Terrorism and Emergency Management, Essay Example

Terrorism is a serious threat that threatens the survival of the human race. In the 21st century, near all nations have experienced been victims of terrorism either directly or indirectly and this threat seems to get worse as time goes by. More than ever, a small group of armed criminals are capable of murdering people and destroying properties on a horrific scale. Therefore, when the United Nations General Assembly was held in September 2006, the nations of the world spoke in one voice to declare that terrorism has no place in the modern society for it is unacceptable in all of its form and manifestation ("UN Global Counter," n.d.). The nations adopted a Global counter-terrorism strategy which was essential at stopping future, national, regional, and international attacks. Some of the core elements in the approach were that the nations decided to embrace the use of technology to fight the threat, enhanced coordination between the countries and training of the security personals and other people on how to detect a terrorist and stop an attack before it occurs (Tan, 2009). As time goes by, the threat of terrorism is still real and evolving; this calls for every nation to advance its technological innovations, come up with better ways of coordination and enhanced training of the stakeholders involved in fighting terrorism to ensure that the criminals do not win

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Future anti-terrorism technologies

Unlike the conventional warfare where armies meet on the battlefield, most terrorists exist among the citizens and thus tricky to visually isolate an enemy from an innocent citizen. Through the use of technology, the security agencies have been able to identify terrorists and thus foil impending attacks. However, the relationship between counterterrorism and technology has expressed numerous challenges in the 21st century where the criminals have also embraced the use of technology to avoid detection and carry out massive attacks (Saunders, 2018). Therefore, innovations in technology are needed to overcome the challenges. Some of these innovations that are vital in future wars are as follows

System integration technology- the biggest priority in future technological advances should be to mint the most benefits from the already resources which are available (Saunders, 2018). This will mean that the government will be able to increase the operational effectiveness through networking sensors, law enforcers, lawmakers, and emergency responders to achieve awareness, speed, and higher efficiency when responding to terror threats. Through system integration technologies, the stakeholders involved in counterterrorism will have an improved understanding of terror activities, high-value assets. They will also be able to share skills which will provide a common ground to all the law enforcement and emergency responders in the capacity to share information (Tan, 2009).

Biometrics- being able to identify a criminal before they cause harm and chaos can help save a lot of lives. Biometrics are unique physical features and characteristics of individuals which are recorded and stored in the government databases for the identification purposes. The use of biometrics should be enhanced so that an individual can be identified and verified before accessing critical facilities within the country. Using biometrics as the primary mean of identification will make it hard for terrorists to perform their daily activities such as moving from one place to another, shopping, crossing borders and liaising with other sympathizers so that they can get access of weapons (Cohen, 2002). The five areas of biometric technologies already in existence are as follows; Iris recognition, fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, head geometry and face recognition.

Future coordination in the fight against terrorism

To successfully tackle the issue of terrorism, nations should enhance their future in-house, regional and international cooperation. This should be achieved by a seamless flow of information within the government agencies such as the department of justice, persecutors office, department of defense, intelligence organs in and beyond the country, foreign affairs among other stakeholders (Tan, 2009). The free flow of intelligence and information will help stop attacks and bring the terror suspects to book where they can face the full wrath of the law. To enhance better coordination in the effort to tackle the threat of terrorism, nations will have to embrace the following strategies.

Formation of universal laws which define what constitutes terrorism and punishment for terror activities- under the United Nations counterterrorism agency, is possible for the nations of the world to come together and formulate universal laws which will be used to handle terrorist. The absence of such laws has made it difficult to achieve full coordination between countries that operate on their clear sets of guidelines and regulations (Cohen, 2002). Example, in some countries launching cyber-attacks towards another state or organization, is considered an act of terror and punishable by the law, however, in some other nation, there are no explicit provisions on how such individuals should be treated, and thus the security organs cannot punish them. The unavailable of common guidelines have made it difficult for criminals to get handed over to foreign authorities where they have committed the crimes to face prosecution. This has further created hindrance where some nations have been accused of not doing enough to stop the terrorists, and in other cases, there have been seen to provide safe havens for such people. Nonetheless, the existence of common law would enhance cooperation where the same scripts and obligations guide all the nations.

Strengthening of counterterrorism institutions- for internal coordination to thrive within the country, the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility of fighting terrorism must be increased to eliminate all the loopholes that terrorists exploit to defeat justice. The absence of the homogenous existence of the institution makes it a challenge for them to work together and overcome the obstacles (Tan, 2009). Example, when a terror suspect has been identified, sometimes the necessary search warrants and court orders needed to raid the premises are delayed to be issued, the delay can provide time for the terror suspect to hide damaging materials and destroy the evidence. In other cases, courts have released these terror suspects back into the society or issued injunctions stopping the detectives from investigating the suspects further (Richard, 2012). Nonetheless, these institutions need to be strengthened where more power is granted to the defense agency in matters that are related to terrorism. Legislations also need to be put in place to fight corruption within the agencies which derails the fight against terrorism (Saunders, 2018). Sealing all those loopholes will enhance cooperation within the government counterterrorism organs in the fight against a common enemy. The agencies will be able to work without fear of getting disappointed by the other agencies tasked with ensuring that terrorists are brought to book.

Training

How law enforcers and other security personnel respond to the threat of terrorism will be very vital in the future successes of stopping terror attacks. The ever-evolving nature of terrorism and the ability of these criminals to come up with better and advanced tackling of conducting their raids means that the security agencies and other stakeholders needed to undergo more advanced training to respond to the scale of the threat with an equivocal force and tactics. The future training of the security agencies need to entail the following

The training must involve a more agile, flexible and coordinated approach which will aim to prevent detect and disrupt terrorist attacks. Such a plan will require training the officers on how to identify the common materials which can be easily assembled to cause damage. On the other, employing the aspect of psychological study when teaching the police officers will help them detect a criminal through interaction and how they behave (Richard, 2012). Through the study of human psychology, it is possible to predict the intentions of a person from their behavior, speech, and actions. The security organs can also be able to detect coded messages on the social media and other platforms used by terrorists to communicate.

Use of virtual reality programs- this training method will involve simulates a terror event that will help the first responder and counterterrorism training. The virtual reality training will enable the trainees to perform exercises which are similar to the real world at the same time interacting with the civilians and terrorist (Saunders, 2018). Through such practical oriented programs, the law enforcers will be able to have the necessary experience and improve their decision-making technique when in a stressful situation.

In conclusion, terrorism remains a global challenge that needs all nations to come together and tackle the problem collectively. To successfully do this issue, the governments must continuously develop new technologies that are relevant to the evolving threats, enhance their internal and external cooperation and embrace training techniques that are modern and advanced. Doing so will create a safe world for the future generation, and it will promote peace and stability on a global scale.

References

Cohen, E. A. (2002). Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism. Foreign Affairs, 81(6), 189. doi:10.2307/20033374

Richard, P. (2012). Part III Counter-terrorism In Practice, 20 Torture, Interrogation, Counter-Terrorism, and the Rule of Law. Counter-Terrorism. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608928.003.0040

Saunders, J. (2018, May 11). Counter-terrorism police are now training with virtual terrorists. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/counter-terrorism-police-are-now-training-with-virtual-terrorists-95478. Accessed 15 September 2018

Tan, A. T. (2009). The Future for Counterterrorism. U.S. Strategy Against Global Terrorism, 177-191. doi:10.1057/9780230103474_8

UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy | Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/ctitf/en/un-global-counter-terrorism-strategy. Accessed 15 September 2018