Intelligence Problems Facing Homeland Security. Essay - 2,668 words

Intelligence Problems Facing Homeland Security. One of the main problems of the present is the global terrorism. Terrorism unfortunately became an integral part of the political and economic processes in the world thus making a threat for the civil and the national security worldwide. There are a lot of discussions on defining the terrorism. Sometimes the acts of terror are called the revolutionary struggle, sometimes the terrorists are called the rebels, and sometimes they define themselves as the fighters for some high ideals. The most appropriate definition of the terrorists is something like small armed groups using the threat or violence against the large groups of non-combatants to gain their political aims. The most important is that the thread or the violence is applied against the non-combatants, i.e. peaceful people.


Terror is the prerogative of the weak, those who can not or do not want to gain their political aims by the conventional, accepted by the civilized world means and procedures. Unfortunately the definition of the terrorists is highly dependable upon the political views of these or those politicians. The same groups or armed combatants attacking the civilians are called by the various politicians the terrorists and the freedom fighters, fighters for justice etc. These definitions explain the different attitudes of these or those leaders towards the terrorists, i.e. the moral aspect of the problem is mixed with the political one, which influences greatly the humanitarian aspect of the problem. The war with the terrorism became the crucial security factor for the modern world.


The struggle with the terrorism turned to become the real war aimed to defend the civilizations values. The terrorists are well trained, they know their aims and they are free from the bureaucracy. Those who the terror acts are aimed to should understand that this war is the mortal combat. From the point of view of the terrorists their main victorious factor is the fear of death. According to them there should not be any exceptions to it even if the objects of the attacks are the children and women. As it was mentioned above the terror war is the war aimed to demolish the human dignity by means of fear. The definition of the terrorism might be explained as following.


The word terror came to English from the Latin language meaning fear. When the group of terrorists take the hostages, explode a bomb in a crowdie place, direct the aircraft to the houses of the civilians or the police tortures the arrested people they realize they will not get the resistance. The main feature of the terrorism is that it is aimed from the terrorist towards the object (civilian citizen) only unlike to war where the violence is directed to both sides of the conflict. The main aim of the terror is explained by its term, meaning fear. Thus the main object of the terror is not the group of hostages but some political, religious or other aims. Thus during the war action the subject of the violence is an object of the same violence as well.


Terror act may be defined as the act of violence where the subject can not become the object of the violence. It is worth noting that while committing the terror act the terrorists may follow their aims either connected with their victims or not. So we may define two notions of the terror and the terrorism. The terror is the method of influence by committing the terror acts. The victim in this case is the object of such influence. The terrorism is the method of influence by committing the terror acts as well but the victim in this case is not the object of such influence.


The terror as well as the terrorism has three subjects, a single individual, a group (it may be either small or a big one) and a state. Each subject uses the terror or the terrorism in various degrees. Terrorism Terror A single individual Is used very seldom Is used very seldom A group Trend to be widely used Is used very seldom A state Trend to be widely used Trend to be widely used The terrorism may be defined both as international and the domestic one. It is very difficult to differentiate the forms of the terrorism according to the criterions indicated above. Domestic terrorism trends to find support outside the country and thus spreading beyond the borders. According to the aims of the terrorism we may distinguish the nationalists terrorists.


These are the groups seeking the self determination. These groups can operate both within the country and outside. They have a certain ideological coverage, the struggle for the independence or something else. They are the most dangerous because they never stop their activities. The examples of such movements are IRA (Irish Republican Army) and ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty). Another terrorism movement may be defined as the ideological terrorism.


The aims of such groups are to change the political, social and economic system. They may be extreme left or extreme right. Their ideologies are based on the philosophic doctrines, such as Marxism, Maoism, and Neo Nazism etc. One of the most dangerous terrorism movements is the religious-political terrorism. Hizbollah and Hamas are the typical representatives of such terrorism. Usama bin Ladens al-Qaeda network is a clearly religious-political movement.


The danger of such groups is very high which was shown by the Ladens attacks on the USA. There is also the state supported terrorism. This is the most dangerous one. States use this type of the terrorism as their political doctrine. Such terrorism is difficult to fight first of all because it is supported by the state policy. It is very difficult to define the level of criminality of such form, because it is supported by the domestic legal base.


Iraq is the typical example of such terrorism. The defense from such kind of terrorism is the matter of the anti-terror international coalition. Some of the countries involved into the state terrorism try to distance themselves from the active actions, e.g. Libya. The war with such terrorism requires serious internationally accepted legal base otherwise such war may be considered to be an aggression. During the first part of the 20th century the terrorism was dissolved on the bloody chaos of the revolutions, civil and the world wars.


It was the integral component of any social political of any military confrontation. In its pure nature the terrorism appeared by the end of the 60s. Moreover the terror organizations became more influential regarding the policy of the countries and even regions. The modern terrorism obtained some peculiar features. The terrorist groups cooperate very closely and even have the special coordination centers. Nowadays the thread of the terrorism becomes crucial because the terrorism is developing itself and uses the new forms and means.


One of such cruel form was demonstrated by Al Qaeda during the attack on the World Trade Center. There were a lot of publications analyzing that attack. The mankind faced the principally new criminal form of the terrorism. There was no any formulated ultimatum, just cruel senseless action of intimidation. That was the landmark in the global war with the terrorism. The world has understood that the war with the terrorism is the matter of the world community and the terrorism needs to be combated by the coalition which was created after the attacks.


The terrorism is developing its weapons permanently. The development of the science and the technology provides an opportunity for the terrorists groups to update the new forms and the weapons of the terror. After the collapse of the USSR and the formation of a number of independent states a certain danger of spreading the nuclear materials appeared. The Russia Chechnya conflict and the close relations of Chechnya rebels with the international terrorists make it dangerous to spread the nuclear materials beyond Russia. If we study the terrorism we see some principals any terrorist activity is based on. First of all it is the financial support.


Terrorism needs the permanent modernization of the weapons. Such modernization attracts considerable finance. Secondly, the terrorists need the place to develop their bases and the training fields. As a rule such bases are located around the objects of the terror application. The terrorists ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: terrorism, homeland security, terrorist, terrorists, terror

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