Targets for Terrorist Attacks

Terrorism in America has a long history and it has left a mark in the whole world since many countries have lost the life of their citizens due to the terrorist menace.  Many groups are engaged in the terrorists' activity and for this reason, U.S is taking aggressive efforts to understand the structure of the terrorists, their strategies as well as their changing nature in order to combat them (Newman, Clarke & United States, 2010). However, much effort and support should come from the society since it is the target of terrorism or it is vulnerable to the terrorist threats and actions. The society should understand that the terrorist groups are active and have the ability to attack the society unexpectedly anywhere and at any period of time.

 The society makes it difficult to combat territory due to;

 

Fear and apprehension

`           Color-coded The Homeland Security Advisory System that was established after the 9/11 attack brought fear and apprehension to the community.  The purpose of the advisory system was to take protective measures against terrorist attack but rather than planning effective protective measures and offering proper training to the personnel, it made people afraid (Newman, Clarke & United States, 2010). The system did not communicate to the people or it did not provide specific alerts. Thus, it is impossible for the society to combat terrorist due to fear and resilience which breaks the citizen-government inertial relationship and causes disruption in daily life.  Lack of trust, security and social supports creates anxiety and uncertainty which them leads to ‘climate of collapse' thereby giving the terrorists a chance to attack the society.

 

Information from the media

 The society is unable to combat the terrorist since the media portrays negative images of terrorists' event that trigger prejudice and fear. In addition, the information from the media creates a social-psychological perception that gives way to rumors, anxiety, and terror (Newman, Clarke & United States, 2010).  The inadequacy of knowledge and the dissemination of threatening information heightens the level of unpreparedness and inability to combat the terrorists.

 

 The group dimension

 Today, the industrial society has different social roles and complex group life. Some groups have an economic interest, some form social classes, racial identity, political identity and more. These groups create divisions and the gap makes them unstable to combat terrorism in times of attack (Newman, Clarke & United States, 2010).  The groups have no solidarity and create internal conflict as well as disruption to the agencies who maintain law and order.

 Institutional interdependence

  The transportation, communication and energy departments should work together to reduce the vulnerability of terrorist attack. However, these departments have differentiated their social activities and have become mutually dependent. Various institutions sphere including the educational, schools medical and more are structurally separated and the separation creates vulnerability.

 To fix this vulnerability, there should be a new Advisory System that should play the role of providing the society with timely information, alerts and warnings   to avoid the overarching threat. Also there should  be multiple agencies at  different levels who should  coordinate  in making quick decisions, sharing  information  and  taking proactive measures  in times of attack (Newman, Clarke & United States, 2010).  The agencies should work together in conducting research, creating mission, rules and regulations, training and defining roles to ensure a high level of preparedness. To avoid evoking fear in the citizens, there should be a code of norms and should guide the media to avoid reporting negative information concerning the terrorism.

 The terrorist attack requires planning and preparation and terrorists pass through six-stages one of it being the target selection. In the target selection, the terrorists select their targets by considering things like vulnerability and the level of protection where they use search engines to conduct research to find the vulnerable group (Gitterman, 2014). When selecting a target group, they consider factors such as ideology- the terrorists want to know how a certain group perceives the terrorism, how the group reacts to the terrorists' actions, and the level of security and whether the group disobeys the terrorists' beliefs.   In addition to these internal factors, terrorists consider external factors such as the physical environment-they target institutions like schools and prisons where they recruit members who form organized   groups and communicates with the terrorists on which areas to attack (Gitterman, 2014). Terrorists also consider migration as a factor.  Terrorists target areas where the rate of immigration is higher. In such areas, there are many types of immigrants such as new immigrants, second-generation immigrants, and Islamic immigrants.  These immigrants have different socioeconomic views and the diversity creates conflict in trying to create a social identity. Some groups resist the Western culture and want to maintain their culture and this gives way to the formation of terrorist groups (Gitterman, 2014). Finally, terrorist consider opposition institutions. Terrorists target areas where there are a radical movement and governmental problems. They target these opposing groups that are in conflict and unable to eliminate terrorism.

In planning to attack, terrorists consider hard and soft targets. Hard targets menus that the particular area or group has appropriate protective measures and so it would be hard to access the areas. On the other hand, soft target menus that the areas or the group lack appropriate protective measures and so it's easier to attack (Guzman, Das & Das, 2011).  For example, a shopping mall is a hard target because it has standard security, camera surveillance and many armed security guards.  On the other hand, soft targets like hotels, restaurants and high rise buildings are easy to attack due to their concrete structural designs. These areas have unarmed and unmotivated security guards who are unable to combat potential terrorists but only focus on potential thieves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Newman, G. R., Clarke, R. V. G., & United States. (2010). Policing terrorism: An executive's guide. Darby,

PA: Dianne Publishing.

 

In Gitterman, A. (2014). Handbook of social work practice with vulnerable and resilient populations. New

York : Columbia University Press

 

Guzman de Melchor.,  Das Mintie Aiedeo., & Das K. Dilip. (2011). Strategic Responses to Crime: Thinking

Locally, Acting Globally. CRC Press, 2011