I choose to talk about this topic because it is a highly controversial and relevant issue today in many countries. With news that there are members of ISIS living in the U.S. and people leaving to join ISIS raise security awareness all over the world. This could result in a large increase in unnecessary civilian surveillance and increases fear among America's people. This research question affects me and my future by presenting a threat that is constantly looming. It also affects my values as a peaceful person and takes the world a large step back from world peace. My personal experience regarding my research topic is watching and reading about stories of the rapid growth of the terrorism group ISIS who plan on spreading corruption to control any nation who does not agree with their religious beliefs. The many videos sent from ISIS directly threatening the U.S have made me somewhat uneasy and worried about the future. I think the only thing that qualifies me to write about this is that it affects everybody, particularly the United States. Therefore I feel obligated to research how America will prepare for any attacks or if we will decide to take the fight to them.


In this article President Obama has stated that the U.S has not taken appropriate measures in communicating with its citizens the threat of local terrorism and the safety measures being used to protect the general public. Obama refers to the story of two terrorist invading a "public building in San Bernardino and shot to death 14 people at a holiday party" The major values at stack for the article are the general public's everyday comfort and the nation's security infrastructure. Some of the interests involve how the American people will view their everyday lives if they hear more and more about terrorism happening inside the U.S. Our strength facing fear is affected by these examples of uncalled for violence. Karen Deyoung is the senior national security responder for The Washington Post. She has worked for over 30 years on foreign policy and white house stories and won multiple reporting awards. The source of her article is none other than the president Barack Obama eliminating most bias aside from whether or not Obama wants to hide specific information from the public dealing with strategy against local terrorism.


The central claim of this source is that the media has over saturated its content and focus on any domestic terrorism attack that looks to harm any group of people. Levin states that there is a common myth that the number of terror attacks has grown since 9/11 but disproves this statement by showing that the number of domestic terrorism attacks has decreased to as low as 11 since 2007. The major values and interests at stake in this article are the feeling of safety of the American people and their opinions of the radical groups, particularly Muslims that are speculated in causing all of these attacks. Levin also wants to disclose ideas that these attacks are politically motivated attempts to overthrow or scare our government into making rash decisions. Jack Levin is the Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University in Boston who has written over 150 published articles and appeared on national television shows to speak about domestic terrorism. This does not leave much room for bias as this article is dependent on the statistics he has given to prove these common misconceptions as false.


The central claim in this article is that regardless of all of the jihadist threats coming from the Middle East, America must remember that domestic terrorism is still prominent issue. Stewart uses evidence like single person, single agenda attacks over a particularly small issue. He claims these attacks are too small to speak volumes but the action needs to raise awareness. The major values and interests at stake in the article are similar to the other sources, the comfort of everyday life for the American people and the trust in the nation to keep its people safe. Scott Stewart was a former agent for the US State Department and is a current analyst for Stratfor Global Intelligence. The experience of working with the State Department has given him the credentials to give his opinion on the subject but may be biased by being surrounded by all of the stories of domestic terrorism and not being able to step back and look at its relevance across the U.S. This article heavily contradicts my other source by Jack Levin and lacks statistical proof that domestic terrorism is on the rise. However, he is not incorrect about the fact that domestic terrorism is still a reoccurring cycle in America that is not being focused on fixing.

I feel that my research question is fairly arguable considering the extreme nature of the subject. The importance of the question involves the future of our country and the possibility of the loss of countless lives from both sides. The ever looming question of "what if?" or "when" concerns everyone leaving a feeling of vulnerability. If we cannot answer this question, we will forever live in fear of an uprising or surprise attack from an evil power growing inside the walls of our nation. Some of the disagreements about my research topic lie within the opinions of the officials that think we should or should not bring information about national security to the public. The perspectives of my sources make me believe that there is definitely a compromise in local security and that government officials are aware of it. I might need to revise my research question by narrowing it down to a more specific, more arguable question.
