In the US there are different agencies that deal with counterterrorism activities. These agencies have specific duties in the country and they ensure that the country is safe from any terrorist activities. They make sure that its citizens and residents are protected from acts of terror. These agencies that include the FBI and the CIA are always on their toes in protecting the country. It is established that the people who are involved in these agencies have received numerous trainings on their jobs. It is estimated that the people have advanced knowledge on terrorist activities. The agencies are also characterized with maintaining high secret levels in order to ensure that they fight terrorism in the country. These people are selfless and it is depicted that they receive commands from the US president (Jackson & Schaefer, 2009).
In this assignment we will deal with the central intelligence agency. The CIA has specific responsibilities as regards to intelligence, counterintelligence, covert operations and special operations designed to defeat terrorist organizations that are threat to the US security interests. In the recent past, the terror activities have been on the increase across the world. This is the reason as to why the US president set aside a special agency in order to protect the nation from any terror harm. One of the responsibilities of the CIA is to receive plausible denial for the US which is a sponsor of any counterterror effort (Zegart, 2007). It is depicted that counterterror efforts have extensively failed because the president issues direct commands to the agencies irrespective of that he has not received any training with regard to national intelligence. Therefore, this is the reason as to why the agency has a mandate to reject any instructions if they not beneficial to the operations. The other responsibility of the CIA is to gather information and warn the government in any coming terror activity. By doing this the US cannot be attacked by any terrorist unaware. They do this by having a well spread secret surveyors who are always on the ground listening to any hints of acts of terror. The work mandated to the CIA is both domestic and international considering that the US is super power in the world. The US is in the front line due to its diplomatic relations to curb the menace of terror in the world.
Over the years, the role of the CIA has not changed. However, the roles between the CIA and FBI were separated. The CIA acts as a tool to gather information before any terrorist activity and mostly it is good at gathering intelligence in other countries. The FBI is known to investigate after a crime is committed. In this regard, it cannot protect the country from any terror but it tries to establish on what might have happened in during the terror. One of the good examples of a CIA agency is England. They depict that they are not designed to gather intelligence domestically. This clearly depicts that CIA is more of an international agency rather than a domestic agency. This however does not mean that the agency cannot execute its duties locally (Treverton, 2008). The agency through its detectives links directly with terrorists organizations and makes sure that they know which country they want to hit. By doing this they warn the government of an upcoming terrorist activity. The government on the other hand, put the right measure before then in order to make sure that the acts of terror have minimal effects. In September 2001, the government shifted gears in the security when it was attacked by the al Qaeda terrorists. This period the congress in the US for one time questioned the intelligence of the US security agencies. They discussed which security agency should handle the new domestic intelligence effort. It is at this moment that the then president, George Bush, placed the CIA in charge of a new domestic counterterrorism intelligence agency. He depicted that the CIA would work together with the FBI in the new unit.
The legal bases that are required in order to form an agency that is authorized to engage in domestic investigations are as follows. One of the legal requirements is an agency that will cooperate with other intelligence services. This is because there is no intelligent service that can be able to work independently without the assistance from other intelligence services. Another thing is that the agency must be able to obtain human intelligence from terrorist organizations, their supporters and from other foreign intelligence services. In order to curb the menace of terrorism the agency must be able to cooperate with foreign intelligence services that take action against terror groups outside the US. The other legal requirement is the agency ability to work together with the domestic police. The US has a highly decentralized police unit that that prides liaison and operates cooperatively with state and the FBI.
The terrorist attacks that have been witnessed in the American soil have only been a lesson to learn for the government and the intelligence services. This is because when the US was hit by terrorist in September 2001, it was a blow both to the government and the intelligence services, this is because the US being a super power and one of the leading countries to own super weapons and with the best intelligence it was not expected for them to be attacked. In order to curb future menace of terrorism activities, the US government with the help of other intelligence services conducted an extensive investigation on what could have happened. As a result of this they were able to amend the loopholes. Recently the US has escaped the list terror existing threat profile (Schmitt, 2010). This is because the government put measures in place in order to ensure that the US is not attacked again. It is established that the intelligence unit receives some significant amount of money to make sure that it obtains the appropriate skills and weapons. The other thing is the management and planning in the intelligence service. Since the attack, the government put strategic planning and management in place to ensure a smooth flow of activities in the intelligence unit.
The ongoing commitment of millions of dollars in federal is not only spent on CT efforts warranted. The money that the government commits is used in improving the technology in the intelligence service. This is because the terrorists have gone a notch higher and have taken their attacks technologically. Therefore, the intelligence service must be determined to keep up with the current technologies. The other thing is that the government has invested in smatter intelligence services. This is because of the rising high tech terror attacks. The other thing is that the intelligence unit is investing in the establishment of a single domestic intelligence agency that will keenly focus on the national security and fight counter terror attacks. The other thing is that the intelligence unit is destined to develop a better human intelligence that will allow the United States to adapt a new era in counterterrorism. The other thing is that the intelligence officers require a thorough training on their job. This has been known to cost the government some significant amount of money (Melzer, 2008). The other thing is about the equipment that the intelligence service requires in order to fight terrorism to end. The equipment which are very expensive to acquire and they need to some profound amount of money to acquire. This is the reason as to why the US government sets aside billions of dollars each year to make sure that the activities in the intelligence unit are up to date. National security is a very fundamental issue in the country because it enhances the economy growth. The other thing is that national security enhances diplomatic relations. Most of the countries that have an immense growth in the economy have been known to have a stable security. On the other hand, countries would always want to have an established diplomatic relations with countries that have a stable and promising security. The amount of money that country spends in the national security should not be compared to any other factor. This is because the national security is fundamental both to the citizens and other residents in the world. National security is not only for the benefit of a nation but also for the whole globe at large.
References
Zegart, A. B. (2007). Spying blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the origins of 9/11. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Treverton, G. F. (2008). Reorganizing U.S. domestic intelligence: Assessing the options. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Schmitt, G. J. (2010). Safety, liberty, and Islamist terrorism: American and European approaches to domestic counterterrorism. Washington, D.C: AEI Press.
Melzer, N. (2008). Targeted killing in international law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, B. A., & Schaefer, A. G. (2009). The challenge of domestic intelligence in a free society: A multidisciplinary look at the creation of a U.S. domestic counterterrorism intelligence agency. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corp.
