Hlsc 730-discussion 5-reply 1 | HLSC 730 – Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Strategies | Liberty University

The thread must be a minimum of 200-250 words. MINIMUM OF TWO SOURCES BESIDES THE TEXTBOOK. Must cite at least 2 sources in addition to the Bible.

TEXTBOOK: Prunckun, H. (2019). Counterintelligence theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Inc. ISBN: 9781786606884.

Ronczkowski, M. R. (2018). Terrorism and organized hate crime. (4th ed.). Boca Raton FL: Taylor & Francis (CRC Press). ISBN: 9781138703469.

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Defining Terrorism: Ronczkowski (2018) articulates how essential a true definition of the word terrorism is, both conceptually and practically, stating the implementation of any thorough examination, analysis, intelligence gathering, or potential mitigation techniques. However, establishing a clear and mutually agreed upon definition of terrorism, on the worldwide stage, surprisingly draws substantial criticism, disagreements, and contention amongst involved parties (Filippo, 2020). Filippo (2020) contends that defining terrorism has roused massive contempt throughout the international community, arguing that the label of a country that harbors or supports terrorists is incredibly adverse. Therefore, countries that Filippo (2020) asserts have less quality control over terrorists derived internally typically dispute the definition of terrorism attempting to appear rosier during economic or political forums.

America’s largest and most involved federal agency in the fight against terrorism defines international terrorism as, “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations” (fbi.gov, 2023) and domestic terrorism as, “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature” (fbi.gov, 2023). This definition developed was by the FBI, DOJ, and CIA marking an international and domestic gold standard, furthermore, it outlines the most important attributes of identifying instances of terrorism (Ronczkowski, 2018).

Analysis and Intelligence Driven Enforcement (AIDE): The evolving premise of AIDE has forced its presence overtly into terrorism detection and prevention, AIDE as described by Ronczkowski (2018), is the usage of data, information, and analysis into practical enforcement methods. Renard (2021) encouraged the use of AIDE when investigating domestic terrorist shooter responses for local law enforcement by attempting to better identify the type of individuals prone to this behavior. Renard’s (2021) study determined that younger white males from troubled homes are the largest percentile of active shooters in America, typically acting alone during the incident and are inclined toward suicidal ideations. Therefore, local police, when responding to active shooters, can definitively gear internal training toward single-shooter scenarios instead of multiple shooters, better preparing them to stop the threat (Renard, 2021).

Transforming Information into Intelligence: Ronczkowski (2018) explains the process of acquiring pertinent information, analyzing it, and eventually transforming it into usable intelligence. For example, a covert American operative discovers increased terrorist recruitment initiates and training programs amongst jihadist extremists in the Middle East (Dugan & Fisher, 2023). This information, once analyzed, determined that an attack against known enemies of jihadist extremists, most Western civilizations, was imminent, prompting definitive countermeasures (Dugan & Fisher, 2023). Dugan & Fisher (2023) argued that this transformation from info to intel encouraged reevaluation of present white house accessibility protocols, citing that January 6th, 2021, was clear evidence of weakness in security. Ronczkowski (2018) attached this mentality to threat matrixes when attempting to assess the potential of attacks on American soil, proclaiming that devious actors look for weaknesses and failures to reevaluate. Ultimately, the Christian spirit finds solace in peaceful thoughts and actions, however, stopping bad actors is also paramount, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (English Standard Version, 2001/2016 1 Peter 5:8).     

References

Dugan, D., & Fisher, D. (2023). Far-Right and Jihadi Terrorism within the United States: From

September 11th to January 6th. Annual Review of Criminology. 6. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030521-102553Links to an external site. 

English Standard Version. (2016). Bible hub. Retrieved from https://biblehub.comLinks to an external site. (Original

work published 2001).

Filippo, M. (2020). Definition of Terrorism in International Law. Research Handbook on 

International Law and Terrorism. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788972222Links to an external site.  

Federal Bureau of Investigation Website. (2023). Why We Investigate Terrorism.

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorismLinks to an external site.  

Renard, T. (2021). Counter Terrorism as a Public Policy: Theoretical Insights and Broader

Reflections on the State of Counter Terrorism Research. Perspectives on Terrorism. 15(4). https://www.jstor.org/stable/27044231Links to an external site. 

Ronczkowski, M. (2018). Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime. Taylor & Francis Group. 

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