Preventing Terrorism

            Mitigating the United States citizens from terrorist attacks is the basis for the formation of the intelligence community (Fisher, 2016). However, while America is resilient and robust because of the initiatives by intelligence community enterprise, terrorist threats continue to persist and evolve (Fisher, 2016). Given these facts, this paper seeks to demonstrate the organization and sequence of the intelligence community within the U.S., the current difficulties in counterterrorism intelligence in the U.S. and provide an analysis of the influence that intelligence collection has on organizing for terrorism in the U.S.

The Intelligence Sequence and the Configuration of the Intelligence Community within the United States

            The Intelligence Community (IC) is a complex enterprise and a massive structure that consists of several agencies, some of which include but are not limited to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) (Kerr, Wolfe, Donegan & Pappas, 2018). The intelligence community is operated and organized according to local, state, and federal statutes as well as the executive commands (Kerr et al., 2018). After the 9/11 occurrence, IC transformed its structure into a more collaborative and unified effort, operating in partnership for the security and safety of U.S. citizens (Kerr et al., 2018).

            IC’s key role is to collect data, process, evaluate, and relay the data promptly to the United States policymakers (Lowenthal, 1992). The cycle of this operation is also complex and starts with a member of the IC placing a request or bid for specific information; for instance, if he or she needs the name of a foreign leader, then the bid is conveyed to the prioritization committee who approve if the request is valid, then Human source intelligence committee must also determine whether or not the person applying for the information has the authorization to place the bid (Lowenthal, 1992).

            Upon completing this initial step, the Imagery and Signals Intelligence team governs the data that has been intercepted via infrared images, data transmissions, or radars (Lowenthal, 1992). This data is then processed, assessed, and conveyed to the Measurement and Signature branch of the IC, where it is further evaluated for discrete traits of past events (Lowenthal, 1992). These complete data are then combined along with other relevant intelligence data to design an intelligence report (Lowenthal, 1992).

            On the completion of the compilation of the intelligence report, it is delivered to the Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities, the Joint Military Intelligence Program, as well as the National Foreign Intelligence Program, who formulate an intelligence budget that is sent to Congress for consent (Lowenthal, 1992).

The Prevailing Difficulties in Counterterrorism Intelligence within the United States

            Ronczkowski (2017) argues that the continually evolving nature of terrorism, since terrorists or extremists keep establishing new ways to plan, organize, and execute attacks, is an enormous existent challenge faced by U.S.S counterterrorism intelligence.

            In the present era of the escalated use of social media use and the increased rates of domestic radicalization, terrorists can swiftly plan attacks virtually via a platform such as the Internet (Kaplan, 2017). For instance, through the internet podia, terrorists can communicate remotely and organize how to acquire or deliver weapons easily and even conduct the recruitment of fresh followers, and this presents an enormous challenge to the counterterrorism intelligence community (Kaplan, 2017). Therefore, there is a need for counterterrorism intelligence to intensify their observation and monitoring of terrorist groups to unearth and preempt all the terrorist threats within the U.S. (Kaplan, 2017).

The Effect Intelligence Collection has on Organizing for Terrorism in the United States.

            Since the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government adopted various incremental reforms that were aimed at enhancing the integration and quality of the intelligence collection process (Ronczkowski, 2017). These changes are broad and involve the screening of imported goods, foreign visitors, and airline passengers (Ronczkowski, 2017). The method also entails the addition of more federal resources to local and state public health as well as emergency communication structures (Ronczkowski, 2017).

            However, the implemented processes of intelligence gathering have led to the establishment of severe concerns concerning conflicts amidst principles of personal privacy, government transparency, and national security measures (Ronczkowski, 2017). One perfect example is the constant civil liberty advocates efforts of challenging the United States government’s initiatives of harnessing new information technology to screen airline passengers (known as the CAPPS II program) as well as the suggestion to share private information regarding persons gathered from several sources sanctioned by the USA PATRIOT law (Ronczkowski, 2017). 

            Numerous complaints have been reported to the American Civil Liberties Union by the passengers, who claim that these security measures are excessively intrusive, demeaning, and an invasion of privacy (Ronczkowski, 2017). Moreover, concerns have arisen concerning the effectiveness of these measures; some members of Congress have questioned whether the machines (metal detectors) can identify any object concealed inside body cavities given the December 2009 incidence of the Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, at Detroit (Ronczkowski, 2017).

Conclusion

            In light of the above facts, it is clear that the intelligence community comprises various agencies, some of which have been mentioned in the discussion above. The cycle of the functioning of IC involves several steps, as shown in the paper above. Counterterrorism intelligence currently faces a considerable challenge due to the continually evolving nature of how terrorists plan attacks. Lastly, the impact that the intelligence collection process has on preparing for terrorism in the U.S. is evident by the Civil Liberties advocates attempts to challenge the screening of airline passengers because the measures are exceedingly intrusive and invade privacy.

References

Fisher, S. (2016). The Fight Against Terrorism—the need for local police units in the United States’ intelligence community. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 17(1).

Kerr, R., Wolfe, T., Donegan, R., & Pappas, A. (2018). Intelligence collection and analysis on Iraq: Issues for the intelligence community. In Intelligence and national security policymaking on Iraq. Manchester University Press.

Kaplan, A. (2017). The counter-terrorism puzzle: A guide for decision-makers. Routledge.

Lowenthal, M. M. (1992). US intelligence: evolution and anatomy (No. 157). Praeger Pub Text.

Ronczkowski, M. R. (2017). Terrorism and organized hate crime: Intelligence gathering, analysis, and investigations. CRC press.