Introduction
Proper definition of the word “terrorism” is very vital to understand the topic under study. Terrorism has very wide definition due to its long history and differences in view by people. The definition of terrorism presented in AR 535-13 is mostly used for all Department of Army that are involved in counterterrorism activities. The terrorism is defined as "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature. This is done through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear. It also involves a criminal act that is often symbolic and intended to influence an audience beyond the immediate victims.”(Global Security, 2014). It is important to consider that terrorism can be classified as either international or domestic terrorism. The international terrorism comes from outside the country, but domestic terrorism originates within the country. Studies show that the United States of America has suffered more from domestic terrorism than from international terrorism, yet domestic terrorism is seldom recognized as a threat in the US. According to Elmore (2006), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, defined domestic terrorism as activities that pose a danger to human life. That violates the US or any other state’s criminal laws; appear to be aimed at intimidation or force the civilian population to do things against their will. That influence the governmental policy through mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping; and take place primarily within the territory of the United States to attain further political or social goals. Furthermore, a domestic terrorist is defined by the FBI as an individual or group that operate having roots entirely within the United States or its territories without foreign direction.
History of Terrorism in the United States
Before taking a look at the history of terrorism in the US, it is imperative consider that America is not the cradle of terrorism. As a matter of fact, terrorism in America is largely a product of many populations, conflicts coexisting within the nation’s borders and issues (Zalman, 2014a). The white supremacy is arguably the ideology that began terrorism in the United States. The ideology holds that white Protestant Christians are superior to other races and ethnicities. The white supremacy was quite apparent after the Civil War as the Congress and Union military started enforcing equality. The Ku Klux Klan became popular during this time, and the group perpetrated terrorism especially on the African-Americans and the sympathetic whites. Soon after the communists and anarchist violence erupted which streams from the Bolshevik revolution. Later on, between 1960s and 1970s, domestic terrorism exploded in the United States which continued till today.
Russian Revolution and the Irish Republican Army
The Russian revolution and the activities of Irish republican army have immense influence on shaping the terrorism on the Western hemisphere. The Russian revolution was characterized by fight against economic oppression and lack of democracy. Tsar who ruled in the Czar Dynasty was a tyrant and the feudal dictator who oppressed the masses. A small terrorist group overthrew the dynasty and soon enough the terrorist, Bolshevik, who overthrew the dynasty to take over the country and became dictator.
Gadek (2010) mentioned that the Russian revolution has lots to do with the way terrorism was carried out in Ireland, mostly by the IRA and also by Michael Collins. Collins is a onetime leader of the Irish Republican Army, who studied the techniques of Russian revolutionaries from 1880 with a view to driving the British from Ireland with the tactics. Tactics used by the IRA under the leadership of Collins include bombs, murder, ambushes and various other terrorist means. Consequently, the British Army was forced to grant independence to the country in 1921.
This is also important to consider that the Russian revolution and the Irish Army had a great influence on the western hemisphere and the present day terrorist group. Gadek (2010) pointed out in his article that Michael Collins, the leader of the IRA, interpreted and executed the ideas of the Russian revolutionaries in the modern world. In addition, studies show that Collins tactics have been studied and mimicked by the twenty-first-century terrorists.
Guerilla Ideological & Religiously Motivated Terrorism
According to Elmore (2006), the FBI classifies domestic terrorism into three major categories, namely: left-wing, right-wing and special interest terrorism. Left-wing terrorists are groups who claim and profess a revolutionary socialist doctrine. They also claim to protect the people against the debasing effect of capitalism and imperialism. This class of terrorists aims to achieve revolution and therefore get involved in a number of terrorist activities. Examples of left-wing terrorists include the FALN, the Weather Underground and Leon Czolgosz. Zalman (2014b) pointed out that the term “left-wing” was taken from the French parliamentary seating convention. That implies to be against the status quo and in favor of wealth redistribution as a means of social and political equality. However, it is imperative that the leftist terrorism came to an end with the Soviet Union and the Cold War in the 1980s.
Right-wing terrorists are groups who hold the principle of racial supremacy, antigovernment and antiregulatory beliefs. Such groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Boko Haram, Aryan Nation, and so forth. Gage (2011) pointed out that throughout the twentieth century, right-wing terrorism has more than counterbalanced the violence of the left wing. However, since the right-wing terrorism is reactionary violence and being political, they play a very minor role in the literature on terrorism. Over the years, the guerrilla ideology has been employed in terrorist activities. This is usually politically motivated. The guerilla ideology terrorism involves irregular soldiers and often have a political objective such as overthrowing of a government. Moreover, the guerrillas oftentimes operate in units with the aim of harassing and carrying out sabotage.
However, terrorism is mostly motivated by terrorism. Some terrorist's groups are solely religiously motivated, but some others like the Al Qaeda are both politically and religiously motivated at the same time (Gage, 2011). Most religious militants kill in the so-called “Name of God”, believing that they have rewards for the action.
Mass Destruction, Methods of Prevention and Detecting Terrorism
The elements of weapons of mass destruction has a great influence in terrorism. This encompasses the methodologies of preventing and detecting terrorist attacks. Lowther (2010) mentioned that advances in weaponry that took place in the 20th century are important in the rise of modern terrorism. Obviously, terrorists would lack the tools to accomplish devastating attacks on civilian populations without automatic weapons, WMDs and so forth. In other words, the technological advancement of the modern time can be blamed for increasing terrorist attacks today. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) include chemical, biological and nuclear/radiological weapons capable of causing massive destructions. Lowther (2010) further stated that terrorists are observed as more likely to use WMD rather than a nation-state because they are more willing to accept conditions that would not be accepted by a nation-state. However, producing WMDs is very difficult and hence most terrorists resort to conventional weapons, but some terrorist groups are making steps to acquire such weapons.
Modern Terrorism and The Department Of Homeland Security’s Mission
The 9/11 terrorist attack prompted a lot of changes in the United States’ homeland security in the bid to fight against terrorism. Kenyon (2003) outlined that the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security is the major consolidation of federal agencies. The department was created to response to terrorist attacks happened on September 11, 2001, and the department serves as the single largest organizational change within the federal government since the Defense Department was created. The Department of Homeland Security includes Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the US Coast Guard, and the Customs Service.
The duty of the Homeland Security involves analysis of data provided by the intelligence community and its agencies. This is to protect the national assets, provision of new technologies in order to counter and detect threats by terrorist's groups and monitoring of the US borders. This is also responsible for monitoring entry points, as well as the condition of the training along with funding of state and local first-response organizations.
Modern Terrorism: Agencies and Private Corporations
The 9/11 terrorist attack greatly redefined and further strengthened the relationship between the federal, state and local government agencies and private corporations. Steiner, (2009) pointed out that the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001 led to a revolution between the federal, state and local homeland security as well as law enforcement and intelligence organizations. The report further mentioned that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created at the federal level. This eliminated the footraces between the intelligence and law enforcement. Such critical reforms had a significant impact on the state government and even in the local governments. The designated focal points connecting the federal intelligence community to the state and local intelligence collectors are the state and local fusion centers. However, to further strengthen security, it is necessary that the federal government ramps up its corporations with the interested partners including private corporations, state, and local governments.
Conclusion
The paper delineated terrorism and identified domestic terrorism as a major terrorist attack on the US territory. Furthermore, the history of terrorism in the US as well as how the Russian revolution and Irish Army influenced the terrorism was examined. Different kinds of terrorism including left and right-wing, guerilla ideological and religiously motivated terrorism were studied. The paper identified that modern terrorism has gone a long way to shaping the mission of the Department of Homeland Security and further made it robust so as to prevent further terrorist attacks. In addition, the relationship between the federal, state, local government and private corporations has been strengthened in order to combat terrorism effectively in the US and its allies.
References
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