GOVT 480 – Midterm Essay Week 4 List and describe the four force multipliers. How do terrorists us force multipliers? Give examples for each force multipliers. There are four force multipliers in terrorism that author J. White speaks about in his book regarding terrorism. These multipliers are technology, media. transnational support, religion; they are a methods used so that manpower will not be increased, but to increase striking force. These force multipliers can work individually or hand in hand with one another. If I had to choose, I would pick technology as my first force multiplier fight against because before you have start to plan, conduct, or execute you need technology for communication. According to White (2013), …show more content…
I think that religion goes hand in hand with political messages because the terrorist feel that governments are wrong in dealing with issues. With transnational support allows terrorist group to seek support from other countries or even other radical groups. According to White (2013), “transnational support increases the ability of terrorist groups to move and hide across the nation”. Also transnational support can aid terrorist groups financially as they become allies with other radical terrorist groups and also provide terrorist groups as a whole in the carrying out of plans of attack. I just believe that when radical groups such as terrorist start gaining allies with the same belief, cause, and this will allow growth. With this growth, their forces becomes more powerful, their message even stronger, and possibly uncontrollable. With transnational support, this can be a great deal for any government, military, law enforcement, and the world as a whole. Examples of Force Multipliers Some technology force multipliers can be when terrorists use cellphones device to detonate bombs from a distance or search the world wide web for various ways to make explosives devices. Terrorists have been using the bombing tactic, primarily and most prevalent is suicide bombing to carry out these radical message. Bombs can be more destructive and if they more destructive then the terrorist
Terrorists today are more than unlikely to use WMD in the future as they fear retaliation from the target country, also states that supply and train. terrorist groups cannot completely control them and they have no guarantee that a terrorist group would not use WMD against them. This article analysis shows that there is a need for more research that will explain how events and situations will make an impact on a terrorist group's decisions about using WMD. Only then can we appropriately analyze the threat of the future use of WMD by terrorists. To continue to prepare for the future use of WMD, governments should boost the training of efficient response personnel and increase funds to proliferation, research and development programs such as
Terrorists do not engage openly like their insurgent counterparts. Instead, they tend to avoid being in the open and take no effort to directly control a population. According to Hoffman, this is due to the terrorist being “constrained both numerically and logistically.” Rather than limiting themselves to combatants and overthrowing governments, the terrorists focus on utilizing any means necessary. These acts range from bombings, assassinations, murder, kidnappings, suicide attacks, as well as the occasional guerilla attack. Another key to successful terrorism networking. The most successful terrorist cells utilize networks as a means to de-centralize. These networks are filled with like-minded individuals who belong to a movement or leader but do not take direct orders. Because of this, there is no direct chain of command. Due to this strategy, terrorist cells do not coordinate attacks but rather act independently of one another. Because of this, it is exceedingly difficult for law enforcement agencies to completely wipe out a terrorist movement. Al Qaeda utilizes this strategy quite efficiently. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s theoretician, used this as a means to gather like-minded individuals to target Americans and Jewish populations as a means to incite fear and
Acts of terrorism come in many forms, using guns, bombs and even human beings as weapons of mass destruction. This paper will focus on the last one, the use of human beings as a weapon, otherwise known as suicide bombers. It will look into who they are, why they are used, how they are trained and the devastation they can cause by their actions. Everyone remembers September 11 and the massive destruction and the tragic loss of so many lives that fateful day in New York city, the Pentagon, and an empty field in Pennsylvania when three planes were taken over by suicide bombers, as an act of terrorism on the American people.
Terrorism has been common for ages; it just wasn’t until recently that the public has become more aware and knowledgeable about the threat. A terrorist and/or terrorist group’s goal is to make a “big bang.” In other words, they find ways to disrupt a country’s critical infrastructures, increase the death toll, and make a psychological impact. There are many reasons on why a terrorist (lone wolf) or a terrorist organization chooses to do these attacks, including ideology, religion, and “top dog” and so on.
The United States government has a responsibility to assess and prepare for the weapons of mass destruction threat posed by terrorists. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is a term that individuals often use to generalize groups of distinct weapons into one main category when discussing acts of terrorism (Mauroni, 2010). A more precise way of describing WMD terrorism is by addressing the weapon by the appropriate classification, in order to understand the significance of the type of weapon.. Throughout this paper, these weapons will be classified by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN). These weapon types have different protocols, which makes it imperative that each weapon is adequately understood in terms of probability and the potential impact (Mauroni, 2010). Generally, all weapons are low probability but they each have different impacts on society and the likelihood of each weapon being deployed by terrorists vary. According to Meulenbelt and Nieuwenhuizen (2015), "Chemical weapons seem to be relatively easily obtainable, biological
In "What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorists Motives and Counterterrorism Strategy", Max Abrahms, an international security and terrorism researcher, surveys specific strategic models and seven questionable tendencies of terrorist organizations. To begin, Abrahms makes the pivotal distinction that "terrorists are rational actors who attack civilians for political ends". To this end, this distinction is established by Abrahms as "the dominant paradigm in terrorism studies", which is used as the specific ideal known as the "strategic model" (Abrahms, p. 372). Fundamentally speaking, the strategic model is characterized by three central assumptions: (1) terrorists are motivated by relatively stable and consistent political preferences; (2) terrorists
A very powerful form of terrorism is those routed with religion, the draw of a higher person can influence a person very easily, this can be seen within several successful terrorist groups.
Anyone can access a myriad of websites and sources online that provide technical details and procedures to create bombs and how to best use them (Stibli, 2010, p. 2). Also, domestic extremists that are part of an organization can easily maintain constant communication with leadership without attending a meeting. This makes domestic groups a lot more decentralized, and a much harder and difficult target. Extremists today can engage with other extremists from the comfort of their own home, without risking being apprehended by law enforcement, and with the freedom to radicalize themselves at their own pace, without pressure, commitments, and dangerous personal
Terrorism is defined as a threatened use of force by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or its territories without foreign direction committed against persons or property (Terrorism 2002- 2005: FBI). Terrorism has opened to numerous interpretations, most of them being from conflicting point of views. Understanding the term terrorism is often difficult from a semantic point of view. Understanding it require a holistic and sensibility and is more realistically achieve through a relative cultural, political, and historical understanding of this phenomenon. This associate itself with the complexity of understanding terrorism in the terms of its distinction of criminal activities. Townshend (2002)
Terrorism is a unique sort of savagery. It is a strategy utilized as a part of peace, struggle, and war. The risk of terrorism is ever present, and an assault is liable to happen when slightest anticipated. A terrorist assault may be the occasion that denote the move from peace to strife or war. Combatting terrorism is a variable to consider in every single military arrangement and operations. Combatting terrorism requires a persistent condition of mindfulness; it is an essential practice instead of a sort of military operation. Definite direction for setting up an authoritative system to battle terrorism, including preventive and defensive measures and episode reaction arranging, can be found in Joint Publication 3-07.2 (1993). Terrorism is a criminal offense under almost every national or universal legitimate code.
The rise of terrorism and terrorist organizations such as The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become an international issue in recent years more so than ever before. The organization appeared most notably after the United States invaded Iraq after the George Bush administration and congress deemed Iraq in possession of WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction). Another factor that led to the rise of ISIS is the Syrian civil war, where chaos and discord allowed the battleground to become a prime recruiting ground for such organizations. Social Media and the increasing easy access to lesser developed countries is also another factor due to its ability to share content and converse fairly easily, which allows ISIS to spread propaganda and
The objective of this study is to provide a detailed assessment of how a significant terrorist WMD attack might be conducted. This work in writing will indicate the materials that might be used, the potential targets, and probable forms of attack. For the purpose of this study the scenario undertaken will be one in which a 'dirty bomb' comprised of radiological components was brought into the six leading ports in the United States handling containers. There would be enough radiological material to contaminate any large city, as well as the surrounding area for 10 square miles. This would shut down the five major ports, contaminate the area for months to come, injure, or kill hundreds and devastate the economy of the United States for months to come. Let alone the fear and panic it would instill in the public at large. All of these dirty bombs would exploded simultaneously this would be an all-out effort by Al Qaeda. The five busiest container ports in the US are those stated as follows with accompanying population totals for each port:
Terrorism activities have increased these past few years due to faulty decisions made by governments when dealing with terrorists. Many have made the mistake of compromising with terrorists, which makes them appear weak and targetable, which only sponsors future terrorist acts. The
After the establishment of Al-Qaeda, the main purpose of the terrorists’ attacks become the Islam. Especially after the War of Syria, Al-Qaeda becomes ISIS, which threats people’s security and planed influential attacks which caused massive death. From the establishment of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, proves the war stimulate the growth of terrorism organization, and the data shows the period after a war occurs, the times of terrorists’ attacks increased.
Weapons technology has become more increasingly available, and the purchasing power of terrorist organisations is on the rise. The ready availability of both technology and trained personnel to operate it with sufficient cash allows the well-funded Governmental counter-measures.