Introduction
Counterterrorism is one of the political concerns that the United States and other countries around the world are trying to make the world a better and peaceful place to coexist. Americans and other individuals from all over the planet are informed and trained on how to fight terrorism in their respective nations because the international threat of terrorism is changing faster and is unpredictable. Islamic states are known as the most manifested countries by the threat of terrorism (Bouzis, 2015). They involve other groups of terrorists such as Taliban, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda.for instance after the Iraq war of 2003 the terrorism threat has seen to be continually increasing which has made united states to intervene and change the status quo of the Arab nations so that America and the Arab countries can advance in leadership and economy (Lum & Kennedy, 2012). Through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the participating countries argue that terrorism is the widely and most significant threat when it comes to political stability, security, and peace in any country. For instance, terrorism is meant to undermine some of the ethical values that are used to unite the OSCE member nations .This paper will evaluate the measures and strategies employed by different countries in fighting terrorism.
Foundation of Counterterrorism
Through the escalation process of the terror campaign in the United Kingdom in the year the 1880s, one of the home secretaries established the first counter-terrorism unit in the region or the world. However, the counterterrorism units have been able to be set in different states due to the increasing rate of terrorism threats affecting the world. Moreover, the most contributing event to the increase in measures to fight terrorism was the September 11 attacks (Lum, Kennedy & Sherley, 2008). Through this, most nations have been able to work with other nations as foreign partners to fifth the terrorism growth. Even though most of the terrorist attacks happen in less developed countries such as in Iraq, the attacks are mostly identified or given a lot of attention in developed nations such as the United States. Also, the federal government's response to terrorism in most scenario s can lead or create substantial unintentional or unintended consequences, and that is why the government has to be very strategic when dealing with terrorism issues.
Intelligence, Reconnaissance, and Surveillance
Most of the nations around the globe, such as the United States, focus on preventing terrorist attacks on their soil by increasing the domestic intelligence and the standards police resources to help fight the issue as fast as possible once it occurs. Through the advancement in technology, law enforcement, and military range has expanded from a broad perspective, and this means that the department or the police operations can intercept communication and trace the terrorists (Pillar, 2014). For instance, domestic intelligence is mostly focused on specific groups defined based on religion or their origin, which is mainly known as the source of political controversy. However, it is most difficult to detect or discover homegrown terrorists such as “lone wolves” since they have legal obligations or citizenship to continue operating or staying under the radar. Also, when it comes to deciding which is the best strategy to choose in case the terrorist attack occurs, it is mostly recommended by the experts that the government research more information about the terrorist group and know their tactics and operations.
For instance, the Netherlands uses more security measures to offer security to its citizens and other firms or organizations that might be prone to terrorist attacks. Once the government has detected some of the arranged terrorists’ attacks, they deploy different security measures around the region meant to be attacked and make sure that the attack does not happen at any cost. However, some of the security measures might fail and allow the attacks to occur, and the Dutch government has to be prepared and be able to minimize the impacts of the attacks (Lum, Kennedy & Sherley, 2008). Also, through the security measures, the government can recognize the radicalization process of the terrorists so that they do not lead to violence. For instance, the youths and public service servants, such as teachers and citizens, work extra hard in the identification of radicalization and report to relevant criminal justice authorities or police about any recognized suspicion (Zöller, 2004). Last but not least is that the Dutch government identifies the terrorist offenses as a crime since they are mostly done to cause terror among the people; hence any terrorist attack will result in harsh punishment from the government.
Canada Measures
On the other hand, Canada has some underpinning strategy to fight terrorism attacks in the country. For instance, one of the most adopted strategies is building resilience, which involves the fostering of the society whereby the citizens and other communities can persevere some of the violent extremist concepts and ideologies and be able to challenge the individual who espouses them (Breen-Smyth, 2014). Also, the citizens make sure they participate and support every effort which is geared or seek to protect the Canadians interest and Canada as a whole from the terrorism activities or attacks (Fenwick, 2013). Through resilience Canada, the state can mitigate some of the impacts of the terrorist attacks and ensure that the country or people are back to ordinary life.
United States Strategies
In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is mandated with the responsibility of consolidating domestic security agents for them to be able to coordinate the national response to terrorist attacks and accidents that might be caused by terrorists. Moreover, the United States has decided to rely on allies or coalition with other nations to counter the terrorist attacks that might be planned to occur within the American border or tamper with the general political and economic stability of the country (Sun, Wu & Poteyeva, 2011).DHS also makes sure that they prevent different terrorists from acquiring some of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) or using them when they attack the united states (Fenwick, 2013). Furthermore, the United States, with collaboration with other organizations such as the United Nations (UN) try as much as possible to prevent the terrorist groups from exploiting advanced technology in today’s world of dynamic information environment so that their plans cannot succeed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, is that many countries around the world are practicing counterterrorism because terrorism threats are increasing at a high rate, which interferes with the economic and political stability of any state. Through the adoption of various strategies and measures to avoid terrorism activities in different regions is a large sign that the terrorist attacks have adverse impacts on the public and interferes with government activities or obligations. Therefore in the future, the countries should implement and advance their counterterrorism measures, which will wipe away the terrorism activities in the world for a better future and generations.
