Terrorism and Intelligence Failures Essay Example for Free

Terrorism and Intelligence Failures Essay Terrorism by dictionary definition is described as the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. Terrorism comes from decades of histories of deep national pride, religious disputes and what is seen as an intrusion upon Islamic holy grounds. Terrorist groups try to gain influence and power in order to affect political change on either a local or an international level. They make this possible through the publicity and fear that is generated by their violent acts. Throughout history terrorist groups have caused much devastation and damage, leaving a huge impact on the world. Terrorism is one of the leading problems in today’s society. The terrorist attack against the United States, on September 11th, 2011, clearly demonstrated the power and strength that terrorist groups possess. The causes of these acts come from the instability, oppression, poverty and political alienation that the citizens of many Islamic-Arab nations face. As a result, the people of Afghanistan and many other Arab nations have generated a deep hatred for the United States going back over a hundred years. The American government and intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, now work harder than ever to prevent such horrifying acts of terrorism from re occurring, since they failed in the prevention of 9/11. â€Å"Terrorism is a complex problem: Its origins are diverse; and those who engage in it, even more so† (Reich, 1). The actions of terrorist groups, as well as terrorists as individuals, are complex. One must recognize that there is not only a single explanation for the act of terrorism. The subject is very intricate and involves a huge diversity of causes and reasons that aid in the explanation and understanding of terrorism. In the book, Origins of Terrorism, Walter Reich examines the psychologies, ideologies, theologies, and the states of mind of terrorists in an attempt to better understand the realms of terrorism. Reich does not only work with terrorism studies itself but instead works within the realms of political science, Islam, history and social psychology to gain a more well rounded understanding of terrorism. Through recognizing the knowledge of these realms, Reich and other scholar’s state this information can contribute to the understanding of the ways in which terrorists view the world and behave in it. Terrorism can be explained as an expression of political strategy. Meaning that terrorist behavior is a willing choice made by an organization for specific strategic reasons. These organizations are very radical political groups that determine that terrorism is the best course of action in accomplishing their political goals. â€Å"The practitioners of terrorism often claim that they had no choice but terrorism, and it is indeed true that terrorism often follows the failure of other methods† (Reich, 10). Failure to mobilize support from masses, lacking of utilization of military power, time constraints and unrealistic expectations cause radical political organizations to turn to terrorism. By choosing terrorism, group members and leaders, willingly accept the risks of challenging the government. The origin of terrorism is as old as humans’ willingness to affect politics through the use of violent acts. Terrorism dates back to first-century Palestine when a Jewish group fought and murdered the Romans and their collaborators who ruled over them. Terrorism went on to be classified as a modern phenomenon. In the twentieth century terrorism was associated with the Italian Red Brigades, the Irish Republican army, the Palestine Liberation Organization and Perv’s shining paths among many others. Terrorism moved away from being based on state action and moved further into a larger aspect of attack against existing political orders. The result of this was due to the growing amount of ethnic nationalism within countries. Groups with strong ethnic nationalism were forming throughout the entire world. Then in the late 1960’s international terrorism became a prominent issue. Terrorism progressed from random killings to massive plans of attacks. Hijacking and bombing had become the favored and popular methods of attack. Organized groups had specific political goals that they carried out through theatrical, symbolic acts of violence. As the twenty-first century came around terrorism started becoming very religiously motivated. Groups like Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah come to mind as they justify their acts of violence on Islamic grounds. Terrorism was now not only being used for political reasons but for religious reasons as well. Religiously motivated terrorist groups are the most alarming terrorist threats in today’s world. The rise of Islamic radicalism and militancy began during the 1970’s in the Middle East region of the world. Islamist terrorism is based on the belief that U.S. foreign policy has killed, oppressed and harmed Muslims throughout the Middle East. This belief resulted in a tense relationship between the ‘West’ and the Arab and Muslim nations, creating a great amongst American society. Osama bin Laden was the founder of the most well known Islamic militant organizations called Al-Qaeda. His goal was to remove and end American military presence in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula, end American support for Israel, return East Timor and Kashmir to Muslim rule and overthrow any Arab regimes that he considered corrupt and insufficiently religious. Al-Qaeda is the most innovative and dangerous terrorist group that has ever existed according the American government and all other countries that have been victims of terrorist acts. It has been known to engage in suicide attacks, kidnappings, hijackings and recruiting new members through the Internet. Al-Qaeda’s operating network consists of a multinational, stateless army, and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for Jihad. Jihad is an important religious duty of Muslims that involves the protection and keeping of the Islamic faith. In the book, The Age of Sacred Terror, authors Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon provides essential insight into the thinking of bin Laden and his followers. Benjamin and Simon talks about bin Laden’s first televised interview with Peter Arnett in March 1997. During his interview he complained and stated, â€Å"the truth is that the whole Muslim world is the victim of international terrorism, engineered by America at the United Nations . We are a nation whose sacred symbols have been looted and whose wealth and resources have been plundered.† Bin Laden continued to state, â€Å"If their people do not wish to be harmed inside their very own countries, they should seek to elect governments that are truly representative of them and that can protect their interests† (Benjamin, 147). Bin Laden gave the people of America a clear warning that he is planning an attack and a war against them. Osama bin Laden issued and signed his second fatwa on February 23, 1998, as the leader of Al-Qaeda. A fatwa is a legal pronouncement in Islam, issued by a religious law specialist on a specific issue. Through the issue of bin Laden’s fatwa, he gave the USA an indictment on the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Middle East. He blames America for occupying lands of Islam and intervening in Middle Eastern affairs. Bin Laden’s goal was to get rid of any Americans getting in the way of his radical Sunni movement. By issuing his second fatwa, bin Laden declared was on the West and Israel. Al-Qaeda also released a video later that year declaring war on the United States and the West as well. After bin Laden had declared war, bombings were carried out on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. There was also an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport and then the USS Cole bombing occurred in October 2000. On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacked the United States once again. This attack not only crushed American ideologies, but also took away the feelings of security that had taken hundreds of years to build. To plan and successfully execute the September 11th attacks, Al-Qaeda terrorists worked for years within the United States using Islamic organizations to coordinate and build their networks. In the book, American Jihad, Steven Emerson tells the story of the terrorists who sought to destroy the United States from the inside. Emerson states, â€Å"Operating in our open society, with freedom of speech and assembly and with only casual oversight from the FB I, the CIA, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the worldwide network of militant Islamic organizations has finally been able to coordinate† (Emerson, 3). The idea that terrorists were working within the United States seemed unimaginable, but the attacks of 9/11 proved that it was possible. Bin Laden organized and set up a network of â€Å"cells† in Tucson, Arizona; Brooklyn, New York; Orlando, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Santa Clara, California; Columbia, Missouri; and Herndon, Virginia. He understood that if he recruited U.S. citizens it would help him in his terrorist efforts because they would be allowed to travel freely throughout the world. By having an American passport his followers would not be detected or questioned whether they were a part of or members of a terrorist group. Bin Laden â€Å"made efforts to recruit United States citizens†¦ in order to utilize the American citizens for travel throughout the Western world to deliver messages and engage in financial transactions for the benefit of Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups and to help carry out operations† (Emerson, 153). Bin Laden was obviously successful in his attack on America, which demonstrated not only to Americans, but also to the rest of the world what great threat terrorism can be to humanity. The success of terrorism depends on the existence of a mass media, which will create and spread the feeling of fear throughout the world. As a result, the attacks of September 11, threw America into a full waged war against terrorism. Military efforts were sent to abroad to Afghanistan and the Bush administration increased domestic efforts in order to prevent future attacks. New ideas and reforms needed to be put in place. American citizens did not understand why the CIA, the biggest intelligence agency in the world, could not prevent such a large scaled terrorist attack from happening. â€Å"The CIA was designed to†¦ â€Å"Connect the dots.† Yet it failed to penetrate sufficiently with human intelligence agents or to fathom analytically with sufficient clarity the Al-Qaeda 9/11 conspiracy that lead to the slaughter of some 3000 individuals on U.S. soil† (Russell, 18). â€Å"The terrorists that intelligence must uncover and track are inert objects; they are living, conniving strategists. They, too, fail frequently and are sometimes caught before they can strike† (Hoge, 146). The intelligence system failed and in order to understand this failure one must understand that the strategic role of intelligence in decision making of foreign policy has been a neglected field of study. The outrage of the intelligence failure forced the Bush administration to fall to political pressure. The administration accepted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation to the create DNI post. This post was to serve as the president’s chief intelligence advisor and oversee the entire intelligence community, including the CIA. The root cause of the failed penetration of Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 plot, by the CIA, has to do with their failure to marshal the resources that work against Al-Qaeda, which were corresponding with the threat. The CIA did provide the president with a strategic warning about the attacks but it would have been much better if they had access to the Al-Qaeda related information that the FBI had collected. The CIA has also failed to produce spies that are needed to reveal the plans and intentions of America’s enemies. The focus should be put on what can be done to improve intelligence rather than recap evidence of what the CIA did and did not do. Spending more money on intelligence agencies will not necessarily improve American security. Intelligence could be improved by the collection of more important information, the building up of human intelligence throughout the world and recruiting more and better spies. If the American government wants to protect its citizens, property, liberty and interests from attacks of terrorist groups then dramatic reforms need to happen. These reforms would hopefully give the president access to the enemy plans and tactics. â€Å"The systematic failures of American strategic intelligence and the CIA since its inception have been obscured by the political and emotional impulse to examine each and every incident of intelligence failure in isolation and not to put them together into a larger context with other intelligence failures that shared the same root causes† (Russell, 27). Nonetheless, America was in an overall agreement that changes in the American intelligence systems were necessary. The United States Department of Homeland security was created in November 2002 as a new cabinet level agency. This department was responsible for the reorganization of the U.S. federal government. Government bureaucracies dealing with military functions and security were also reorganized. In October 2001, the USA Patriot act was signed into effect reducing the restrictions on law enforcement agencies’ ability to search medical, financial, telephone, e-mail communications and other records. It also eased the restrictions on gathering foreign intelligence within the United States. The Patriot act also gave the Secretary of the Treasury more authority to closely regulate financial transactions, involving foreign persons. Immigration authorities and law enforcement could now detain and deport immigrants that were suspected of being affiliated with acts of terrorism more easily. Author Richard K. Betts suggested, â€Å"The National Security Agency (NSA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), and associated organizations can increase â€Å"technical† collection – satellite and aerial reconnaissance, signals intelligence, communications monitoring – by buying more platforms, devices, and personnel to exploit them† (Hoge, 148). A Terrorist Finance Tracking Program was actually created to in order to monitor the movements of terrorists’ financial resources. However, the New York Times newspaper leaked this information, which ended th e project. The National Security Agency instead set up an electronic surveillance program that studied telecommunication use by suspected and known terrorists. All the laws and reforms that removed restrictions on governmental authority are notionally good for the overall prevention and protection against terrorism. In certain perspectives the removal of governmental restrictions is advantageous to American security. However, political interest groups have stated that because these new laws remove restrictions on governmental authority, they violate the civil liberties of the American citizens. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the first legal challenge against the Patriot Act. It claimed that the Patriot act violates the rights of the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment and the right to due process. It is a violation because the Patriot act grants the government the right to search a person’s private property without having to inform them that they are being investigated. Former Pr esident Bush stated that the Patriot Act helped convict more than two hundred suspects of being involved with acts of terrorism. On the other hand, the figures of the Justice Department show that there have been complaints of abuse of the Act from about 7000 people. The real question one must ask oneself is if the governments’ unknown investigations are worth the price of freedom and protection from terrorism. â€Å"The deaths of 3,000 people on American soil at hands of a ruthless adversary along with the CIA’s profound misreading of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities are the latest and greatest and in a long string of U.S. intelligence failures† (Russell, 149). The United States government has heavily concentrated on improving intelligence through bureaucratic approaches. Fighting the war on terrorism became a huge challenge for the United States. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 caused enormous devastation and damage to all the citizens of America. September 11 will never be forgotten as it has left a huge impact on the world. Al-Qaeda is a very serious threat to the United States but there will most likely be many more in the next generations to come. â€Å"The United States needs to rectify the substantial shortcomings in human intelligence collection operations if it is to deal successfully with issues of war and peace in the future† (Russell, 168). The protection of America is in the hands of the government and the intelligence agencies. Terrorism will not end on its own, therefore Americans need to be prepared for what the future has to bring. Terrorism has been around for centuries and will probably always be around. The question is how to handle it and keep it in check. There will always be extremists working against the governments in the world.

It’s Supernatural, Not Extra-terrestrial Essay -- classics, shakespear

In the time that King James I ruled, there was a large fear of witches and witchcraft throughout England and Scotland. And during his reign, William Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth, which is the renamed King’s Men sign of gratitude towards James. Macbeth is interesting because it is â€Å"based on a story from Scottish history particularly apt for a monarch who traced his line back to Banquo† (Greenblatt 815). The play also drew from James’ own fears of assassination, eventually leading to Macbeth’s own fear of Banquo and having him killed so that he would not have to worry about his possibility of becoming a traitor. James also had a fear of witchcraft being behind any attempt on his life because he â€Å"suspected the hand of the devil in any plot against an anointed king† (816). James had a strong belief in the supernatural and witchcraft and had written a book about witchcraft and believed that the reason for various things that happened in his life to be the fault of witches and lived in fear of the occult eventually bringing everything to an end. Before an exploration of the actual occult, supernatural and other spooky things that happened in Macbeth, it is best to look at the history of witchcraft in the time and how people dealt with the threat of witchcraft. In the 1840s, Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan believed that witchcraft was actually something that was made up by monks and that it was actually a non-existent crime while German mythologist Jacob Grimm viewed witches as â€Å"wise-women persecuted by the church† (Gaskill 1070). Soldan’s view is also shared by Daniel Fischlin, who â€Å"argues that witchcraft during James's reign was a constructed political threat to be punished in order that the king's absolute monarchical a... ...es." Modern Philology 1.1 (1903): 31-47. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. Shakespeare, William, Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. "Macbeth." Introduction. The Norton Shakespeare Based on the Oxford Edition. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2008. 815-24. Print. Shakespeare, William, Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. Macbeth. The Norton Shakespeare Based on the Oxford Edition. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2008. 825-78. Print. Stein, Arnold. "Macbeth and Word-Magic." The Sewanee Review 59.2 (1951): 271-84. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Yonglin, Yang. "How to Talk to the Supernatural in Shakespeare." Language in Society 20.2 (1991): 247-61. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Management Action Research †Selecting an Insider Project Essay

Framing and selecting an issue can be a complicated process. The process may require a change in perspective and understanding what others’ reasons are for a particular situation. A person will realize that there are a number of issues that can be the subject of his insider action research. During the process, issues will unfold after learning about issues and so on, making the framing and selection of issue more difficult. In addition, some issues may be obvious, however, this could be a manifestation of a deeper issue. The researcher may be faced with more challenges given that there are limitations in selecting the issue such as the timeframe and availability of resources. As explained in Chapter 4, labeling ‘issue’ as a problem or as an opportunity has different effects on the people involved. Framing an issue as a problem may have an effect on the people in such a way that they deal with the issue with a loss. On the other hand, framing an issue as an opportunity may be associated with gain which then creates a need to search for possible solutions. Employees in their organization see key issues that need to be uncovered and addressed. However, people may be in a situation where they are constrained to discuss issues. There are underlying circumstances why people are hesitant to initate a dialogue. One of which is political influence in the workplace. It may seem hard to move forward, nevertheless, only in this way ideas and opinions will be exposed for assessment. It is also discussed in the book that in the process of identifying the issues, the researcher begins to have a better understanding of the situation, consequently having more and more revisions as the researcher studies and explores the issues. In selecting the research project, it is important to know if it will give value to the researcher and if it will increase the profile of the researcher in the organization. Insider action research proposal needs to address four areas namely context, action, research and the insider process. In the context, there should be an introduction to describe the organization and its issues and concerns. In action, this is where the researcher will explain what the rational and purpose of his research are, describe the current situation and what is expected after carrying out the research. Research describes the rationale for doing the research and how to inquire while ensuring the quality and rigour of the research. The insider process reflects on his own understanding. The researcher needs to work with others to execute his action research. Main insights Knowing and understanding others’ perspective is significant in carrying out action research as this will play a vital role in evaluating the issue. The researcher tends to use his own understanding of an issue as the only basis therefore research becomes biased unconsciously. It is of great importance to be open to what other people have to say and welcome their ideas. In this way, the researcher performs the second person inquiry as well. The whole point of action research is to work with others in order to bring about change. Questions How does a person handle a situation where there are political influences? Thinking of a given situation, I need to weigh things, understand the situation and contemplate on what the outcome will be if I take action on a certain issue that I see the need to address. I need to reflect if the actions I will take are within the ethical framework. After learning about the issues that I need to consider before selecting my topic for my paper, will I proceed with â€Å"How to Become a Good Leader?† My answer is yes. This offers an opportunity for experimentation with the existing and acquired knowledge, offers the possibility to increase my profile in my organization and offers opportunities for my personal development. Moreover, I will be able to contribute more to the company when I carry out my action research on how to become a good leader. Applications That of necessity means that you need to be willing to explore key concepts and themes and attempt to construct the perceptions of others concerning the range of issues (Dutton et al., 1983). Understand others’ reasons and ideas is an important factor in action research. An honest dialogue is necessary in order to be aware of what others’ perceptions are. What I noticed in myself is that I take action with a little discussion with select colleagues. From there I do my analysis and evaluation. Moving forward, I will ensure that I discuss situations with all the persons involved and collaborate with my colleagues to have an unbiased outcome.

How to write a Coursework

Coursework writing is an imprescriptible part of education in college. Every student starts to get his degree by writing essays, different projects and course works. But in many cases for some reason it is hard for student to realize what a coursework actually is and how does it differ from essay. This article may be helpful for some of these people. The main difference between an essay and a coursework is that the coursework is a more complicated piece: it is longer, more structured and specific. In most cases it has more instructions for writing, needs to be more formal and includes graphs, charts etc. Courseworks are written according to specific outlines and therefore are more structured than essays. To write a good course work student should try to follow important instructions: 1) Write an effective executive summary or abstract. The main ideas should be expressed and highlighted in the most understandable way. The topic should also be chosen carefully and reflect the essence of the paper as much as possible. 2) The writer should always stick to his topic of the essay and never shift to something unrelated to the topic or subject. There should be no water; every paragraph of the paper is to be directly related to lectures and research materials. 3) The coursework has to be written in the readable formal font such as Times New Romans or Arial, size 10-12. The writer should use subheadings in order to make the paper easier to read and have better structure. 4) In order to get a good grade all the classes where coursework is discussed or related topics are discussed should be attended by student. He is also encouraged to take as much notes as possible to make his further work easier. 5) Most of the times the paper must be written in professional language. Jargon and clichs have to be avoided and scientific terms used if needed. Statistical analysis and calculations are to be provided whenever it is possible and wanted. 6) Course works are a lot more about practice than about theory. The writer must make a sufficient research on the topic to find specific examples and to support his points. 7) The information provided in the coursework is to be supplemented with charts, graphs, photos, diagrams, pictures and other testimonials that can be useful. Visual aids give a lot more information and take less time to be understood. 8) Never hesitate to ask for help from your professor. Most of the professors in todays colleges are more than willing to help a student who is seeking knowledge. Always keep in mind that the guidelines provided above are generalized and you will always need to adjust them to your university or college rules and guidelines. Do NOT ever forget about editing, revising and reviewing your coursework. It will always help to get a better grade when you find mistakes in your paper and correct them. If you have someone who could review your article before turning it in, do it and you will be sure about getting a better grade.