International Terrorism and Homeland Security Term Paper

CURRENT PROBLEMS

Governmental officials knew before the September 11 attacks that we were not fully prepared to either deal with a major terrorist attack or to put effective counterterrorism strategies in place (Haynes, 2004). Experts now realize that most standard investigative techniques used by law enforcement are likely to help us infiltrate and neutralize groups such as cells of Al-Qaeda members. The strategies that show the most promise include using informants or undercover agents to infiltrate them; using surveillance and resulting searches and wire-tapping (including interception of email and cell phone calls) to glean information regarding their plans; detaining suspected terrorists before they can launch an attack: and the use of skilled interrogation of those arrested and/or detained (Taylor, 2003).

CONCLUSION

Much work has gone into improving organization and communication between agencies, but much more needs to be done, and these changes by themselves will not be enough (Haynes, 2004). The country needs to continue to rely on the eyes and ears of its citizens to be alert for suspicious actions, such as leaving parcels or bags at airports, or seeing a private boat used to inspect the structure of a bridge (Haynes, 2004).For the foreseeable future we will have to accept some minor loss of liberties in the effort to support the greater good and help keep the country safe from future terrorist attacks. In the words of Judge Richard a. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. "The safer the nation feels, the more weight judges will be willing to give to the liberty interest." (Taylor, 2003)

There is reason for hope. In spite of not realizing how serious the risk was, we had one of the September 11 terrorists in custody on that date. He should have been on the plane the terrorists crashed rather than let passengers retake it. Having four terrorists on that plane instead of five may well have helped the passengers thwart the hijackers' plans. Even small gains may have great positive consequences.

Bibliography

Cohn, Marjorie. 2002. "Understanding, responding to, and preventing terrorism." Arab Studies Quarterly, March 22. (Cohn, 2002)

Doyle, Charles. 2002. CRS Report for Congress. April 18. Accessed via the Internet 2/27/05. http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:VmMti9AI84QJ:www.fas.org/irp/crs/RS21203.pdf+%22Patriot+Act%22&hl=en

Haynes, Wendy. 2004. "Seeing around corners: crafting the new….....