Homeland Security Term Paper

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Oct 30, 2023

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1 Homeland Security Term Paper By: Anthony Terrell The United States and other countries in the world have been facing terrorist attacks from a number of malicious terrorist groups and individuals. Terrorism has been defined in many ways by different people. The definition that I think fits the best given the circumstances is “ Terrorism is the premeditated, deliberate, systematic murder, mayhem, and threatening of the innocent to create fear and intimidation in order to gain a political or tactical advantage, usually to influence an audience— James M. Poland ” ( Spindlove & Simonsen, 2018). Terrorist attacks can range from mass shootings, explosions, cyber attacks and suicide bombings both international and domestic. The United States has had a few extraordinary and tragic terrorist attacks in the past few years. In 2011 Al-Qaeda terrorists led by the leader Osama Bin Laden decided to fly planes into the world trade center and the Pentagon. We have also encountered terrorist attacks known as the Oklahoma city bombing in April 1995 and the Boston marathon bombing in April of 2013. The United States Department of Homeland Security has made significant upgrades to the homeland security of our country over the years due to the terrorist attacks. The United States has created the department of homeland security office to help keep people safe from terrorists and attacks. The United States has also developed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) which helped implement security measures at airports. They also conduct passenger and baggage screening. The TSA administration has also updated aircraft with reinforced cockpit doors which would

2 protect the pilot from a potential hijacker. The United States department of homeland security and TSA have also developed the No Fly List and Selectee List which prohibits certain individuals from flying that may be linked to terrorism activities. On September 11th, 2001 Al-Qaeda terrorists had decided to bomb some parts of the United States. The terrorist’s had hijacked several planes around the United States. The first place the terrorist decided to attack was the world trade center in New york. A plane was hijacked by terrorists and they crashed into the north tower of the world trade center. Shortly after another flight was hijacked by another Al Qaeda terrorist which then crashed into the South Tower. Upon impact of both planes colliding into the towers, they both fell to the ground which caused even more deaths. The Al Qaeda terrorists had also attacked the Pentagon in Virginia. The plane was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon by other Al Qaeda terrorists. In Pennsylvania the 3rd plane was hijacked by the terrorists. When the terrorists attempted to hijack the plane, passengers had fought against the terrorist which then caused the plane to crash into a field, stopping them before the terrorist reached the target destination. According to multiple articles It is believed that the target of Al-Qaeda's bombing was either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. The United States took a hard approach to these terrorists to help cease their operation. Within months thousands of militants were killed or captured, and Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders were driven into hiding. The U.S. government exerted great effort to track down other al-Qaeda terrorists and sympathizers throughout the world and made combating terrorism the focus of U.S. foreign policy (Bergen, 2018). In total around 3,000 people were killed

3 in the 9/11 attacks which included first responders and civilians. Thousands more people were injured as a result. Another significant terrorist attack that the United States has dealt with is the Oklahoma city bombing. This terrorist attack happened on April 19, 1995 in Oklahoma city. A former US Soldier named Timothy McVeigh was the terrorist who carried out the attack. This attack was very unpredictable. He was motivated by anti-government and far-right beliefs. This is just one case of domestic terrorism that the United States has faced over the years. The department of homeland security has done significant upgrades to help secure our nation to prevent these types of attacks. This attack consisted of a massive homemade bomb composed of more than two tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil. It was concealed in a rental truck which then exploded. This caused heavy damage on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. A total of 168 people were killed, including 19 children, and more than 500 were injured (Jenkins, 2019). The United States has zero tolerance for any form of terrorist attack. McVeigh was then executed in 2001 for the terrorist attack. He was the first person executed for a crime in the United States since 1963. This terrorist attack was very tragic and hardly unpredictable due to the fact that McVeigh was prior military. This just shows how unpredictable any terrorist attack may be. Domestic terrorism attacks are one of the hardest attacks to defend against due to that reason. Terrorist attacks can happen at any given moment.

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4 The Boston Marathon attack was another very tragic terrorist attack that had happened on April 15th, 2013. 3 people died and 280 people were injured as a result of this attack. This tragic attack was carried out by two brothers named Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. They planted 2 bombs that were contained inside of pressure cookers. They strategically placed these bombs near the finish line. These bombs ended up detonating around 14 seconds apart. After FBI agents captured the brothers they began to question them. Dzhokhar said that he and his brother were motivated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that they were self-radicalized and not connected to any outside terrorist groups, and that he was following his brother's lead. They also said they learned to build explosive devices from the online magazine of al-Qaeda. “Dzhokhar revealed to investigators that he and his brother had obtained the plans for the bombs from Inspire, an online newsletter published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (Ray, 2022). He also said they had intended to travel to New York City to bomb Times Square. After this bombing police and FBI had made a swift response to this terrorist attack. The police moved all of the remaining runners to a safer place away from the attacks. Nearby buildings surrounding the scene were evacuated to keep people safe from any other bombs in the vicinity. Over the years we have seen a number of terrorist attacks on the United States. The attack on the Twin towers, the Oklahoma city bombing and the Boston marathon bombing were all tragic terrorist attacks that we have faced. Unfortunately this is only a handful of terrorist attacks that the US has faced. The United States and the Department

5 of Homeland Security has made significant upgrades to the homeland security of our country over the years due to the terrorist attacks that have occurred. The United States has created the department of homeland security (DHS) office to help keep people safe from terrorists and attacks. As of the creation of DHS in 2002, it helped multiple agencies improve domestic security and border control. DHS also plays a crucial role in coordinating and implementing homeland security protocols. The United States has also developed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) which helped implement security measures at airports. They are responsible for conducting security checks at airports including luggage and passenger screening. The U.S. substantially enhanced its capacities to track and shut down terror finance networks, and it adapted its approaches to address terror threats in the cyber realm, staying in front of rapidly changing technologies (Katulis & Juul, 2021). As the years progress we must trust and ensure that the United States can keep up on security protocols to help defend against terrorist attacks.

6 References: 1. Bergen, P. (2018). September 11 attacks | Facts & Information. In Encyclopædia Britannica . Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks 2. John Philip Jenkins. (2019). Oklahoma City bombing | Facts, Motive, Timothy McVeigh, & Memorial. In Encyclopædia Britannica . https://www.britannica.com/event/Oklahoma-City-bombing 3. Ray, M. (2022). Boston Marathon bombing of 2013 | terrorist attack, Massachusetts, United States. In Encyclopædia Britannica . https://www.britannica.com/event/Boston-Marathon-bombing-of-2013 4. Spindlove, J. R., & Simonsen, C. E. (2018). Terrorism today : the past, the players, the future (6th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. TEXTBOOK https://plus.pearson.com/products/1957413c-5614-4d15-80f5-96883e5a6abe/pages /b7187730-126a-11ec-8ccf-d0fbb8825d36?userPreferredType=read&iesCode=T3 X9lX1FZ1 5. Katulis, B., & Juul, P. (2021, September 10). The Lessons Learned for U.S. National Security Policy in the 20 Years Since 9/11. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/lessons-learned-u-s-national-security-pol icy-20-years-since-911/

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