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New Threats And Law Enforcement Discussion Chapter

¶ … New Terrorism How can police and law enforcement agencies best utilize resources to confront this new threat?

Briefly describe the important features of "new terrorism" as discussed in the readings. What is "new" about contemporary, international terrorism?

Identify the police and law enforcement resources most relevant or essential to the threat of terrorist attacks. Also identify any important gaps between resources and needs.

In contrast to the terrorists of the past, the most aggressive forms of modern terrorism have been religious, rather than political in nature (Morgan 2007: 32). Historically, as horrific as the actions may have been, earlier types of terrorists at least had a defined political objective which they wished to attain through the use of violence and drawing attention to their cause. Modern terrorists, however, tend to view themselves in an unending and relatively vague 'war with the West' and Western values. They draw no line in this war between civilian and government targets.

There are also a number of other components which serve to make the new terrorism more violent. "First, the saturation of the media with images of terrorist atrocity has raised the bar on the level of destruction that will attract headline attention. Second,...

Coupled with the "shift from the politically-minded terrorist to the vengeful and hard-line fanatic" this has been a deadly combination (Morgan 2007: 31).
Given the strong cultural components of modern terrorism, understanding the factions that pose the greatest threats is essential for law enforcement. Terrorists can no longer be 'easily' understood by analyzing schematic global conflicts, such as the IRA vs. The British government or the Israelis vs. The Palestinians were in the past. Modern terrorist networks defy state borders and alliances between groups can be extremely fluid. This makes the accumulation of sound intelligence essential. Although some states do clearly sponsor terrorism, "One of the major consequences of globalization has been a deterioration of the power of the state" (Morgan 2004: 37). Law agencies at every level within the U.S. must improve their information-sharing from the CIA to down to the local police. Also, it is important that the U.S. keep open channels of dialogue with other nations when pooling of intelligence resources is mutually advantageous. And the tools terrorists can use are in a constant state of flux: "in addition to the cultural and religious motivations of…

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The failure of the intelligence community to predict 9/11 has often been called a 'failure of imagination,' not simply a failure to respond adequately with military force. "Neither Bush nor his predecessor Bill Clinton understood the gravity of the threats posed by terrorists because the leaders could not imagine such attacks" (King & Quijano 2004). A common complaint is that today's leaders are always fighting the last war, and until 9/11 the 'war mentality' was a Cold War mentality which presumed state actors were the dominant threat with a relatively realistic, coherent agendas. To fight terrorism today requires leaders to get into the minds of terrorists and to understand their psychological and cultural motivations, which are not always rational.

The lack of information-sharing between police and law enforcement agencies was also a major contributor to the 'failure of imagination' to predict the events. Without an interconnected effort between the FBI, CIA, and local law enforcement agencies, it is literally impossible to 'connect the dots' of actions which broach domestic and international concerns. "The failure of the CIA and FBI to communicate with each other -- sometimes because of 'legal misunderstandings' -- led to missed 'operational opportunities' to hinder or break the terror plot" (King & Quijano 2004). For example, "The CIA did not put 9/11 hijacker Khalid Almihdhar on a 'watch list' or notify the FBI when he had a U.S. visa in January 2000 or when he met with a key figure in the U.S.S. Cole bombing" (King & Quijano 2004).

One critical component of engendering greater understanding of the population it is seeking to monitor is fostering greater cultural understanding of the nature of terrorist groups and the cultures that produces terrorism. With this in mind, hiring law enforcement officers who speak the native language of the group the agency is investigating and who can engage
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