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Homeland Security
The issue of terrorism is a plague that has haunted the government and the innocent citizens for a very long time. Due to America’s influence to the world and its position as one of the world’s superpower, America has earned itself a fair share of friends and mutual foes alike. America’s involvement in the Middle East especially has earned itself a fair share of enemies in the region. A good example is the Al Qaeda terrorist group that has vowed to cause terror in the American soil. The terrorist group has in the recent past achieved in carrying out its threats. One in particular and the most devastating one was the September 11 attack where the group hijacked national flights and rammed them into the twin towers and the pentagon. The details of the attack were strategically planned and secrecy being highly maintained that the homeland security did not have a clue about the attack until it happened.
The grim reality is that it is almost quite difficult to determine the next form of attack, when, how and where it will be carried out. However, by having the relevant information regarding the financial ability and access to some of the weapons it is possible to speculate on the most possible form of attack that the terrorist groups a likely to use on the United States on America. Reliable sources site after careful consideration, the most likely form of attack by a terrorist group on the United States is a chemical one. This threat is now realistic after one if the terrorist groups unleashed it in an attack in Japan. An attack using chemical weapons is a grim possibility because of the very nature of chemical weaponry having diverse characteristics that are suitable to terrorists for an attack. The advantages posed to terrorists on using chemical weapons are so many and diverse that they outweigh the disadvantages posed by such. The threat posed by a possible attack cannot be assumed because it raises a dark cloud of fear that an ill-motivated person or organization could have the capacity to commit random acts of mass casualties at a very low expense or risk.
Terrorist organizations may now opt to go for chemical attacks due to the various advantages posed by such ventures. Many of the advantages posed by chemical forms of attack are exclusive in that they are only evident in such attacks. Another major advantage is that such attacks would cause severe damage that the relevant authorities would have little capacity to establish any countermeasures (Matthew, & Robert, 2003).The terrorist organizations are aware the homeland security, the department responsible for the security against terrorist attacks, is inadequately prepared in terms of having the relevant countermeasures against terrorist potential. The department lacks the relevant facilities to detect weapons being shipped into the country. This is compounded by the fact that agents of chemicals warfare cannot be detected at all. Technological advances have failed to come up with relevant tools to detect chemical warfare agents when they are being stored in a container. This makes the weapons ideal to transport and set up in the American soil with minimal detection (Johnson, 1990).
Another advantage is the low price associated with the purchase and acquisition of chemical agents of warfare. The manufacture of chemical agents is usually very low; this is reflected in the purchase values leading to the weapons’ being termed as the poor mans atomic bomb. Reports indicate that a terrorist group intending to cause large-scale damage on a dense population would only require spending close to $200 per kilometer of intended damage. This is relatively cheap considering the large amount of funds required to carry out the same kind of attack using other forms of weapons like nuclear or conventional bombs. Considering that most of the terrorist groups are well funded this is more than an option (Johnson, 1990).
A negative report by the CIA also went ahead to indicate that the manufacture of chemical weaponry meant for multiple casualty attacks would be that difficult for the group to perform. In fact, it would take the same effort as that required to manufacture narcotics by the same group. This factors make it possible for agents of chemical weaponry to be easily acquired by terrorist organization that are not well funded that have enough motives to carry out such an attack.
Another aspect of chemical weaponry that makes them a preferred form for terror attack is the horrifying mature of the effects caused by such weapons. The use of chemical weapons in warfare has received much criticism all-round ranging from armed forces personnel to civilians and political leaders. This is because of the gruesome nature of their effects terming them as unconventional and uncivilized. Terrorist groups would readily use such weaponry because they would largely benefit from the shock factor that would be received after such attacks. The main aim of terrorist groups is to create fear and this would go a long way in satisfying their objectives and goals. One major disadvantage is that some of the chemical weapons end up causing effects that is against the religious beliefs of some of the major terrorist groups. This means that carrying out such an attack would not only result into retaliatory attacks from the united states of American government and its allies, but also from religious groups that deem the act a sacrilege to human dignity.
The above indeed shows that the use of chemical agents of weaponry would be the most likely preferred form of attack by a terrorist group on the United States. This however, is not supposed to raise any fears but is supposed to serve as a necessary impetus for the concerned authority to develop relevant measures that would deter such an act and counter measures to with such an attack if carried out.
References
Johnson, J. (1990). The Kaiser’s Chemists: Science and Modernization in Imperial Germany. CA: University of North Carolina Press
Jonathan B. T. (2006). Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda. NY: OxfordUniversity Press.
Matthew, C. & Robert, C. (2003). Department of Homeland Security: Community Policing and Terrorism. New York, NY: Palmgate.
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