperity, and people.” Terrorism is an event that happens where someone intentionally causes harm and or death to many people. All terrorist attacks that happen in the United States are broadcasted everywhere around the world which causes people to feel sad for the person and families affected. For many days after the attack, there are people praying all around the world for the friends and families of the deceased and injured.

According to the text book, terrorism is defined as a systematic attempt to inspire fear to gain political ends, typically involving the indiscriminate use of violence against noncombatants. Terrorist attacks is definately not new to the U.S. In 2001, al Qaeda lauched an attack on New York’s World Trade Center. The attack killed thousands of Americans, and put the country in a state of panic and scare. One reason for this attack was that Islamics were angered that the U.S had troops on the soil of Saudi Arabia, which was regarded as sacred. Groups such as al Qaeda are extremely violent, and will not be negotiated with for peace. Recently, we have had several terrorist attacks including the Boston Marathon bombing, Muslim shooting at Fort Hood, and ISIS attacks on soldiers and journalists. Recently, attacks from domestic islamists are a major concern for the U.S. These individuals are self radicalized through beliefs and the internet, rather than being a part of a group. Farook and Malik, of the San Bernardino attacks, are examples of this.

Terrorism is a violent act that is planned and committed to cause terror in the people while trying to achieve political goals. In the Prologue Magazine article of John Brown the author states, “Terrorists may hope for political change, but what they often want is to simply strike back at and harm those they oppose” (Finkelman, 2011). Terrorism is something that can happen in any country because there are people who disagree with another’s beliefs or political views. Terrorists usually target civilians or “non-military folk” because they aren’t able to defend themselves against an attack. They are also not concerned with how much damage they cause; they will use anything from a bomb to guns.

Terrorism is something that has affected the lives of the American population in the United States at least once in their lifetimes. It is something that Americans have read about in history books and have seen on national television. The United States defines terrorism under Title 22 of the U.S. Code (USC) Section 2656f (d) as a, “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” The U.S. Code breaks terrorism down into two subsections under 18 USC 2331 as “international terrorism” and “domestic terrorism”. International terrorism is defined as:

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Policy and Counterterrorism Guidelines a well-known definition of terrorism is a ‘a violent act or an act dangerous to human life in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state to threaten or force an administration, the non-military personnel populace, or any section thereof, in assistance

The record of our nation's response to the threat of political violence is unfortunately one of repeated infringements on the First Amendment and other constitutional principles. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that history abundantly documents the tendency of Government has benevolent and began its motives to show suspicion those who most fervently dispute its policies. This is by no means a problem unique to the United States. Our constitutional commitment to political and religious freedom has not protected us from recurring official abuses. With confounding regularity, our government has, in the name of protecting national security, subverted the very rights and liberties which make the defense of the Nation worthwhile. The Federal

Terrorism is a widespread tactic used by people all over the world. Terrorists use violence to intimidate civilians in the hopes of a certain political gains. On September 11th, 2001 terrorists struck the World Trade Centers in the United States. This attack caused mass panic and fear throughout America. The United States had to create various laws and regulations to keep America safe from another terrorist attack. The laws and regulations that have passed since the September 11th terrorist attacks have been very helpful in protecting the United States from terrorism.

     Why do people resort to such violent acts as bombing, assassinations, and hi-jacking? How do individuals and organizations justify these acts of terror? These acts can easily be labeled as terrorist actions. Terrorism is a growing international problem. In the recent years, new terrorist groups and organizations have been forming at an alarming rate. Governments have had little success in their attempts to resolve issues involving terrorism. One of the major problems in discussing terrorism is “establishing a generally accepted definition.” Terrorism can be described as, “the unlawful use of fear or force to achieve certain political, economical, or social aims.” By being so difficult to define, organizations

Terrorism…This is a very common word in today’s society. What does it mean? Or more importantly how do “we” prevent it and if necessary combat it? The word most commonly used to explain this is counter terrorism, but is also known as anti-terrorism. The military is a great force in combating terrorism with specialist groups in nearly each branch of the armed forces. Prior to the September 11 attacks the United States Armed Forces worked hand in hand with NATO and the United Nations combating terror. However after these attacks, the United States Military has become a widely utilized entity on fighting terrorism.

     Our world has been a victim of terrorism and terrorist acts since the civilized human life began on this planet. There have been radicals and extremists who have been unhappy about something or the other all along during the development of our world. It can be seen that the ways how these people terrorized the world has changed along with time. Terrorists have always used the path of violence to get their voice heard to the world. With the technological innovations these groups also adapted their means of violence.