It is the national objective of the US to combat all forms of terrorism within its borders and around the world. However, since the 9/11 terror attacks, the US changed its approach to the manner in which the issue of global terrorism should be approached. The US Northern Command and The Department of Homeland Security were established following the 9/11 attacks as means that would enable the nation to integrate its war on terror with war on drugs (Campbell and Hansen, 2014). It is understood that the growth of drug trade around the world is one of the major threats to the stability of nations since the money earned has been used to fund militia and terrorist groups (Levitt, 2010; Piazza, 2011; Durbin, 2013). The connection between terrorism and drugs, therefore, suggests the need for a robust approach in solving the issue. While it is reported that the 9/11 attack on Washington transformed the manner in which the US approached the issue of global terrorism, a need exists to understand how each of the two issues affects strategies to deal with the other. Therefore, the research will seek to answer the research question, how do the strategies of fighting drug trafficking affect the approach to combating terrorism of the US?
The purpose of the research project will be to describe the manner in which global terrorism is connected to drug trafficking. Specifically, the proposed research will outline how the US has been shifting strategies of dealing with each of the two problems in an attempt to ensure that its citizens are properly secured from external attacks. For instance, following the realization of the dangers of drug trafficking on its national security, the US decided to use a significant proportion of its resources, including the military, intelligence units, and monetary investments in combating illegal drug trade (Campbell and Hansen, 2014). It will be hypothesized that improved levels of investment into the anti-narcotics war helps in fighting global terrorism. For this reason, the research paper will also attempt to describe levels of effectiveness of the integration of the two issues of national importance. For example, the concern of the public around the US has been on the way the government spends the taxpayer’s money (Stiglitz, 2008; Kull, Destler, and Ramsay, 1997). Such a concern relates to the fact that the pubic requires tracking progress in terms of the projects in which such resources are invested. Therefore, describing the levels of success of an integration of the strategies of drug trafficking into those of counter-terrorism will be a proper way of explaining the nexus between the two to the public. Overall, the research paper will add to the volume of extant literature information on the best strategies of combating terrorism through recommending areas that require improvement in strategy and resource allocation.
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The proposed research will adopt the qualitative approach to studying. According to Creswell and Poth (2017), a qualitative research is an excellent approach to studying since it allows the researcher to play a vital role in the collection of data. For example, as Creswell and Poth note, the methods of qualitative data collection such as interviews and observations allow the researchers to develop a strong understanding of human behavior since they allow them to induce respondents to explain why they feel what they feel. The proposed qualitative research will collect primary data using questionnaires and structure interviews on respondents within the Department of Homeland Security. The association between the war on terror and that on drug trafficking has necessitate the use of different types of resources such as the military, which is why the personnel from this unit of national security will also be included in the research as respondents. The questions used both in the interviews and the questionnaires will be designed to capture the different elements of the study as described in the statement of purpose above.
The researcher will first seek the consent of the 100 respondents from the identified departments through contacting them to explain the purpose of the study and why they have been proposed to participate. Because the research hopes to recruit 100 respondents, the researcher will send 200 consent letters since it is considered that the return rate might be less than that number. After the respondents shall have returned their consent letters, the researcher will use the random sampling method to select only 100 respondents to be used in the primary methods of data collection. The 100 respondents shall only be used in the collection of data if they have an experience with the war on terrorism or that on drugs either as policy makers or as enforcement officers. This approach, therefore, implies, that even ex-servicemen will are potential respondents of the study.
The collected data will be analyzed using the SPSS statistical tool, which will be useful in the determination of the existing relationships among the different variables of the study. The established themes from the statistical analysis will then be presented in visual such as tables and graphs to allow the researcher to explain the existing patterns to the readers. In addition to the use of the statistical tool, the data will be analyzed through content analysis, which is one of the best approaches of constructing the connection among variables in qualitative research (Long and Johnson, 2000).
References
Campbell, H., & Hansen, T. (2014). Is Narco ‐ Violence in Mexico Terrorism? Bulletin of Latin American Research , 33 (2), 158-173.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches . Sage publications.
Durbin, K. J. (2013). International Narco-Terrorism and Non-State Actors: The Drug Cartel Global Threat. Global Security Studies , 4 (1).
Kull, S., Destler, I. M., & Ramsay, C. (1997). The foreign policy gap: How policymakers misread the public . Program on International Policy Attitudes, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland.
Levitt, M. (2012). Hizbullah narco-terrorism: a growing cross-border threat. IHS Defense, Risk and Security , 34-41.
Long, T., & Johnson, M. (2000). Rigor, reliability and validity in qualitative research. Clinical effectiveness in nursing , 4 (1), 30-37.
Piazza, J. A. (2011). The illicit drug trade, counter narcotics strategies and terrorism. Public Choice , 149 (3), 297-314.
Stiglitz, J. (2008). The $3 trillion war. New Perspectives Quarterly , 25 (2), 61-64.
