Is the United States Border Really Safe from Terrorist and Weapons of Mass Destruction - Term Paper Example

Terrorism Though terrorism and human kind are inseparable, life is fair when security threats do not cut across the mind. People like leading life that is far from fear. Natural justice demands respect to human life and dignity. Freedom ceases when human life is under the fear of terror attacks. Terror attacks and threats of terror attack impact on economy of a country. Sometimes air travel and hotel booking come to standstill because security of security alarm over terror attacks. Many people fear security threat and would rather keep off from places that have security problems. People would be keen to listen to information regarding terrorism. Research indicates that businesses and human activities, which lead to economic development, are influenced by terrorism. Terrorism attack in the United State has led to closure of several businesses and death of dozens of citizens. It is quite unfair for innocent people to be targeted by terrorist who do not wish to air their concerns in dignified manner. How would a person feel when an innocent child loses his life because of terror attack? The government security forces endeavor to provide security to the citizens. Protection from terror attack is top of government security agenda. Stable economy of United States depends on the security system of the country. Many investors are reluctant to invest in countries, which suffer from terrorist attack. Terror risk deprives people from achieving natural justice. Terrorism refers to a deliberate creation of fear to oust the political system of a country (Lutz & Lutz 19). Terror attacks infringe individual’s right to live. Terrorist acts fail to acknowledge respect for human dignity and rights. Institution of governments among people aims to provide checks and balances in human authority and activities. Human institution provides a guide that could be used to raise grievances pertaining to issues in the society. United States cannot progress when terrorism rule the society. It will water the progresses that the country has made. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of terrorism in United States. The society has viewed terrorism as a suicide attack for a very long time. Changes in technology have introduced new strains of terrorism in the society. These strains include biological terrorism, chemical terrorism and information warfare. Information warfare is an act that would leak basic security information of a country thereby exposing the country to attack by the terrorist. This form of terrorism is quite recent and very difficult to control. United States is a superpower and would harbor information which when leaked would expose the country to security risks. Individuals who want the country to sympathize with their criminal acts would crack the information and expose it to the internet. Information regarding the countries weapons must be kept secretly because of fear of invasion from other countries. On the other hand, biological or chemical terrorism would use the chemical technology to cause harm to the society. Manufacture of chemicals that would lead to massive death violates human rights. Death of innocent people is not acceptable. Biological engineering may result in formation of products that would lead to human death. The above forms of terrorism expose human life to risk thereby calling for protection against such. United States has to protect its border from weapons of mass destruction because of the effects of terrorism. When the United States boarder is porous, weapons of mass destruction would find their way into the country. Terrorism is a problem because the intention behind terrorism does not promote economic, social or political justice in the society. Destruction that terrorism brings to the society include, death, lose of property, infrastructure among others. Justice prohibits taking of human life. Societal laws provide a mechanism for protecting human property and the boundary, which a person has. Respect to these boundaries in life provides the basis of rule of law. The law provides a guideline to the society. The law acts as a mirror that would paint the characters of people in the community. Human governance owes it powers from the societal laws. When the society faces a terror attack, it means that the societal laws have failed to provide justice to the terrorist. A question that many scholars seek to answer is the causes or the intentions behind terrorism. According to Valeri & Borgeson (33), terrorism does not provide justice to people who feel that they are deprived of some justice in the society. Instead, it promotes death of innocent victims. Some argument against terrorism indicates the terrorism is a result of ill intention by people who do not respect societal norms and human dignity. Societies have means of airing their grievances. Terrorists approach to societal problems has attracted condemnation throughout the world. Countries feel insecure when terrorist are on the loose. The political system of the country would suffer on the hands of terrorist. The society expects the political government in office to take responsibility of providing security to the people. When the government sounds a terror risk, the political system of the country is shaken. The political responsibility demands that a seating president must protect the country from intruders, which include foreign countries, terrorist among others. This political responsibility would influence the president in office and other concerned authorities to take charge towards controlling the terror attacks. Other than the political responsibility, international treaties aim at providing the citizens with protection against intrusions, which would claim human life. Any intrusion, which claims human life, is robbery of humanity. This is a criminal offense chargeable before internal and international courts. Human dignity and rights are vital in the society. Life ceases to meaningful when subject to terror attacks. Peaceful existence between communities and people promote trade and exchange of vital information among countries. US trade would withstand the worst of terrorism if an action were not taken to curb terrorist (Bruck 83). Trade in the United States depends on the peaceful environment that have. A lot exchange would take place when people do not have any fear of terror attack. Business personalities tend to ship their products when they have the surety that their products would reach their destinations safely. Terrorist exhort money from businesspersons by capturing vessels and demand billions of dollars before releasing the cargo ships or tracks. When the government negotiates terms with terrorist, the act continues in the society. Terrorism is a problem that has to be stumped out of United States and the world in general because leads to destruction of property. Suicide terrorist usually plant bombs, which lead to destruction of property and life. The government has spent much money in building roads, bridges, hospital among other infrastructure. Demolition of these structures through terror attack means that the government has to use the taxpayer’s money to put up the structures. Terrorism leads to retrogression since it destroys the strides that the country has made in provision of essential services to humanity. Human security is very essential in any society. Department of foreign affairs lose money due to fear of terror attack. Visitors who wish to visit the country would avoid coming into the country because of the fear. Foreign exchange helps in supplementing the budget of the country (Hewitt 108). A reduction in foreign exchange results in unbalanced economy thereby forcing the government to source for funds to cater for its budget. The government may increase taxes as a means of raising money to meets it budget (Loayza & Keefer 30). In this regard, terrorism shall have affected a common citizen. For example, the United States government has used 4.4 trillion dollars against the war of terrorism. This money comes from the government budget that is financed by common person. The government has to find measures that would stem the vice from the society. Several meetings that the government officials have held concerning terrorism seems to yield fruits. The recent capture and execution of the chief terrorist Osama bun Laden was a great step towards stumping out terrorism. Resolving terrorism issues require sound policies and strategies that would help in controlling any attacks from terrorist. According to Copeland (CRS 10), the government must control weapons that enter and get out of the country. The manufacture of weapons requires close monitoring by the government. This will help in controlling the arms of mass destruction, which may fall in illegal hands. Developing a law against terrorism would help in controlling terror attacks. The challenge that comes with the creation of the law is that most terror attacks are suicidal. This requires that the law should protect the suicide mission before it erupts. The government should introduce the use of modern technology to monitor activities of people. Terror groups use mobile phones and other modern technology to communicate and strategies on their terror activities. A policy that control communication provides a chance of monitoring security risks in the country. Some people join the terrorist groups because they need money to settle their needs. The government should create a policy, which will create employment to individuals who may be lured to join terror groups. Employment is a factor that influences the behavior of people in the society. Solution to unemployment problems to the country contribute towards solving the terrorism problems in the country. Youths that join the terror groups confess that their aim is not to kill or cause harm to the society, but air there plight to the government. Terrorism is a wrong method of airing grievances in the society. The government should come up with a community policing system that aim at engaging the common person in monitoring the security of the country. The benefits of community policing include relaying timely information, which is essential in provision of security services to the society. Terrorist live among the people, share the same environment with the people and have the same needs as the people. The society would be eager to provide information that would lead to the arrest of criminal who purport to live in the society. Developing of international policies that control the manufacture and distribution of chemicals of mass destruction would help in controlling terrorism in United States and World. Regulation of companies that manufacture the chemicals would bring accountability in the society. A free environment devoid of regulation is susceptible terrorism since terrorist will capitalize on the opportunity to create fear and attack to innocent civilians. Stringent measures would control the flow of the product in the society. Freedom in the society must have some limit because human intentions may be ill at some point. The shooting of students in Colorado pointed that freedom must have some limit. The society must prepare to meet the challenge by handling security issues in every corner. Reluctance by the United States government provided an opportunity for terrorist to attack on September 11. Strategic information dispensation would boost the fight against terrorism. Homeland security must treat information regarding the society with the utmost care it deserves. Terrorism attacks penetrate the society because some security details have delayed in executing their duties (Sullivan 9). Monitoring security records of homeland would enhance security checks in the country. Homeland security should grill terror suspect with an aim of acquiring useful information regarding terrorism. Largely, the society has a responsibility of delivering information to the homeland security. The work of the homeland security would be made easy when responsive governance is encouraged in the United States. Respect to human rights is critical towards winning war of terrorism in America. Terrorist argue that their act is instigated by lack of respect to human rights. The statement leads to many questions, but the government should act on it. Narrowing the counter terrorism efforts will help the government to achieve great result in it war against terrorism. The reason behind this statement argues that countries that breed terrorist promote terrorism in the world. Policies that would dictate action against terrorism would compel these countries to fight terrorism at the local level (Pillar 38). War on terrorism requires collaborating with other countries because it would help in cleaning the borders (Orthmann, Hess & Miller, 448). United States should collaborate with other international security agencies in stumping terrorists. The resent terror attack in United States was a wake up call to the government in designing comprehensive strategies to tackle terrorism. Countries that brood al-Qaida pose a great challenge towards winning the war on terrorism. In some of these countries, America has very little interest. It will force the United States government to reevaluate its approach towards such countries in protecting its boarders. Disrupting terrorist network in United States and across its borders will eradicate the terrorists. Terrorist network is responsible for the terror attacks in United States and elsewhere in the world. A strategy that aims at identifying the networks will help in eliminating the vice. Identification of terrorist sources and subsequent elimination of the source would help in reducing the risk of terror in US soil. Over the years, the United States of America had been condemning terrorism across the globe. The attack on US soil was an indication that safety was lacking. The challenge that United States may face in eliminating the terrorist is how to link the terrorist with the intended attack they are about to carry. The international laws that protect humanity require proof of linkage to the crime indicated. Many terror suspects have walked free because of inadequate proof that link their act to the terrorism. In this regard, the United States has to source for modern machinery and system that would help in linking the identified terrorist suspect. The issue should be treated with great caution because it may attract people who want hold political offices. Political aspirants usually challenge the government strategy in hunting terrorist. In many cases, they use terror issue to instill fear among the citizens in order to win votes. The tactic benefits the politician, but it is not acceptable in the society. John Adams, in his book Thoughts on Government argues that politician uses fear as the foundation of their government. To some extent, the argument is true. Wooing the society to vote for a political aspirant employs all kinds of methods in attracting the votes. Maximization of fear levels in the society has worked in the past to attract the attention of unsuspecting citizen to cast their interest towards a particular politician. United States must figure out the above concern in order to protect the society from people who wish to use dirty methods as a podium to political office. Another strategic approach towards elimination of terrorism is to deprive the terrorist from acquiring their enabling means (Hess & Orthmann 636). Freezing accounts of the suspected terrorist links slacken the terrorist activities. This calls for policies that aim at controlling and monitoring individuals who run multi million accounts in United States and abroad. This measure would help in unearthing terror links that a re supported by haters of peace. A different approach towards handling people who kidnap and take ships hostage will help in curtailing financial resources that terrorist use to finance their operations. In conclusion, terrorism is a deliberate action that aims at creating fear, harm, and destruction of property or life in order to gain politically. Various forms of terrorism include suicide bombing, chemical terrorism and biological terrorism. The concern over terrorism indicates that terrorism is not a means of addressing human rights or political issues, but a violation of human rights since terrorism causes death and destruction of property. Terrorism affects economic, political and social stability of a country. The country would suffer on the hands of terrorist if amicable action were not adopted to counter terrorism threats. Developing of policies, which would counter terrorism in United States, is one of the approaches that the government should consider in handling terrorism. Enhancing transparency in the department of homeland security would help in eliminating terror attacks that result from ignorance. Work cited Bruck, Tilman. The economic analysis of terrorism. Oxford: Taylor & Francis. 2007. 83-90. Print. Copeland, Claudia. Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector (updated Ed. ). Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing, 2009. CRS 1-CRS 11. Print. Hess Karen and Orthmann, Christine. Criminal Investigation. Stamford: Cengage Learning. 2009. 628-639. Print. Hewitt, Christopher. Understanding terrorism in America: from the Klan to al Qaeda. London: Routledge. 2003. 106-130. Print. Loayza Norman and Keefer, Philip. Terrorism, economic development, and political openness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2008. 25-40. Print. Lutz Brenda and Lutz, James. Global Terrorism. Oxford: Taylor & Francis. 2008. 17-30. Print. Orthmann Christine, Hess Karen, and Miller, Linda. Community Policing: Partnerships for Problem Solving. Stamford: Cengage Learning. 2007. 448-450. Print. Pillar, Paul. Terrorism and U.S. foreign policy.  Washington: Brookings Institution Press. 2003. 8-40. Print. Sullivan, P. Mark. Latin America: Terrorism Issues. Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing. 2011. 7-10. Print. Valeri, Robin and Borgeson, Kevin. Terrorism in America. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 2009. 33-40. Print. Read More