Social Institutions and Terrorism

Social Institutions and Terrorism Terrorism, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation there are approximately over 60 terrorist organizations in the United States alone by definition. Social institutions are at a risk to be influenced or attacked by terrorist at any time without notice. I believe that as American citizens, we have the capabilities to overcome these terrorist organizations by several means. I, myself, have been a part of an organization combating terrorism every day. The United States Army and our sister branches have established several anti-terrorism campaigns to bring forth and eliminate terrorism from within the ranks. When I had taken a security course through the Army the main focus was the allowing of people on to the base I was stationed at, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We had to correctly identify personnel and civilians that would pass through the gates at any given moment. I was shocked to hear that in the Army alone there is said to be five major terrorist cells and at Fort Bragg there were possibly three of the five. The information on and the names of the terrorist organizations are classified to the general public. These terrorist organizations would try to infiltrate the base by several means such as; fake identification, recruitment of military personnel, civilians that worked on the base and using military families against service members to gain access to the post. Spotting these types of people wasn’t easy and was one of the hardest jobs I had to do while I was enlisted in the Army. You see, just because someone enlist or is commissioned into the military doesn’t mean they are 100 percent who they say they are. Look at the terrorist, former Army Major, Nidal Hasan. Hasan was a commissioned officer in the Medical Corps. He was a psychiatrist who communicated with a