Terrorism: The Role Of Terrorism In The United States

What is terrorism? Often times, people use the word terrorism without ever understanding the true meaning of the word. Defining terrorism can be difficult, indeed, but, not impossible. It was quite easy to define it when that tragic event occurred on September 11, 2001. The majority of the United States agreed to fight terrorism shortly after 9/11. Terrorism has been both a motivation and a fear for the people in America. People did not realize the impact terrorism would have on the privacy of their lives and at the time of 9/11, no one cared. The number one goal of countering terrorism at the time of the attack was protecting the citizens of the United States, and that goal hasn’t changed. However, the lengths the government is taking to counter
The FBI defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (FBI, 2015). The FBI believes that any person or group of persons attempting to “intimidate or coerce” other individuals to follow their beliefs and objectives are terrorists. After 9/11, the United States found terrorism to be a momentous issue because of the lives that terrorism can take away. However, most people fail to realize that there was a lengthy history of terrorism way before the September 11, 2001 attacks; including attacks at sites such as the World Trade Center. America is not the only country that faces issues regarding terrorism; but what are other nations doing to protect themselves? Is America behind in fighting terrorism compared to other countries? The British government is very precise about what they believe to be terrorism. They defined it as “any use of violence for the purpose of putting the public…in fear” (Lacayo, Richard). The United States government is not behind in the fight against
There is an argument whether terrorism is a crime issue; nonetheless, there are numerous terrorist crime groups in the United States. While media portrays a sense of unity within the United States fighting terrorism, there are not many areas committed to these strategies. The problem is the people in America do not feel protected by law enforcement, or the laws put in place to deter terrorism. Implementations such as face scanners and the extra security at airports discourage people to fight against terrorism if it means giving up their personal freedoms. For example, most people want/need protection against terrorist attacks, yet when the Transportation Security Administration applied the body scanners at the airports, there was uproar about the breach of privacy to American citizens. The issue with privacy in America stems from the roots of the government covering up lies consistently. Most often the government fine-tunes laws in order to justify conducting unconstitutional surveillance on Americans. In 2001, George Bush implemented the USA Patriot Act. “The U.S.A. Patriot Act is an acronym for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism." The 320-page act was passed only days after the September 11th attacks. This incredibly short timeframe alone has raised numerous eyebrows. Since the passing of the Patriot Act, over 150 communities denounced it as an