Counterterrorism
Instructions:-
From the Background Information section, review your readings/audio/websites and: Explain how a specific counterterrorism team, unit, or partnership operates to counter a terrorist episode. Use a specific example and “walk it through” the process.
Solution
Counterterrorism
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the chief organization towards terrorism investigation. The 9/11 terror attacks could be used as an example for the main processes used by the FBI in terror investigation, after which the agency took a proactive measure to counter terrorism acts.
The first step involves improving the tools, authorities and capabilities of the FBI, through legislation process. These include the post-9/11 regulation like the USA PATRIOT Act, amendments of the Mukasey Guidelines and an advancement of the joint counterterrorism forces (Bjelopera & Randol, 2011). Nevertheless, FBI organized reforms within it and tracked down the growth of such reforms initiatives. The FBI considered the 9/11 attacks as an intelligence failure and thus introduced several reorganizations that could make the agency more fragile, flexible and proactive towards curbing terrorism. This includes the establishment of Field Intelligence Groups meant to improve the capacity of the agency.
The establishment of FBI operations using preventive strategies like the Al Capone and provocateurs were also part of the measures for counterterrorism (“Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team,” 2013). The FBI does not focus on crime but speculates the occurrence of crime. This was evident in the fall of Muammar Qadhafi in 2011, through which the FBI interviewed Libyans living in the US against the possibility of terrorist attacking US due to its involvement in the fall of Gadhafi.
Finally, the FBI discusses the effects for privacy and civil liberties related to the preventive procedures to curb terrorism. This involves the measures for investigating terror activities in the United States homeland.
References
Bjelopera, J. and Randol, M. (2011). The Federal Bureau of Investigation and terrorism investigations. [Washington, D.C.?]: Congressional Research Service.
Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (2013). National Counterterrorism Center. Retrieved from: http://www.nctc.gov/jcat.html
