QUESTION

DISCUSS THE CHALLENGES OF TERRORISM TO

GLOBAL SECURITY AND HOW THE US HAS DEALT
WITH IT
BY
VALERIE JECHE and COLLIN ASANI
Challenges of terrorism to
global security and US
counter terrorism strategy

INTRODUCTION- Definition of terms
According to Schimd 1983 the term terrorism has 109
definitions,22 of the definitions have different elements
relating to terrorism.
There is neither an academic or intellectual legal consensus
regarding the term terrorism.
The term comes from the Latin term terrere which means to
frighten
According to the US Department of Defense terrorism is the
calculated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcate
fear intended to coerce or intimidate governments or
societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political,
religious or ideological
















INTRODUCTION (cntd)
Hough (2004) defines global security as the efforts taken
by the community of nations to protect against threats
which are transnational in nature.
Global security thereby relates to the protection made by
nation states to ensure mutual safety and survival
CHALLENGES POSED BY TERRORISM
Socially terrorism is a challenge in that human security is
compromised . Terrorist attacks cause too many human
casualties. This keeps people in perpetual fear, robbing them of
freedom and security.
According to Singh 2010 terrorist attacks are random. States
are caught unaware thus they cannot protect the civilians,
state security is thus compromised. Even the countries with
the strongest defense are caught unaware.
The US September 11 attacks are an example of the challenge
that terrorism poses, innocent lives were lost and this exposed
a fissure in the internal defense of a country, as well as
Mumbai attack on Taj Palace Hotel 2008,bombing of mall in
Kenya, airport bombing Sri Lanka 2001,


Challenges cntd
Technological advancements have become another challenge.The nexus of
weapons of mass destruction poses a great threat to security. A successful
WMD attack could result in mass casualties. ISIS is ranked as the richest
terrorist group of this century with about 1 billion dollars, such rich groups
have the ability to acquire WMD which challenge global security
According to Clifford 2009 economically terrorism is a challenge in that
states end up extending their budgets to cater for the costs of terrorism.
The US spends about 500 billion dollars annually in trying to combat and
prevent terrorism#tourism
Nations end up increasing their security spending eg Australia increased its
homeland security budget and aid to Iraq and Afghanistan. Zalman 2011
asserts that since 2001 the country has spent a total of 21.3 billion in
defense and aid for the Iraq war# terrorism definition 2


HOW THE US HAS DEALT WITH
TERRORISM
Following the September 11 attacks the US created a
Cabinet level office of Homeland Security. This was meant
to revisit its national security structure and deal with
providing security to the whole of America. Terrorism is top
of US foreign policy
The US has succeeded in engaging the international
community in trying to combat terrorism. US President
Obama met with Indian PM Modi on Tuesday where the
two discussed how to deal with terrorism
The US is currently leading a coalition of more than 40
countries to rout ISIS, the US has launched nearly 200
airstrikes on the group in Iraq and France has joined as well
Counter terrorism cntd
The US focuses on targeted killing in combating terrorism. Targeted
killing is intentional direct targeting of a person with lethal force
intended to cause death. This was the case in the Afghanistan and
Iraqi wars. The US succeeded in targeting Osama bin Laden and
killing him
In relation to the threat of WMD the US has used air strikes on oil
refineries of ISIS to stop the flow of cash because ISIS depends on
these refineries for funding of weapons.
In response to 9/11 the US embarked on a national effort against Al
Qaeda and Taliban with the use of Predator drone strikes in Pakistan
The US also uses intelligence operations through what are known as
covert ops. Clifford 2009 states that a covert op is an operation that
is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit
plausible denial by the sponsor. Covert ops were used to target the
Taliban in Afghanistan so as to get information on Al Qaeda

Counter terrorism cntd
According to the Institute of Economics and Peace, US
counter terrorism is a hybrid employing district palettes of
legal tools ie criminal law enforcement and armed conflict
Criminal law enforcement involves arresting, stopping
their activities and punishing them. Armed conflict is the
willingness to kill and use deadly force
The aftermath of the September 11 attacks saw the US
engaging in war in Afghanistan this was armed conflict.
This war led to the fall of the Taliban government,
destruction of Al-Qaeda camps and the killing of Osama
bin Laden
In his speech on the strategy against ISIS, President
Obama outlined pointers these include airstrikes,
increase fighters in Iraq, use of intelligence and cutting off
its funding
CONCLUSION
-
TERRY WAITE, London Guardian

Terrorism is a huge threat to international peace and security and the
only way to combat such extremist behaviour is to use force as the US
is doing. Diplomatic means will not work with terror groups only the
use of force will thwart the behaviour of terror groups. The US has
manage to deal with terrorism though it is still far from eradicating an
ill such as terrorism.

THANK YOU
BY
VALERIE.R.JECHE and COLLIN ASANI