187741 Domestic Terrorism 02

Domestic Terrorism:software which have made it easier to retrieve
Common ties between domestic terrorism andpeoples information, and this has enabled the terrorist
international terrorism:to steal people's identity which have resulted to
Terrorism can be defined as the use of threats and atfinancial scams which provide finances to the terrorist
some times actual violence in the pursuit of politicalgroups.
goals. According to Paul Johnson terrorist have threeCigarette smuggling
elements which include: Terrorist believe that theirThis is also a means by which terrorist groups will use
goals are the most important and through this believein gaining finances, cigarettes are smuggled from low
they reject all other means of achieving their goals.tax regions to regions whereby individuals will buy large
Terrorist will run counter to democratic institutions andquantities of cigarettes from low tax regions and sell
that civil freedom which is one characteristic of athem at a profit in regions where there are high taxes
democratic nation makes the nation to be moreimposed on cigarettes. An example is in the North
vulnerable to terrorism.Carolina where cigarette taxes are lower than in New
Domestic terrorism and international terrorism haveYork and therefore terrorist will smuggle cigarettes
common ties whereby their activities are similar, theyfrom North Carolina to New York.
are common in the activities they involve in order toCounterfeit:
get finances, they both will involve in activities such asTerrorist will trade in counterfeit good to finance their
drug trafficking, counterfeiting and smuggling of goods.activities. Counterfeits for example are made on
These are their major source of finance to theirdesigner cloths, pharmaceutical products and
activities.sometimes electronic goods.
They have a common enemy which include the lawThe Hamm report:
enforcement agencies and the government, this isAccording to the Hamm report it is clear that the best
because they both involve themselves in illegalway to prevent terrorism is by dealing with the crimes
activities and these agencies are there to enforcethat finance the terrorist organisations, the report
laws.analysis the major terrorist acts and clearly shows the
Internet and domestic terrorismpatterns of activities of the terrorist groups. The report
Internet has enhanced the occurrence of domesticidentifies that terrorist group in order to accomplish their
terrorism, the internet has become a source ofaims they have to have funds, travel documents and a
information enhancing the occurrence of identity theftcommunication system. Therefore the major target in
which is used by terrorist group to engage in theirstopping the terrorist groups should therefore be the
criminal activities, information collected include individualsactivities that fund the terrorist groups.
information, bank credit information and credit cardSome of the activities that terrorist involve in order to
information. The internet has also been used to lurefund their activities according to Hamm include
innocent citizens into frauds where individuals arecounterfeiting, bank robbery and credit card theft all
asked to pay for certain services or goods and as athese act as source of income to the groups. He also
result they are fraud off their money.states that terrorist are well trained in that they are in
The intervention which includes monitoring activities ina position to build bombs, breach airline security and
the web by the authorities will be an effective way toalso smuggling explosive through high security areas.
counter terrorism. However this may result into leakingThe terrorist according to this report spend many days
of organisations information that may lead to losses bychecking the routine of targeted area. Therefore
these organisations. When there exists a monitoringaccording to Hamm the lifeblood of the terrorist groups
device in the internet then there will be leaking ofis the various criminal acts that help fund their activity
company information to its competitors or even toand therefore the best way to deal with terrorism
speculators which may lead to loss of funds.threats is to deal with these activities that fund them.
Therefore the best way to strike a balance is toThe future of terrorism:
monitor only suspicious information on the web mostlyIn the society we are faced with a great threat from
from regions that are suspected to have terroristterrorism, terrorism use force to gain their goals and
groups, there exist such monitoring systems but theytheir believe that there is nothing else important than
were banned by the US government but the bestthe goals that they set then we are endangered,
would be to install a system that tracks conversationsterrorism can be stopped if appropriate measures are
that include key words used by the terrorist groups.put in place in the society, in a democratic form of
Organisational information therefore should not begovernance it is very difficult to implement the
monitored to avoid financial losses as a result ofstrategies that are appropriate to counter terrorism.
information leak. Therefore the federal should beFor example the best way to counter terrorism is
empowered to monitor information regardingthrough viewing of web contents of individuals but this
suspicious groups and not for the organisations.will be highly opposed by individuals because this
Funding of domestic terrorismdiminishes their right of free speech and privacy.
Terrorist groups will involve themselves in criminalInternational terrorism can easily be stopped but for
activities to fund their operations, they have andomestic terrorism it is very hard to stop because the
advantage in involving in criminal activity in that theyindividuals already live in the society they endanger, it is
gain finances and at the same time they endanger thetherefore easier to decrease the rate of international
societies that they target through these activities. Thecrime than that of domestic terrorism. According to the
other reason is that the criminal activities the terroristHamm report it is clear that we can reduce the
involve in are hard for the judicial system to solve andincidences of terrorism through investigating on the
prove. Some of the criminal activities that terrorist willsource of funding of these groups.
engage in include:References:
Drug trafficking:Centre for national security studies Recent Trends in
Drug trafficking is an activity that the terrorist involve inDomestic and International Terrorism retrieved on 26th
order to finance their activities, initially the terroristOctober,
groups were funded by the soviet union but after itsDenver (2007) counter terrorism, retrieved on 26th
collapse drug trafficking become a major source ofOctober
finance.Terrorism Enforcement (2007) International and
Identity theft:Domestic terrorism, retrieved on 26th October
Identity theft is one of the most recent means in whichWayman Mullins (1997) Domestic and International
terrorist use to finance their activities, this has emergedTerrorism C.C.
with the emergence of the internet and computer