Under Threat of Domestic Terrorism, Essay Example

The definition of domestic terrorism in the United States is a violent act that puts human life in danger. Domestic violence includes anyone who is found doing unlawful activities including assassination, destruction, kidnapping, intimidating, or coercing (Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) 1). Any violent acts that are committed in the jurisdiction of the United States is considered domestic terrorism. An example of domestic terrorism is an individual or group that attempts to assassinate a public figure like the mayor. The attempted assassination would be considered an act of domestic terrorism. In contrast, the definition of international terrorism has three characteristics that are collectively considered to be international terrorism. Any dangerous acts that put human life in danger that violates federal or state laws. Any acts that appear to be cause harm along with intimidation, mass destruction, kidnapping and assassination (Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) 1). Any acts committed outside the U.S. jurisdiction is considered to be international terrorism. The best example of international terrorism is a car bombing in Afghanistan.

The United States Homeland Security, and the FBI both have difficulty make the right decision whether a violent act in the United States should be classified as a domestic or international terrorist act (Svendsen 374). There are many misconceptions about what is considered an international terrorist or domestic act immediately after the violence has occurred. The best example is the Times Square bombing by Faisal Shahzad, who home country is Pakistan (Tabman 2). The news media reported that Faisal Shahzad was on U.S. soil therefore the bombing was categorized as a domestic terrorist act. The next few weeks the FBI classified the Time Square Bombing as international terrorism (Tabman 1). The FBI explained that the person’s ethnicity or ideology is not factors used to determine domestic or international terrorism. Faisal Shahzad traveled from outside the U.S to bomb Time Square, thus this bombing was classified by the FBI as international terrorism (Staff 1).

Daily Occurrences

There is a rising concerning in the United States concerning the number of domestic terrorist acts. The primary problem is the authorities have to spend many man hours trying to determine which acts are truly domestic terrorism and which acts are just violent acts perpetrated by an individual or groups. The newspaper and media often report acts as terrorism before the local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI). As result, the number of daily occurrences of terrorism may be skewed that are driven by the most current events. An article by Lendof (2015) documented study by the Age of Wolf called “A Study of the Rise of Lone Wolf and Leaderless Resistance Terrorism” found that domestic terrorist incidents took place in the United States every 34 days. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (2015) found that in 2014 there were 1,122 incidents of international terrorist acts worldwide. The daily international terrorist occurrences amount to 37 daily international terrorist acts daily (see fig.1). The international terrorist report has a difficult time establishing random violence in a volatile country because every violent incident sometimes is assumed to be internationally terrorism.

Victims

The victims of domestic and international terrorism in the United States include men, women and children because this federal crime touches everyone in the community. According to Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis (2011), the additional victims of domestic terrorism are military personal because they are either responding to domestic terrorism or they are a target of domestic terrorism at 42.5% in the United States and International 57.5%. (See fig.2). The United States has a large number of military victims of terrorism in the United States at 43%. In addition, the United States victims included 28.4% against diplomats, 28.4% business institutions, and 1.1% victims are private citizens. (fig.2). The victims of domestic and international terrorism have a long term effect causing people to live in fear of being killed.

Causes

There are several causes of domestic and international terrorism such as social and political justice and the belief that violence will make a change. The social wrong perceived by an individual or group uses terrorism to bring about change concerning the perceived wrong. In the United States the domestic bombing of the abortion clinics were groups that believe it was a social wrong (Pridemore and Freilich 611). The group justified the deaths as the only means to stop the social genocide of babies. There are countries in poverty and religious extremist such as terrorism in Ethiopia. There are religious and ethnic groups that have differences and grievance concerning personal religious freedoms. The Global Terrorism Index indicated that certain countries that have ongoing conflicts will have more incidents of terrorism in Angola, Mexico, Mali, Central African Republic and Bangladesh (Vision of Humanity,2015).

Intended Effects of Terrorist acts

The intended effect of terrorist is to cause psychological damage to a group, community, country or individuals (Ioana 220). The terrorist intend on making changes in the minds of the victims by causing fear, and anxiety for control and power over that intend targets. The threat of terrorism is just as powerful as the actual act of terrorism itself. The best example is the family that may live in a district that has the power to vote and the current terrorist groups do not want a large turnout. The terrorist group shows up a few weeks before the election so the people can see they are prepared to attack anyone that is going to vote. As a result, the people move out of the region for safety and fear for their lives even though the terrorist did not hurt anyone.

There are other types of psychological changes that terrorist use to get the sympathy and help from the population. The religious group disagrees with the Western religion being practiced in their city. The city has a large population of people living in poverty which the terrorist begins to feed the population building supporters. The population is being brainwashed using the food that saves lives as the reasoning to help the terrorist. This is a common tactic by terrorist that find a social condition or humanitarian condition they can improve to convince people to work against the government.

The best example of psychological effects of terrorism is Boko Haram terrorist extremist in Ethiopia. The Boko Haram terrorist have contributed to lack of education children by forcibly recruiting youths into terrorist armies (Poverties 1). The Boko Haram uses psychological terror to keep the parents of the children in fear of sending their children to school. They suppressed any formation of schools by kidnapping children to ensure the fear is widespread that prevent parents from participating in the educational systems. The psychological fear factor used by the insurgents is a means of controlling the Nigerian population. The Boko Haram uses fear, possible terrorist acts, psychological terror and they use political terrorism against the Nigerian government by attacking voting locations (Bamidele 98).

Consequences

The domestic terrorism effects the United States population with fear to board a flight at the airport or fear they will be attacked in a government building. The population of the United States has never been the same since the 9-11 attacks. The government has spent millions of dollars in trying to defend against future terrorist acts on the soil of the United States. The United States has spent over 7.6 trillion on homeland security to protect against terrorist attacks and $635.9 billion total dollars on homeland spending (National Priorities Project 1). The social landscape has Americans for the first time in decades rethinking their travel plans abroad and slowdown their traveling in the United States. The culture globally and domestic has change because the terrorist has proven that no place on the planet is free from terrorist attacks.

The international terrorism has an effect on international countries causing population unrest because the government have little control and no answer to mass terrorism. The economics are impacted in undeveloped countries because the terrorism violence prevents investors from starting projects in that country. In addition, the countries that rely on exports and imports have delays that cost the country millions of dollars because of the terrorist actions. The terrorist attacks cost the international counties millions of dollars in rebuilding after the damage to the cities. The social climates internationally have become victims of the violence breeding civil unrest that divides the country.

Compare and contrast

The conclusions drawn by the research is domestic and international have some similar problems and some problems that are unique to that country. The domestic terrorism causes the Americans to fear that the attacks will happen again on US social so the damage is psychological. This same psychological damage impacts the international population but the difference is underdeveloped poverty stricken countries do not have resources to added protection. The domestic terrorism and international terrorism has some of the similar effects, however, the United States does not invest money in rebuilding, however, the international terrorist destroys entire foreign country infrastructures. The media documents how aboard the terrorist will destroy entire communities or villages of the poverty stricken and suppressed populations. In contrast, the 9-11 was the largest attack that United States had to rebuild but not at the same magnitude of the rebuilding efforts globally.

Citizens Actions

The American citizen can become more involved with just reporting any suspicious activities. The average American does not want to get involved as long as the problem does not come directly to their homes and knock on the door. In almost every domestic and international terrorist attacks in the United States those responsible did something that should have caused an alarm. The American citizen does not need to be a vigilante however, just reporting things confidentially could lead to stopping a terrorist act right in your own community. The second commitment citizens can make is staying informed about what to look for and how to recognize potential terrorist actions. There are websites, news, media reports and daily reports coming from the FBI and Homeland Security to keep the United States citizen informed. We must participate, educate and escalate any suspicious activities you think might be a terrorist transaction. As individual or as a group we need to be more involved and in turn with the current state of domestic terrorism in the United States.

References

Bamidele O. Under Threat of Domestic Terrorism. Africa Insight [serial online]. December 2014;44(3):97-110. Print.

Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI). Definition of terrorism in the US code. (2015). Web 9 December 2015

Ioana I. The terrorism and its psychological effects. Proceedings of The Scientific Conference AFASES [serial online]. May 2015; 1:219-226. Print

Lendof, E. Report: Domestic Terrorist attack every 34 days. (2015). The Daily Beast. Web. 10 December 2015

Mulhausen, D & McNeil, J. Four of 10 terror attacks on military targets are against the U.S.: Rand database of worldwide Terrorism incidents. (2011). Web 9 December 2015

National Priorities Project. Fighting for the US Federal budget that works for all Americans. (2015). Web 9 December 2015

Poverties. Poverty in Nigeria: Rich country, poor people. (2015). Web 9 December 2015

Pridemore W, Freilich J. The Impact of State Laws Protecting Abortion Clinics and Reproductive Rights on Crimes against Abortion Providers: Deterrence, Backlash, or Neither?. Law and Human Behavior (6) 611 [serial online]. (2007) Print

Staff R. FBI team reaches Islamabad to exchange views with Pak intelligence authorities about Faisal Shahzad. Plus News (2010). (Pakistan) [serial online]. Print.

Svendsen A. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Change: Addressing US Domestic Counter-terrorism Intelligence. Intelligence & National Security [serial online]. June 2012;27(3):371-397.Print.

Tabman, M. (2015). International vs domestic terrorism: A primer. (2015). Web 10 December 2015

The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (2015). Reports on International Terrorism: Statistics on Incidents of Terrorism Worldwide. (2015). Web 9 December 2015

Vision of Humanity. Causes of terrorism: Terrorism is a growing threat of global concern; in this article we take a look at some of the main factors that cause terrorism (2015). Web 9 December 2015