Terrorists And Transnational Organized Criminal Groups

The homeland security mission and goals face many roadblocks and challenges in today’s world. The Quadrennial Homeland Security Review lists six strategic challenges which the Department of Homeland Security feels are of exceptional concern to the nation. Of these outlined challenges I believe that transnational criminal organizations

Although the threat posed by foreign terrorist organizations is often foremost in the public consciousness as a result of al-Qaeda's attack on September 11th, 2001, the threat from domestic terror groups remains a central concern of those responsible for homeland security. In fact, while the United States has not suffered from another foreign attack in the decade since 9/11, research by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, along with non-governmental organizations, has found that the number of domestic terror groups has increased, a trend only exacerbated by the economic recession (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009, Domestic Terrorism). While there are a wide variety of individual groups and ideologies, most domestic terror groups falls into one of three broad categories: religious extremism, white supremacy, and anti-government and separatists movements, including the militia movement. Examining these domestic terror groups in greater detail will aid in better understanding the full spectrum of threats considered by homeland security personnel.

Terrorism, a word most people fear, but so often misinterpret. The textbook definition of terrorism is “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”. But how does that compare to domestic terrorism? Domestic terrorism or “homegrown terrorism” can be defined as “the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator’s own country against their fellow citizens”. Throughout the years, America as a nation has experienced quite a few occurrences of both types. An early example of homegrown terrorism would be the Haymarket Affair which occurred May 4, 1886 where in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, labor protesters detonated a bomb during a rally. Chicago police then responded by firing

Criminal activity and terrorist activity have a relationship that is closely related, with only minor differences separating the two. Terrorist activity are criminal acts that are motivated by a higher cause beyond the basic causes of crime. Terrorist attack are highly planned out, and the same can be said about criminal activity. Serial killers often plan out their acts just as much as terrorist organizations, however the same cannot be said for certain crimes like random assaults. (Newman & Clarke, 2008) The relationship between crime and terrorism is brought closer when terrorist organizations use common crime to fund their attacks. For example, a terrorist organization may resort to stealing chemical agents to make their dirty bombs. The

The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, describes the global jihadist movement as one of “Lone wolves, domestic extremists and jihadist inspired groups” that are determined to attack western interests. A 2014-RAND study describes terrorist organizations relying on affiliates, allies and the ability to inspire homegrown violent extremists. Another report stated that 42 of the 50 known terrorist plots since 9/11 were homegrown. Moreover, diasporas spread across the U.S. are subject to persuasion from web-based propaganda that seeks to exploit, recruit and fundraise among immigrant populations. Last, terrorist organizations will likely exploit the criminal activities of Mexico’s cartels as well as America’s lose border

Al-Qaida formed for opposition to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Bin Laden and the Palestinian religious leader Abdullah Azzam recruited, trained, and financed fighters from more than fifty countries (Jayshree Bajoria, 2012). Osama bin Laden wanted these fighters to continue the "holy war" outside Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden opposed the continued presence of American military forces in Saudi Arabia, and also opposed the presence of non-Muslim troops near the Islamic holy cities, so he then formed the terrorist organization Al-Qaida in 1988 to fight back (Jayshree Bajoria, 2012). In 1992 Bin Laden issued a declaration of war against the United States (Carafano, 2012)

Ever since 9/11 when both World Trade Center buildings were attacked by an Islamic Group, attacks by Islamic Terrorist on U.S. soil have been less of a threat than Domestic Terrorists. Domestic Terrorism has been shown these passed for years but yet again most of these cases have not been classified as acts of Domestic Terrorism they most likely fall into the category. Now the definition of Domestic Terrorism is basically "the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator 's own country against their fellow citizens". Now personally I don 't know how our government is working with these popular cases like Charlottesville, Las Vegas, and a new that just happened recently actually two but I 'll just say one, the New York attack that

As per Adler, smuggling would be illegal migrants from less alluring countries to all the more promising terrains of opportunity, and it has turned into an enormous criminal enterprise, including a huge number of people, billions in assets paid to smugglers, and the loss of an extraordinary number of innocent lives (2013). Trafficking and smuggling are part of the business of terrorism, and constitute one crusade in the mix of terrorist groups. Terrorist smuggle drugs, arms, and people. Terrorism is an exorbitant business, and human trafficking is a standout amongst the most productive organized crime activities. For instance in Russia, the trafficking of females and young children is assessed to win six-billion dollars for every year.. Human trafficking was at one time a crime associated essentially with a scope of little to extensive crime groups, however as terrorist groups begun work more as organizations, we unfortunately watch the development of terrorist groups into this

Progress can be seen as moving forward or the onward movement towards a destination or a particular goal through any means necessary. This has shaped the mindsets of humans, countries, and terrorist organizations. Whether it is progress that comes from active, exemplary methods and actions or that from negative, violent, and unclean methods.The terrorist group al-Qaeda has one primary goal, to eliminate all US influence in the world and has pursued that goal through negative, violent means. However, the efforts of Al Qaeda towards eliminating all U.S. influence around the world have been unsuccessful because of the obstacles posed by the U.S. military and its counterterrorism efforts.

ISIS and many terrorist groups have been recently attacking at will throughout the entire world. The terrorist group of ISIS is the biggest and most widely known terrorist group recently. One of the biggest controversial arguments today is if the United States should go to war with terrorist groups such as ISIS and others. I believe that the best solution to this argument is to not go to war with terrorist groups or ISIS just yet.

The Global Regime for Transnational Crime reports that there are 52 activities that fall under the umbrella of transnational crime from arms smuggling to human trafficking to environmental crime. Terrorists’ activities, money laundering, and drug trafficking can change the dynamics of a business from legitimate to illegitimate. Organized crime is such an issue that causes challenges and problems locally to globally. There is a need to look at the mindset of those who will benefit the most from this behavior. Typically, it is leaders and large organizations. Transnational crime will always exist because of the criminal activity of some powerful people and government corruption. With careful examination of the offenses, most forms of transnational crime are committed by organized groups such as the mafia. According to The Globalized of Crime – A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment organized groups are targeting poor and conflict-ridden countries that are operating the following crimes (Noble,

A dramatic account of the increase in global abductions can be found in Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping by Ann Hagedorn Auerbach (1998). This book focuses on kidnappings that took place throughout the world between 1995 and 1997. Auerbach's writes of kidnappings that occurred in places like Kashmir, Papua New Guinea, and others. And, again, although many kidnappings are politically motivated, Auerbach asserts that a growing number are simply fund-raising exercises by guerrillas or common criminals (1998). For example, when a new rebel group, the Popular Revolutionary Army, surfaced in Mexico in 1996, experts concluded that the group financed itself through kidnappings carried out over the previous two years.

Transnational crime is a growing problem. Transnational crime is defined as “self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnational for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption and/ or violence, or while protecting their illegal activities through a transnational structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communication mechanisms.” (National Security Council, n.d.) . Transnational crimes are known under other names such as cross-national crime, global crime, international crime, and

Another form of cover TOC and terrorist organizations enjoy is that of the local populace. The TOC and terrorist organizations in the area are heavily embedded within the local population, where the majority of indigenous people are unskilled laborers in fields such as farming. Nadelmann (1988) states that little expertise is required to become a smuggler and hundreds of poorly educated farmers can participate in the drug market (p 90). For many, drug trafficking is the only reasonable way to make an income, and so many participate in the business to the point where it essentially becomes socially acceptable. Meanwhile, according to Hudson (2010), a tightly knit Arab community is able organize terrorist activities with the protection of alibis backed up by the rest of the community, making the Arab community difficult to penetrate with surveillance (p. 9).

Transnational gangs are criminal groups that extend their illegal activities across national borders. Examples of transnational gangs include Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street Gang (Gray, 2009). They are dangerous to local communities where they carry out illegal activities, such as human trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, rape, and drug dealing. With soaring revenues from transporting and selling cocaine and crack, the inter-gang violence and bloody territorial disputes have spread and grown more brutal. The gangs are not only fighting each other, but muscling in on territories of the well-entrenched drug trafficking transport networks tied to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel (Farah, 2016).