The USS Cole bombing, The Anthrax Letters and salmonella attacks and the bombing of the Pan AM Flight 103 while it was in mid-air are just but a few examples of cases that one thing in common. The primary feature in all these is that they are all examples of terrorist acts that have been committed and have claimed millions of lives in some cases. The use of violence and acts of intimidation that are considered to be not within the law can be the most appropriate definition of terrorism. This mainly occurs in the innocent civilians. These acts are usually made by people who are pursuing their self and greedy interests.
Domestic and International terrorism is the main classes of terrorism that are commonly known. Domestic terrorism involves the acts of dangerous activities that have been deemed harmful to human lives in any way that is done within a country and without any directions from abroad. On the other hand, international terrorism involves that kind of terrorism that is done by people of a country outside their own country's jurisdiction territory, and it means them receiving directions from outside their states or from abroad. These instructions can also involve them getting their sources of finances from overseas. The deadliest groups of terrorism in the world include The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which it the world's most powerful group that has taken action into almost half the globe. Others include Boko Haram, The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, Haqqani Network, HAMAS and Kataib Hezbollah.
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HAMAS as an example of a terrorist group was founded in the year 1987 and it was set to oppose the 1993 peace accords that were between the Israeli's and the Palestinians. It is an Islamic group based in the West Bank and the Strip of Gaza
Having a look at some of these groups in details it is evident that they all share some common characteristics and these involve:
Dangerous activities that are thought to violate the state's or federal's laws.
They occur within or outside a jurisdictional territory.
The intention to violate the rights of a population or to influence the policy of a government or even to intimidate a government and thus affect the government's conduct.
The above groups use low and improvised tactics to tactics that are of the very high profile. The top profiles include the use of suicide bombers, hostage executions and the use of VBIEDs (Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices).
These terrorist groups and others that are of the same kindled to the establishment of The Department of Homeland Security. Its inception was mainly prompted by the terrorist attack that was set against The United States of America.
Several reasons motivate the formation of such groups. Among the reasons are, religious reasons, political reasons, socio-economic factors, undemocratic governments, indoctrination, ethnicity and Alienated Intelligentsia. These kinds of causes are the determinants of the domestic and foreign attacks. Some countries in the world have been found to breed such types of acts and the people that commit them. In general, these countries have already received critics across the world as a whole. This is aimed at stopping them from promoting these evil agendas. Investigative measures have also been put in place to identify the people who nurture any kinds of terrorism.
The annual CT (Counter-Terrorism) calendar which is published by NCTC in a daily planner format and designed as a confirmation guide for security and military personnel, citizens concerned with threats of terrorism, intelligence personnel, and the law enforcement personnel. These calendars contain information about international terrorism and the dates of the occurrence of terrorism that are used as the marks of commemoration dates. The schedules also include, conventional deadly explosives, possible chemical incidences indicators, the false documents indicators and the stand-off distances of bomb threats. Measures of mitigation that involve treats about radiology are also available on these calendars.
There are various federal responses to terrorism primarily in the United States of America. Examples are the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism that was signed into law by the American then president, and in the year 1996, the FBI established the NCTC.
The Department of Homeland Security, which was established in the year 2001 by the former President George W Bush. It was headed by Tom Ridge, who was Pennsylvania's governor by then. Homeland security is a combination of many issues together. These issues include immigration, terrorism, law enforcement issues and disastrous. It was formed as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States of America. It is coordinated at all levels by the government of The United States.
The DHS has a five-fold mission. These missions include:
Security enhancement and the prevention of terrorism.
Enhancement and management of border security.
Zero cyber-crime, that is, safe and secure cyberspace.
The administration and enforcement of the laws about immigration.
To guarantee disaster resilience.
A two-level advisory threat was introduced in the year 2011 by the DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. These two are the Elevated Threat and the Imminent Threat. The Elevated danger would warn the United States of America of a terrorist threat that is credible against it while the imminent Threat would notify the United States of a specific, credible and impending threats by the terrorists against the United States.
The media also plays a significant role in the war against terrorism. Press can either come in terrorism as a positive or a negative way. Its publicity can either encourage terrorists to go on with their evil acts as it can support the people to know the effects of terrorism and hence fight against such kinds of actions.