Terrorism & Counterterrorism Essay

Terrorism is not a new tendency, and moreover it manages to adjust to the modern conditions of life and thus it is rather difficult to eradicate. Unfortunately it is widespread in many countries all over the world and almost every day people hear about some terrorist acts taking place. In most cases exactly innocent people become the victims of terrorists. This is the main reason, why the issues, related to terrorism, are nowadays vitally important for any nation, for any country. Moreover countries try to unite their efforts in countering terrorism with the help of all available methods. There has been a global strategy worked out, the main aim of which is to consolidate the efforts against terrorism in the whole world. Unfortunately terrorism has become a real tactic and strategic force, uniting terrorists in some groups, being able to operate in an organized manner.

  1. For a long period of time terrorism has been associated first of all with physical violent actions, for example bombing, kidnapping, killing and so on. The twentieth century has brought some changes into this sphere along with development of new technologies and their accessibility to most people. There started to appear computer technologies, with numerous systems, controlled by computers, which were used practically in all life spheres, including criminal activities. Soon the new notion – cyber-terrorism – appeared to describe all the terroristic acts, which were done with the help of computerized technologies. More and more individuals become involved into this activity, which made experts consider the possibility of the Cyber War. One of the simplest forms of illegal cyber activities is spreading of viruses and malware. Computer viruses exist as long as computers do, one of the first of them was the so-called “creeper”, which appeared in 1970s already. Nowadays viruses are absolutely not rare and faced by each computer user. The problem is that they are perfect for criminals for reaching of their goals. “The realm of computer viruses, rootkits and trojans is not limited to hackers, terrorists and organized crime mafias – governments and their associated agencies have also been implicated in designing and deploying sophisticated systems to conduct espionage against other states. Stuxnet, Dugu and Flame are just some examples that may have involved state actors, both in their design, deployment and targets, and certainly do blur the line between cyber terrorism and cyberwarfare” (Deflem 2010). Taking into consideration that nowadays a lot of important spheres of any country are operating on the basis of telecommunications and Internet, for example banking systems, traffic management, air traffic, military systems and so on, this is evident that one of the key tasks of any country is to do everything possible to protect its people from cyber terrorism, in order not to provide limitless power for the terrorists. Technologies are developing so quickly that the things, which seemed to be shocking yesterday, today have become a norm of our lives. Terrorist organizations use the same modern technologies for their purposes, for recruiting new members of their groups, for communicating with each other, carrying out various attacks and so on.
  2. The spreading problem of cyber terrorism certainly needs immediate and serious actions. Still one of the most difficult procedures is related already to investigation of the potential terrorist organizations in Internet, as their potential impact is dangerous not only due to the actions, they take, but also due to the impact, they manage to develop upon the brain of younger generations, spending so much time in Internet. Thus there is a problem also to eliminate all possible extremist and terrorist content, which is available online. Internet is a huge space, still there are key companies, which are able to have significant control over it, for example Google or YouTube. One of the strategies to overcome the above-described threats of cyber terrorism is the involvement of these giants of cyber space into this work. “It’s encouraging, therefore, that our security officials last week met representatives oftech firms Google and YouTube to discuss ways to stop the increasing online radicalisation by Islamic State” (Merari 2003). Extremists use blogging and social networking for their purposes and it is rather difficult to trace each of the files loaded there with the aim of restricting of the violent content. Big tech companies are to cooperate with FBI agents , creating safety centers, which could be used for controlling of harmful content. “It’s a positive step that our counterterrorism officials are talking directly with these companies on how to work with them in identifying, (and where necessary taking down), violent extremist content on their platforms. No doubt our security agencies are also talking to them about the best ways to use social media platforms to pursue terrorism investigations.” (Deflem 2010).
  3. One of the strategies of coping with cyber terrorism is related to using of the native speakers for some languages, which are rather spread among terrorists. The problem here is that most of the Arabic letters and fonts could not be used in usual chat rooms and they are not available even on the keyboards of the computers. In order to solve these problems, young people from Arabic countries started to use the so-called Arabish or Arabizi. This means that Arabic words are written with the help of usual English letters. This provides the possibility to send messages via Internet and mobile phones. The usual words would be typed in the way that most of the NSA specialists won’t be able to trace the potential threats on the basis of the key words used. In addition there are a lot of ways of spelling of the words, with some combinations, which make the process of deciphering even more challenging. In such situations only native speakers, who have perfect knowledge of all peculiarities and dialects, are able to solve the problems. This is the main reason why human native translators are so much needed for federal law agencies. Not all terrorists speak exactly Arabian language, depending on the country, they are from, they might be using Indonesian, Chechen or even Russian. Some of the languages use the borrowed letters from Arabic language. The definition of the concrete language is often vitally important for understanding of the source of potential threat and without specialists in this issue, the path might go the wrong direction, having terrible consequences for people. There are not many FBI agents, who speak Arabic language and there is a need to feel the gap by engaging of native Arabic speakers from government contracting agencies. FBI linguists usually are well compensated, although most of them are not full-time employees there, they are hired on the basis of contracts and get their hourly wages. The opportunity to service their country is a perfect additional reward to good salaries.
  4. The name of Anwar al-Awlaki is nowadays well-known all over the world and first of all it is associated with terrible terroristic actions. US government officials described him as being a talented motivator, who was able to work out terrorist operations and organize the groups from al-Qaueda for implementing those operations. “With a blog, a Facebook page, the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, and many YouTube videos, the Saudi news station Al Arabiya described him as the “bin Laden of the Internet.” (Kuriansky 2006). Thus he was a bright example of how an individual, having such moral strength and access to modern technologies, could manipulate other people. At the moment, when most of his videos were deleted from Internet web sites, he still hasn’t completely lost his influence in Islamic and extremists’ circles. His lectures and his articles have become a strong propaganda for his supporters worldwide. In spite of comparison to Osama bin Laden, al-Awlaki has a serious advantage, as he was able to present himself as a religious leader. Another advantage was his perfect knowledge of American English, as he spent the greater part of his adult life in America. His access to the most views Internet resource – YouTube , made his sermons available to huge number of people. Thus there is no wonder that al-Awlaki managed to gain such impact upon usual people. It seems utterly difficult, but such individuals should be eliminated from the society in order not to spread their ruining impact.
  5. Nowadays unfortunately it is necessary to admit that terrorism continues to develop its various forms via application of the modern technologies. Terrorism is able to adapt to any political and social situations, as well as develop new possibilities and methods. The most sophisticated thing is their involvement into international conflicts. Terrorists don’t simply use the existing technologies, but they also manage to adapt to the worked out counter terrorism strategies, using any flaws of the system for their benefits. Experts are sure that some parts of the Middle East and Pakistan have the potential of becoming the centers of terrorism, as these regions are the places of religious and other exercises of motivated terrorists. Additional threats are “the Islamic State is variously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and AQI.” (Deflem 2010). These groups aim at seizing control over huger territories in Iraq with the aim of creating the first terrorist Islamic state.

Overall, the issues of terrorism and counterterrorism are acute for the modern societies in all countries all over the world; lack of immediate reactions and ignorance of any factors in this relation might lead to further strengthening of the positions by terrorism and new numerous victims.

 

Works cited:

Deflem, M.  The Policing of Terrorism: Organizational and Global Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2010

Islamic State (IS) Encyclopedia: America’s War Against ISIS / ISIL Terrorists in Iraq and Syria, Leader al-Baghdadi, Levant, al-Qaeda in Syria, Obama’s al-Qaida Counterterrorism Policy Kindle Edition. Progressive Management. September 20, 2014

Kuriansky, J. “Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” Praeger Publisher, 2006

Lee, N., Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness (Second Edition). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2015

Merari, A.  “Terrorism as a Strategy in Insurgency,” Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2003

Scarborough, R. Exclusive: Lack of translators hurts U.S. war on terror. The Washington Times, August 31, 2009

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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