Terroism Case

The United States Department of Defense has defined terrorism as "the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to include fear intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological." (about.com) According to this definition and information that has been gathered from out intelligence, we have reason to believe we will soon face a terrorist attack. A terrorist group/organization, that is known for their hatred of capitalism and Western culture intends on waging a violent campaign against the United States within the next 30 days.

Although we do not know the exact date, time or location, we do know the target would be a high profile location, which would produce mass casualties. Some examples of high profile locations would be military bases, subway or railway systems and chemical plants, as these are usually within close proximity of large cities. (Kingsbury) Terrorists see these locations as opportunities to cause large amounts of destruction and cause high fatality rates which would drive terror into the citizens of the United States.

Terrorist attacks are very unpredictable and are always evolving so we must be prepared for any and all attacks. Based on the information gathered from our intelligence, and from past experiences with terrorist attacks, there are 5 major cities that match the "high profile location". These cities have also been attacked before. "Los Angeles, CA. has faced 54 terrorist attacks. Washington, DC. has faced 59 attacks. San Francisco, CA. has faced 66 terrorist attacks. Miami, FL. has faced 70 and New York City, NY. has dealt with 248 terrorist attacks." (Viegas)

Now that we have the high profile location target narrowed down, we can begin looking at counter-terrorism strategies and preventative methods. There are several methods to help combat terrorism. We must work on these and find which ones work and which ones do not. Let's take a look at these methods, and see what we can apply to the information that we have.

The negotiation methods "would set the wrong precedent of conceding to terrorist demands as well as weakening our resolve and standing in the international community." (McCoy) There is no reason to believe that these same terrorists who attack innocent men, women and children would even uphold their end of the negotiations.

Preemption methods "are very costly and perhaps even counterproductive." (Daalder) We would have to take a look inside the communications and facts before taking any preemptive strikes, as to not cause a war without reason.

The retaliation methods "may reduce terrorism, disrupt their operations and buy time while they regroup, it may also entice terrorists to escalate the level of violence, increase their support and make it easier to recruit new members."