 Throughout the thousands of years that humans have been on this earth, there has always been conflict. Conflict over territory, food, water, wealth, religion, and ideologies. It is almost human nature to wage war or rise to the occasion of creating conflict. History has shown that there is a side of man that will enable him to protect what is his, this reigns true even in the present. This brings my point, in what seems to the be the most recent development in the history of humans creating conflict. I believe the global war on terror seems to be that development. This is a war that involves every living person no matter what age, race, or religion. Terrorism doesn’t discriminate, it can affect everyone from every walk of life in horrifying ways. It is a war that involves a radicalized Islamic terrorism, and that of Western culture and its way of life. Throughout the years those radicalized groups and individuals have threatened western culture, with emphasis on the United States of America. The hate which fueled those threats turned into attacks, beginning on a large scale with 9/11, and has most recently been attributed to the attacks in San Bernardino, and the shooting in a Florida nightclub. It is unsettling to think of the damaged families, the inconsolable mothers, and the children who will never know their mother or father, and what these attacks mean to them. The most terrifying fact is that one day it could be you, or me, or our families who are the victims of such horrific attacks. It was these attacks, especially 9/11, which kick-started the idea that we as a country needed to be more secure. Since then we have made additions to our security all around the nation. Surveillance has been improved, airport security tightened to an almost extreme level, and there have been advances to our national defense, along with many other enhancements. We as Americans can feel safer in our own homes, with the knowledge that our counter-terrorism techniques and intelligence gathering capabilities are far beyond what they used to be. Although, the problem of stopping the ideologies that fuel radical Islam has not been so successfully solved. Momentary safety is one thing. We need a complete insurance of protection from radicals and their ideologies. However, I believe that this country, the United State of America, on the whole has prepared sufficiently to combat terrorism. Our nation has made major improvements at the international, national, state, and cyber levels. America is now at the forefront of this war on terror, and will continue to spear head operations with the help of other western countries. These statements will reign true to the best of my knowledge, and that knowledge is extensive. I found valuable resources including my brother in law, a native Pakistani, who is well educated in the topic having lived in the middle east. I have done much research on the topic of counter-terrorism and if western countries, especially the U.S, have the necessary preparation and prevention capabilities. 

 Moreover, terrorism has been a re-occurring problem throughout the world. It took the forefront of the media’s attention, beginning nearly fifty years ago. In the 1972 Olympics, Palestinian terrorists took control of the athlete housing and killed two Israeli athletes, while hold nine others hostage. Only seven years later, the famed Iranian hostage crisis took place, commencing with the exile of the Shah, the return of the Ayatollah a known radical, and lastly 52 American citizens were captured and held hostage. We now jump forward, just over twenty years later when on the 11th of September in 2001, the largest terror attack in American history occurred. The date 9/11 has been burned into minds across the world as a symbol of terrorism, because 2,996 Americans lost their lives to radicalized Islam. Although security increased after the attacks, even more atrocities occurred including the 2015, San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people. As well as the Paris attacks in 2015, which killed 128 people in multiple simultaneous attacks. One of the most recent terrorist attacks was the shootings on a Florida nightclub in 2016 which killed 49 people in total. It is not only Islamic terror which U.S. citizens need to be aware of, but also white supremacist terror like that of Dylan Roof. He killed 9 people in a African American church in June of 2015. It feels like Americans receive the brunt force of terrorism, however, this is not the case. In France in 2015 a mass shooting killing 15 people followed after Charlie Hebdo released a satirical image of “Allah”. In Paris that same year, the single deadliest attack in French history occurred, killing 130 and wounding 360 people in mass shootings and bombing spread throughout the city. These were some of the largest attacks by terrorist organizations in the worlds recent history. It was these attacks which inspired western countries to create new policies for counter-terrorism.

Therefore, George W. Bush enacted the Patriot Act after the attacks on 9/11, which gave new powers to agencies like the NSA, FBI, and CIA. There was an increase in government surveillance in the U.S. on its own citizens. Also, the TSA implemented more intense security, like full body scanners, full body frisks, and new rules and regulations. Government agencies issued no fly lists and terrorist watch lists in order to prevent the travel of any suspect person. This along with full body scanning, assisted police and the TSA in apprehending Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab more commonly known as the ‘underwear bomber’ on Christmas day in 2009. The new additions to homeland counter-terrorism were aimed at trying to create a more secure America free from the threat of danger. The foreign counter-terrorism plan has been drastically different, with a very militarized approach. Under Trump, the defense budget is as high as it has ever been at 596 billion dollars annually, and our military still stands as one of the best in the world. Drone warfare has become a much more common strategy in order to saves the lives of our troops, but there are ethical concerns for their uses. However, drones have assisted in killing many prominent figures in terrorist organizations like: ‘Jihadi John’ Mohammed Emwazi (2015), Abu Muhammad Adnani (2016), Hafiz Saeed Khan (2016), and Abdul-Rahman Awlaki (2011). The military doesn’t exclusively use drones, special task forces like navy seal units are used to eliminate high profile targets like, Rahman Mustafa Qaduli (2016) and Osama Bin Laden (2011). A majority of these drone strikes and special operations have been under President Obama’s administration in the White House. The governments of the western countries who combat terror have stood by the United States in their efforts to eradicate terrorist organizations. They have been proactive in their efforts, by creating policies and agencies that specifically target terrorism, like Europol, Interpol, the NSA, and the National Counter Terrorism Agency or NCTC. Lastly, the most important issue about terrorism would be the lack of initiative from western countries to stop the large-scale globalization of radical Islam’s ideologies throughout the world.  

 To commence, I will be exploring the homeland preparation of western countries, with a central focus on the United States, against that of radical Islamic terrorism. The details of the preparation involve the creation of the TSA and heavy surveillance. Next, I will introduce the advances in foreign counter-terrorism beginning with the coalition of forces and the additions of government agencies, as well as the military action taken against terrorism. I will also touch on the negatives as we progress on. Lastly, I will present cyber warfare and how governments will often use the internet to their advantage to combat terror. This involves the baiting of terrorists, jamming communications, and stopping the overall ideologies fueling acts of terror. I will then go over the few problems with our counter terrorism efforts, as well as the false information regarding those efforts, that are promoted by a misinformed audience.  

 Terrorism is a versatile opponent, it can come in multiple different ways. Therefore, we must be prepared to combat it in any way perceivable, this includes in our very own backyards. The whole world has been on its toes in last 50 years because of the rise in terrorist attacks. The most memorable and heavy hitting was that of 9/11. We as a country had never seen such destruction by a foreign enemy in our home. This inspired many citizens and those on the right side of politics to take action. President George W. Bush lead the charge against radical Islamic terrorism, by establishing the Patriot Act. This act was a successful attempt at creating a more secure American especially in two broad areas; the creation of the Transportation Security Agency or TSA, and the increase in nationwide surveillance. The government and experts knew after the attacks that public transportation, especially commercial airlines, were being left with no protection from an event like 9/11. So, security measures were improved. The TSA took a higher priority in creating better procedures for checking baggage. In the article by Kathrine A. Lowe, "Safety in the Sky: Will Reforming and Restructuring the TSA Improve Our Security or Merely Infringe on Our Rights?", she mentions that the TSA had become more “transparent with its handling of baggage.”, the process puts our luggage through multiple scanners ensuring persistent security (Lowe, “Safety”). Baggage doesn’t usually get opened, and even if it is opened, the TSA leaves a note notifying you that a check had been done to the luggage. These improvements create safer skies and a reassured public that their privacy was intact. That however is not the only the way the TSA improved security. A system begun by the FBI called terrorism watch lists, were implemented by the TSA to keep track of the rising number of individuals who were suspected or known terrorists. The article “The Terrorist Watch Lists Explained”, by David Inserra, elaborates on the watch lists saying, “U.S. officials nominate an individual whom they have "reasonable suspicion" to believe is engaged in or aiding terrorist activities.” (Inserra, “Watch Lists”). These lists create a database that those in the TSA can utilize to prevent suspected terrorists before they can attack. Also, the airports were reinforced with “perimeter security”, which is the stationing of armed officers and bomb dogs with accompanying police, a term coined by Martin Rudner in his article, “Intelligence-Led Air Transport Security: Pre-Screening for Watch-Lists, No-Fly Lists to Forestall Terrorist Threats.” This was implemented to ward off any attack from the outside or finding bombs before they become a problem (Rudner, “Intelligence”). As we progressed forward in time, so did our tactics for counterterrorism in airports. Rudner covers the innovative new techniques well by including the “Travel Document Checker program” which can prevent ID fraud, and works hand in hand with identification for the previously mentioned watch lists (Rudner “Intelligence”). Additionally, another security procedure that Rudner talks about in his article is “Full-Body Imaging” which can detect items hidden underneath clothing (Rudner, “Intelligence”). This technique is possibly one of the most valuable assets to the TSA, because there is no room for human error and it is the quickest most efficient form of searching a body. All of these many security strategies and techniques are the responses of the American government after 9/11 and other more recent attacks. I believe that what the government did has significantly improved airport security, and created a safer American transportation system. 

 This moves me to the second half of the homeland counter terrorism issue, the extreme increase in surveillance regarding the U.S government. This is one of the most sensitive issues in the entire counter terrorism operation, because people want privacy no matter the circumstance. However, surveillance is possibly the most pertinent piece of the puzzle in regards to keeping terror under control. The are many government agencies that gather information to fight terror on the home front, but none can compare in scale to that of the NSA. The NSA primarily uses “connection data”, a term used by James B. Rule, the author of “The Price of a Panopticon”, to show how the NSA sees “who communicates with whom, where, how often and for how long… which correlate with increased odds of terrorist activity.” (Rule, “Price”). These calls or sometimes messages, are viewed because the people sending and receiving them meet general characteristics which constitute the recording of data by the NSA. This insight is usually used on already suspected terrorists, which means much of the public is safe from an invasion of their privacy. However, there is more than one way the NSA obtains its data, per the article “Preventing the Next Terrorist Attack: The Theory and Practice of Homeland Security Information Systems”, by Sam Nunn, the NSA gathers data from “law enforcement sensitive information; secret, national security data; public records—so called ‘open source’ intelligence; and records maintained by private firms.” (Nunn, “Preventing”). The NSA is a vast data collection agency and uses all these sources in order to prevent the next terrorist attack. The more information gathered, the better the chance for preventing terrorism. I believe that the NSA has done what is right, the increase in surveillance over the years is completely justified. Keeping tabs on people is necessary to keep track of the many possible terrorist threats and the gathering of information can help the US government and governments around the world discover new terrorists, which in turn can help create awareness to the dangers which surround us. 

To continue the theme of counterterrorism we can now move on to the foreign aspects of safety and security. Foreign counterterrorism is at times even more difficult to control than that of homeland security. It is a global offensive that involves many countries conjoined efforts. The full-scale of the war on terror was initiated by President Bush after 9/11 and has gained even more meaning through the attacks in the following years. One of the most memorable publicized killings in recent years has been the beheading of the American journalist, James Foley. It was events like these that powered our fight against groups like Al Qaeda and ISIL. The fight against radical Islamic terrorism was passed from one President to the next. President Obama had the huge task of defeating Al Qaeda and warding off ISIL, which he has done adequately. The President was a great public speaker, and in a video named, “President Obama Speaks on the U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy.” on YouTube, one of his many speeches on foreign counterterrorism, he covered the ways America has neutralized major foreign threats like Al Qaeda. He was quoted saying that armed forces had “taken out leadership” in terrorist groups (Obama, “President”). The most famous examples of which were the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and a radicalized westerner Jihadi John, the perpetrator behind many beheading videos ISIL broadcasted. These developments were huge blows to the leadership and commercial face of terrorism. However, that was not the only achievement the Obama administration accomplished in their eight years. In the video, the President also mentions that our military had begun “training armies in Pakistan and Afghanistan”, which was an extremely important step in defeating terrorism in the Middle East (Obama, “President”). The training could ensure that no more territory would so easily be taken by terrorist groups. All in all, I believe that the efforts made by both Presidents can be attributed to the progress we have seen in the field of foreign counterterrorism.  

Furthermore, our foreign counterterrorism offensive would be much weaker without the partnered help of other countries, and the creation of certain government agencies. I believe this is quite possibly the most important aspect of defeating terrorism. Standing alone will do nothing but make us weaker, it is the partnerships between our nation and other nations who have shared the same destruction, fear, and death, that create unity and strength. The U.S government joined with other countries in “Kinetic Engagement”, kinetic meaning active, and engagement meaning fighting with the enemy, a term coined by Kathleen Bouzis in the article, “Countering the Islamic State: U.S. Counterterrorism Measures, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism” (Bouzis,“Countering”). 

The coalition of forces was made up of twenty-eight NATO countries, twenty-three partners of NATO, and eight independent countries, all putting effort into halting terrorism. Countries such as the U.S., France, Germany, Etc. have all pledged military support including, weapons, vehicles, and ammunition. Many of those same countries have sent military advisors to countries like Iraq and Syria which are both suffering from terrorism and chaos. Every one of the fifty-one countries in the coalition have come together contributing military power, humanitarian efforts, and supplies for the countries affected by terrorism, primarily those in the Middle East and Africa.  

 Additionally, the threat of terrorism doesn’t come in the physical form every time. There are a few ways terrorists can cause fear and spread their message, and the most predominant way to do so besides physical attacks are those on the internet. Cyber warfare involves combat against many radical ideologies which are being spread through the world, this includes not only Islamist extremism, but also white supremacy, and various other types of cult extremists. The globalization of these ideologies can be attributed to the internet, it is the reason they continue to spread and grow in size no matter what measures we take. The call to action was given, and in recent years our government agencies and police forces have trained specifically for these threats and devised plans to stop the mass diffusion of radical ideologies and those that carry them out. In my own home town, there was a recent threat to shoot up a Hebrew synagogue by a white supremacist, Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell. In the article, “Myrtle Beach area man was planning attack ‘in the spirit of Dylann Roof,’ FBI says”, the author Teddy Kulmala explained how “McDowell had been corresponding with an undercover FBI” (Kulmala, “Myrtle”). It was part of FBI training to convince possible terrorists into buying firearms that got McDowell arrested. The technique used to catch the radical was that of online baiting on a chat site. The FBI agent roleplayed an arms dealer and ultimately trapped McDowell after selling him a disarmed .40 glock. This further proves the U.S in particular is getting more involved in cyber warfare in order to stop things like the Dylann Roof shootings of 2015 that took place in Charleston.  

Moreover, it has been a huge struggle to keep up with the sophisticated and well trained hackers of terrorist organizations. The U.S. in response has given government agencies the task of stopping the cyber threat. In the article, “Cyberwarfare and Cyberterrorism: In Brief”, by Catherine A. Theohary and John W. Rollins the FBI and the NCTC along with many other agencies work to stop what Rollins and Theohary describe as “Transnational terrorist 

organizations, insurgents, and jihadists who use the Internet as a tool for planning attacks, radicalization and recruitment, and a method of propaganda distribution.” (Theohary, Rollins, “Cyberwarfare”). These jihadi and radical groups use code words to order attacks over private massaging apps and chat rooms. They use YouTube and other video sources to put out recruitment videos with a goal to radicalize people. Also, they use newspapers and news channels as publicity to spread their propaganda. These are the problems which our governments face today. According to the article, “The Plan to Combat Terrorism”, by Sanna Khan and Mieke Euyong, the agencies in charge have created strategies that include the scrambling of “online platforms” which recruiters use to spread their propaganda to possible radicals (Khan, Euyong, “Plan”; Anderson, “Cyber”). As well as the partnerships between the American government and social media sites. These sites have formed a coalition with agencies in order to close down accounts that are used for recruitment and the spread of radical ideologies. The first step to defeating radical Islamic terrorism and any other terrorism is to infiltrate electronically, cut their communications, and stop their recruiting process. I believe the United States government has risen to the occasion, especially in recent years, to stop the spread of terrorist ideologies and create a more secure America. 

 All arguments have counter arguments, and the topic of counterterrorism is a touchy subject for many people, the topic can be host to a number decent counter arguments, but also very misinformed ones. One of the most major arguments against that of foreign counterterrorism is that fact that drone strikes cause too many civilian causalities. In the article “The legal and ethical implications of drone warfare, The International Journal of Human Rights”, by Michael J. Boyle explored whether the use of drones is ethical or not. The biggest problem with drone strikes is that “the target selection of the drones is too inconsistent and not precise enough” (Boyle, “Legal”). This in turn causes collateral damage, otherwise known as civilian casualties. The ethicalness of the drone strikes, is in question and in this situation, I agree. The use of strictly just unmanned drones is ultimately unreliable and not smart strategically. When we use only drones, the civilians on the ground in harm’s way will only see missiles and therefore relate us to destruction without accountability. The United States needs to understand that sometimes the unwarranted death of civilians can cause mistrust and hate, and could potentially lead to a larger opposition instead of dissolving conflict. The Obama administration knows that “…insurgents are embedded in the civilian population, intermixing with them in ways that make analytically separating combatants and civilians difficult…” and so some collateral damage must come from drone strikes (Boyle, “Legal”). However, we should not subject these innocent people to the fear of being mistakenly killed. I believe that military intervention is important, although it must be a combination of aerial reconnaissance and boots on the ground not only un manned drone strikes. This change is necessary for the eradication of terrorism. Moving forward, another aspect of foreign counterterrorism is the defense budget. The defense budget was designed to keep the country safe from foreign threats. It was issued in order to fund the military and all of its branches. This budget has been an important part of operations against terrorism, including our military operations like airstrikes, drone strikes, manned assaults, and the training of other militaries around the world. However, in the article “Trump’s Staggeringly Pointless Defense Budget Is a Sure Way to Undermine American Security”, by Fred Kaplan explains that under President Donald Trump, “the defense budget has been increased pointlessly” (Kaplan, “Trump’s”). Due to the increase in the defense budget there will be a decrease in funding in other areas like the State Department which deals more heavily in diplomacy. Trump enacted an increase of 54 billion dollars, to an already “Yuge” in the words of Donald Trump, 583-billion-dollar defense budget. All that occurred was a decrease in diplomatic efforts, and increase in blind military power, which we have plenty of already. This increase can have negatives effects around the world. U.S. embassies could close, and in turn leave us unrepresented in multiple countries. This could lead to the United States becoming less influential on the global stage. Another counter argument is that the terrorist watch lists, which track those suspected to be involved with terrorist organizations, do not properly do their jobs. In the case of Omar Mateen, the Florida nightclub shooter, it appears that the he was on a watch list and was under investigation. Omar Mateen bought a rifle and proceeded to shoot up a Florida night club in the name of “Allah”. If he was on a watch list and under investigation then the FBI should have been alerted of his purchase, but they weren’t, and that is a huge problem. It was explained in the article “The Terrorist Watch List Explained”, by David Inserra, that “Following the conclusion of the investigations, Mateen was removed from the Terrorism Screening Database.”, which can answer the reason for why he was not flagged in the FBI database upon buying a rifle in 2015 (Inserra, “Intelligence”). If Mateen’s investigation had continued correctly and by procedure the result would have been an arrest and the prevention of 49 deaths. It is definitely the FBI’s fault for not uncovering anything terrorist related in connection to Mateen. This was an error in investigation and not in the flagging procedure incorporated into the watch lists, the FBI would have been alerted and a crisis averted if the investigation had gone on. So, it is apparent that there are some problems with the way investigations operate. The watch list program is a separate issue in this case and would have worked if the chance had arisen. It cannot be denied that the country as a whole is prepared in this aspect. 

In conclusion, the United States, and the rest of the world are unified as one and are very well equipped to take on radical Islamic terrorism and every other group that supports terror. We know that homeland security and counterterrorism have been drasticly improved through the creation of the TSA to make traveling safer. It is apparent that a huge amount of surveillance goes on in the country and the large amount of data can positively affect the fight against terrorism. On the foreign front, we have seen that the United States has taken out major leadership and huge propaganda machines. This goes along with the coalition formed with many other countries to fight on the front lines and give humanitarian relief to stop terrorism. Finally, we saw that on the cyber battlefield, America and some European countries are creating new techniques to stop the spread of ideologies. The spread of harmful ideologies is quite possibly the most volatile thing to stop in the global war on terror. In the article “Radicalization of Youth as a Growing Concern for Counter-Terrorism Policy”, by Margarita Bizina and David H. Gray, the shocking fact that there was an, “increase in Canadian, American, and British citizens joining the ranks of terrorist organizations”, in recent years means that increasing amounts of westerners are being radicalized through the internet (Bizina, Gray, “Radicalization”; Wagner, “Battle”). It is very important to cut the propaganda out of our apps and social media sites, and YouTube, and ask of them to act alongside us in the fight against terror. The war on terror is multisided as we have seen throughout this argument. It will not end with just one form of counterterrorism. The article, “Paris Proves We Will Never Kill Enough Jihadists to Stop Terror”, by Maajid Nawaz, explains that “we will never kill our way out of this phenomenon.”, so we must seek other ways, like diplomacy, surveillance, and increased security (Nawaz, “Paris”). It is apparent that a change was needed after the attacks in the past fifty years around the globe, and America has been one of the leading voices in that change. I believe that every enhancement to our counterterrorism efforts, just creates more ground for my argument that the United States of America is indeed very well prepared to combat terrorism around the globe, in our homeland, and on the cyber battlefield.   
