Terrorist cells
ABSTRACT
A terrorist cell is a small group of terrorists, usually three to five members. They subdivide the large terrorist group into several small units that are not entirely independent. In order to enhance security, members of the adjacent terrorist cells normally do not know each other or their leaders. Terrorism is the criminal act implemented by an individual or a group that is influenced by politicians or their religions. These terrorist cells typically operate with a threat of them being discovered or being disrupted by law enforcement organizations (Covey, 2010).
INTRODUCTION
Since 11th September 2001, terrorist attacks have rapidly increased in the United States with the serious threat being international terrorism. Various factors have contributed to an increase in both international and domestic terrorism. One of them is an increase in lone offenders. The threats are evolving from large-groups to lone offenders attacks. They usually operate online and mobilizes violence faster. Because of their unclear group affiliation, they are challenging to identify, disrupt, or investigate. Another factor that has led to an increase in terrorism is the internet and social media. Terrorists have been very present on the internet via messaging platforms and online videos and images. They have been able to recruit individuals who are receptive to the extremist messages they send. Social media has also enabled them to gain virtual access to their targets in the United States, facilitating their homeland attacks. FBI has been on the front line in fighting both international and local terrorism in the United States (Rollins, 2010).
There are several types of terrorism. State-sponsored terrorism is an attack on a state that is supported by another state. Dissent terrorism attacks from terrorist groups that have rebelled against their government. Terrorists and the left and right are a group that is based on political ideology. Religious terrorism, on the other hand, attacks from religiously motivated groups. Criminal terrorism attacks from groups that aid crimes for criminal profits (Stich, 2008).
The September 11th attack was a reflection of a trend towards severely destructive terrorist attacks. Before that, there had been other attacks, but the September attack resulted in the highest casualty figures that were almost ten times higher than the previous attack. The majority of the victims were civilians. It was the first-ever international terrorism in the United States after the World Trade Centre’s vehicle bombing in February 1993. The trend in the attacks was signified by their shift in tactics and techniques in the international terrorists where their focus was to produce mass casualties. Domestic terrorism has also drastically increased in the United States. Between 1980 and 200, the FBI had recorded approximately three hundred and thirty-five suspected terrorism in the country. Among these, two hundred and forty-seven were domestic terrorism, and eighty-eight were international in nature. As these terrorist cells continue to improve and expand their techniques, they pose a greater risk to the United States (Covey, 2010).
There have been significant changes in the nature of terrorist threats in the country. Right-wing extremism overtook the left-wing extremism and became the most dangerous domestic terrorism. However, the September 11th attack signified clearly that the United States also confronts challenges from international terrorists. The Al-Qaeda terrorist group that was headed by the late Bin Laden has been the most urgent threat to the United States. There was clear and irrefutable evidence that linked Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden to the September 11th attack. The law enforcement agencies and the military has put much effort to weaken the structure and capabilities of this terrorist group. It is still a potential and highly capable group with cells all over the world. FBI has intensified and enhanced its abilities to investigate and mitigate terrorism attacks against the United States whenever they are organized. They have established forty-four legal offices in countries around the world to ensure that they have sufficient investigative resources to support their focus on countering terrorism and terrorist groups. Due to the enhancement of their capability to counterterrorism investigations, the response of the FBI to terrorisms has changed the dynamics of terrorism (the United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Terrorism; Nonproliferation; and Trade, 2014).
Domestic terrorism
Domestic terrorist groups mostly follow the principles of racial supremacy, anti-government, and antiregulatory beliefs. They are divided into two major categories, namely, right-wing groups and left-wing groups. Right-wing groups generally take part in activities that are protected by their constitutional rights of free speech. When the talks of these groups progress to unlawful activities, then law enforcement is involved. Right-wing groups represent a terrorist threat to the United States. There were two out of seven organized terrorist acts that were prevented in 1999, which would result in high casualty were planned by right-wing groups. The left-wing groups, on the other hand, see themselves as peoples’ protectors against oppression by capitalism and imperialism. Their goal is to bring change in the United States, and they believe that the change cannot be brought about by the established political process but rather through revolution. Between 1960 and 1980, the left-wing groups posed very severe domestic terrorism threats in the United States. Recently, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is one of the most active extremist groups in the United States. They have a destructive aspect, but despite that, they discourage activities that may cause harm to animals, humans, or nonhumans (Rollins, 2010).
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
The United States has faced the challenge of international terrorism for a long, one of them being the severe September 11th attack. International terrorism in the United States can be divided into three categories: the radical international Jihad movement, state sponsors of international terrorism, and formalized terrorist organizations. Each of the classes is a threat to the United States. The most feared international terrorism threat to the United States originates from Sunni Islamic extremists, the Al-Qaeda organization. This is because of their ability to cause large-scale destruction and violence as they demonstrated in the September 11th attack and the October 2000 bombing of USS Cole as well as the August 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (Stich, 2008).
The Al-Qaeda threat is a part of the threat from radical international Jihad movement. The movement has terrorist cells made up of individuals from different nationalities, races, tribes, and ethnicity who works together to achieve the group’s goal. The main goal of the extremists is to remove the US military forces from the Persian Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia. The most common characteristic of these individuals is their commitment to the radical international jihad movement. This includes their agenda of promoting the utilization of violence against those viewed as enemies of Islam for them to overthrow the government that is not ruled by Sharia law. The primary objective of this group is to plan and implement large-scale, high-casualty, and high-profile terrorist attacks against the United States’ citizens and those of their allies all over the world (Covey, 2010).
The second group of the international terrorist threat is formal terrorist organizations. These groups usually have their own infrastructure, personnel, finances, and training facilities. They are capable of planning and executing terrorist campaigns internationally, various terrorist-related operations in the United States. Groups such as the Irish republican army, Palestinian Hamas, and the Egyptian El-Gama AL-Islamiyah are supported in the United States by some individuals, though the operations of these groups are mainly fund-raising, gathering of low-level intelligence, and recruiting. The Hizballah organization has executed several anti-US attacks abroad, such as the vehicle bombing in October 1983 in the US marine barracks based in Lebanon (White, 2011).
Lastly, the third category is the state sponsors of terrorism. They are mainly sponsored by Iran, Libya, Iraq, and Sudan. These countries perceive terrorism as a foreign policy tool. Syria also offers a platform for international terrorist groups though it has not yet been directly involved in implementing terrorism activities for years. North Korea and Cuba are also on the United States’ list of state sponsors. However, they have their involvement in terrorism due to the diminishing ability of their economy to support the activity (Watson et al., 2013).
Response to terrorism
The FBI has been very dedicated to responding to the threats from domestic and international terrorism. Over the years, the number of special agents involved in counterterrorism programs has significantly grown. The FBI has also strengthened the counterterrorism programs and improved their abilities to perform their objectives. The FBI has established an FBI countermeasure center where they have centralized their operational and analytical functions to counter-terrorism. These centers help in combating terrorism in three sectors, namely, domestic terrorism operations, international terrorism operations both inside the United States and supporting the extraterritorial investigations, and lastly, countermeasures in both international and domestic terrorism. Various federal agencies are posted in the centers and are involved in its daily operations. These agencies include the Department of State, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the secret service. This arrangement of various agencies offers an opportunity to share information, warning, and on-time analysis of intelligence (Rollins, 2010).
FBI has also adopted interagency cooperation. They have developed a closer working relationship with the CIA, which has strengthened their response to terrorist threats and has improved the ability of the government of the United States to deal with terrorist attacks that may occur. A national infrastructure protection Centre has also been established. It was established in 1998 and is housed at the FBI headquarters. It is the focal point where the government warns and responds to both domestic and international cyber intrusion from terrorists. The FBI laboratory has also supported counterterrorism investigations all over the world. It helps in collecting and analyzing some physical evidence collected on-scene of major crime scenes. They also have a mobile crime laboratory with analytical instruments to efficiently screen explosives and traces of evidence collected at scenes of attacks. The laboratory also enables them to respond on time to attacks related to the use of chemicals or biological agents through the FBI’s modern Fly Away Laboratory. The laboratory has also partnered with other federal agencies for efficient and effective analysis of chemicals, radiological and biological materials (the United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Terrorism; Nonproliferation; and Trade, 2014).
A warning is vital in the prevention of terrorist attacks. The FBI has therefore expanded their warning system of terrorist attacks. The system can reach all law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Approximately sixty federal agencies receive information through teletype that is very secure through this warning system. If the threat information is sensitive and requires unclassified dissemination all over the nation, the FBI uses the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications system to transmit the message. For instance, on 11th September, the FBI dispatched an advisory on nationwide terrorist threats through the National Threat Warning System (White, 2011).
Future recommendations
The following steps can be taken to strengthen the ability of the United States to prevent and investigate terrorist attacks.
One important step is the encryption initiative of the FBI. Communication is the fundamental of all collaborations, including conspiracies of criminals. Terrorists depend on oral or electronic communication in communicating details of their terrorist attacks. The FBI fully supports the development and utilization of innovative technology in enhancing the competitiveness of the United States in the global market but, these technologies pose a threat to the public safety by the misuse of these technologies that denies the law enforcement access to the resources of terrorists or other related evidence. The commercially available encryption products that cannot be recovered used by terrorists prevent law enforcement from accessing the vital evidence. The inability to access these evidence disables the FBI to prevent and prosecute terrorists (Watson et al., 2013).
Another recommendation is that there should be a joint terrorism task force. All law enforcement agencies are an essential comprehensive response to terrorism. These task forces have already been established and are appropriately suited to respond to terrorism. The task forces combine both national and international resources of the FBI and those of street-level expertise of the local law enforcement agencies in combating terrorism. This has been successful in the prevention of terrorism attacks (Stich, 2008).
There has also been an expansion of the FBI legate. The expansion legat offices all over the world have improved the counterterrorism capabilities of the FBI. The small offices have helped in tracing terrorists and to obtain investigation resources to help in prosecuting the terrorists. This has been the main reason why the United States has been able to curb international terrorism effectively. The FBI legats should be further expanded to additional countries to increase the FBI’s capability of fighting terrorism even more. The improvement in analysis and the operational abilities of the FBI, together with an increase in their cooperation and integration, have both improved the agency’s ability to prevent and investigate terrorism acts. They have been able to indict and prosecute a huge number of domestic extremists who have been involved in terrorism activities. Additionally, over sixty individuals involved with international terrorism have also been charged in the United States (Rollins, 2010).
Conclusion
Despite the significant focus on international terrorism, there is also a need to recognize the threat posed by domestic terrorism. Although most attacks executed by domestic terrorists have resulted in a significantly low figure, there is a potential risk of heavy loss demonstrated by an attack in Oklahoma that claimed over one hundred and sixty-nine lives; thus, some domestic terrorists also have an interest in inflicting mass casualties. There should also be a major focus on the Al-Qaeda cells in countries all over the world because they pose a continuous threat to the United States. The attackers who executed the September 11th attack successfully maintained a low profile and avoided the attention of law enforcement agencies. This is why they were not prosecuted. This poses a challenge to law enforcement agencies to improve their techniques to uncover and disrupt the Al-Qaeda cells in the United States. Terrorism has continuously been a threat to the United States and a challenge to the FBI. The FBI has, however, developed effective counterterrorism programs to disrupt terrorist activities and has transmitted effective warnings to all law enforcement agencies on time. This has an approach that has been successful in preventing and investigating terrorism activities. However, terrorists are dynamic in nature and improve their methodologies daily. This calls for the capabilities of the United States to be refined continuously in order to offer an effective response in fighting terrorism (the United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Terrorism; Nonproliferation; and Trade, 2014).
References
Covey, H. C. (2010). Street gangs throughout the world. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Rollins, J. (2010). International terrorism and transnational crime: Security threats, U. S. Policy, and considerations for Congress. DIANE Publishing.
Stich, R. (2008). Terrorism against America: External and internal In terrorists. Silver peak Publisher.
The United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Terrorism; Nonproliferation; and Trade. (, 2014). Terrorist groups in Latin America: The changing landscape: Hearing before the subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation, and trade of the committee on foreign affairs, House of Representatives, one hundred thirteenths Congress, second session, February 4, 2014.
Watson, A. P., Covarrubias, A. P., & Lansford, P. T. (2013). America’s War on Terror. Ash gate Publishing.
White, J. (2011). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Cengage Learning.