Terrorism: The Role Of Terrorism In The United States

What is terrorism? The FBI defines terrorism as the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. Many people believe terrorism only applies to the middle east or regimented groups such as ISIS but in reality; terrorism can be a solo individual such as the Unabomber that was active between the years of 1978-1995. Modern day terrorists often use groups often referred to as ‘cells’ to accomplish their sinister objectives. The purpose of cells is so that if one cell is compromised, it will not have any effect on other cells or the main conspirator pulling the strings of the cells. Terrorism can

not only be a physical attack but a cyber one as well, referred to as ‘cyberterrorism’.

We will go in depth to the understanding of both modern terrorism as well as modern cyberterrorism.

Modern terrorism can be referred to be both domestic terrorism as well as international terrorism. The difference between the two is basically domestic terrorism only applies when acts occur within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Modern terrorist groups such as ISIS implement various methods to obtain their goal. One such method is establishing a Caliphate based upon distorted views of prior Islamic civilizations. The Caliphate that ISIS has created in captured territories is often referred to as a type of hell. ISIS does not allow people to freely leave controlled towns unless approved by leadership. They openly execute groups of Muslims whom do not conform or submit to the ways of the Caliph. All in all, they are intimidating entire populaces to reach their objectives. On the other hand, we have terrorists who utilize the Internet to further their political or social objective; otherwise known as cyberterrorists. In this day and age, modern societies life revolves around the Internet. The job of cyberterrorists is to use troublesome activities via the Internet to intimidate or cause harm to the populace. Due to the dependence of the Internet that is growing rapidly worldwide, cyberterrorism is becoming a mainstream problem. Experts are worried that entire infrastructures can be taken down by a well-coordinated attack by a cyberterrorism group. Due to the Internet spanning the entire globe, an attack can take place from the other side of the world with no

notice.

Now we will go into the major effects of both types of terrorism in society. Modern terrorism can play a huge role in how a general population operates. We can use 9/11 for an example to illustrate this fact. During the attacks on September 11th 2001, all planes, to include crop dusters and planes that tow ad banners, in the United States were grounded until September 13th. Due to the fear of additional terrorist attacks, Americans took it upon themselves to drive to their destinations resulting in multiple ‘extra’ car crashes. Experts estimate that an additional 1,595 extra deaths occurred during the first year after 9/11. The United States fell into a reactive state that ramped up security everywhere, implemented new organizations such as the DHS, or Department of Homeland Security, and discrimination grew rampant against Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South-Asian Americans. As of April of 2015, the United States as spent or obligated an estimated 4.4 trillion dollars on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This type of spending has impacted all American taxpayers as a result. Cyber terrorism also plays a huge role in modern societies psyche. Cyber terrorism can have a distinct psychological impact on individuals that range from stress to aggressive behavior. Most people view cyber-attacks as simple as someone hacking their e-mail account or Facebook but in reality, a large scale cyber-attack can halt essential services for long periods of time endangering a large portion of the populace. Whilst cyber terrorism has yet to claim any lives and does not rank in the general populations mind as dangerous, we are still just in the beginning stages of what is to come.