The document discusses terrorism and provides context on its definition, history, and types of terrorist acts. It details how terrorism has been used for centuries in various forms by groups seeking political, social, or religious goals. Specific terrorist groups and their tactics are examined, including Al Qaeda and the types of weapons of mass destruction that may be used. The document also reviews how different government agencies work to counter terrorism within the United States and abroad through intelligence gathering and analysis.

1. Terrorism
Date: 2/21/2016
Name: Sam Brandt
Teacher: Mrs. Mateleich-Hoang
Class: Criminal Investigation

2. The topic I have chosen to research is terrorism, a very relatable topic as I
served in the United States Marine Corps from 2009 to 2013 and deployed two
times to Afghanistan. Going forward in my research I would like to specifically talk
about the definition of terrorism, history of terrorism, types of terrorism acts,
international terrorism group called Al Qaeda, defining weapons of mass
destruction and we counter terrorism. Hopefully I can make raise awareness about
terrorism and all the sub components inside of it.
Terrorism is best defined as the use of unlawful violence or warning of
unlawful violence to instill fear (US Army , 2007). Also it can be described as an
intended to pressure or to intimidate governments or societies in the quest they’re
of goals perhaps political, ideological or religious (US Army , 2007).
We have had terrorism going on for centuries (Terrorism Files Organization ,
2012). It has been traced has far back as 350 BC. The only thing has changed over
the years is the tactics and complexity of the attacks. The Greek historian named
Xenophon he wrote about the impact of terrorism has on enemy populations
(Terrorism Files Organization , 2012). There have been numerous roman emperors
that have used terrorism. A few of them are Tiberius who ruled from 14 AD to 37
AD and Caligula who ruled from 37 AD to 41 AD. These two used expropriation of
property and execution. They hoped to discourage others from a different king
(Terrorism Files Organization , 2012).
The Spanish Inquisition used arrests and execution for what it viewed as
religious heresy (Terrorism Files Organization , 2012). Terror was strongly
supported by Robespierre to aid in support of a revolution over the French. His

3. time of ruling was known as the Reign of Terror from 1793 to 1794 (Terrorism Files
Organization , 2012). One organization that was formed after the American Civil
War by obstinate Southerners called the Ku Klux Klan (Terrorism Files Organization
, 2012). Their goal was to intimidate people that supported the reconstruction that
was taking place in the country (Terrorism Files Organization , 2012).
In the later part of the 19th century followers of anarchism embraced
terrorism tactics in United States, Western Europe and Russia (Terrorism Files
Organization , 2012). Their beliefs were based on the fact that if they assassinate
persons with political or social change power they could stop revolutionary change
(Terrorism Files Organization , 2012). There were a number of prime ministers,
presidents and top government officials that were killed by extreme anarchists from
1865 to 1905 (Terrorism Files Organization , 2012).
A terrorist chooses to commit different terrorist acts based upon something
that is important to the group like a political agenda (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
One of the most committed acts is bombings. This tactic can have a big number of
casualties. We saw this take place in Oklahoma City where a federal building was
blown up resulting in 168 people killed and 500 injured (Charles A. Lushbaugh,
2016). Another is the hijacking of airplanes, buses, trains, and cruise ships or any
other transportation that is considered to be mass transportation (Charles A.
Lushbaugh, 2016). Doing this act is mainly committed for the high propaganda
value that it has. Kidnapping is a big terrorist tactic where they target would target
a wealthy person and hold them for a large ransom of money (Charles A. Lushbaugh,
2016). In return the terrorist use this money to support expense within their

4. activities. Well-known individuals that have power or sometimes a person from the
media can be easy targets for terrorist (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Terrorists also
use an act known as kneecapping, which was developed by the Irish Republican
Army. This act involved shooting the person right behind the knee, which cripples
them for life (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). The person is sent on their way and in
return this sends a pivotal message to people of how powerful the terrorist group is.
Arson is another method of terror, which has been used by animal-rights groups.
The purpose of this form of terrorist act is to ruin property instead of focusing on
hurting people (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Looking back over the years this
method was used when animal rights groups tried to burn down a science research
lab at the University of California at Davis (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Eco
terrorist is a different approach called vandalism. Their goal is to hurt the lumber
business by doing damage to the logging equipment (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
One of their tactics is called tree spiking this is where they drive spikes into trees in
hopes of breaking the logging equipment (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Less
common today but still a possible tactic are assassinations. These are methodically
planned out and executed. Terrorist funding comes from using Narcoterrorism.
This involves the making of opium in the Middle east and in South American they
focus on the production cocaine (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Last tactic is cyber
terrorism where they using hacking skills to take control of networks for
communications, gas and oil.
International terrorism has been a big factor for the United States to combat
against (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). This type of terrorism mostly takes place

5. outside of the United States and its territories. The Unites States State Department
has found and identified 36 terrorist groups with the most dangerous being Al
Qaeda (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). The word Al Qaeda stands the “base of Allah’s
backing” (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Osama bin Laden started Al Qaeda in the
early 1980’s. When the group was first started its intended purpose was the fight
against the Soviet Union who invaded Afghanistan (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). In
1989 the Mujahedeen who had support from the United States successfully made
the Soviets retreat (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). After Osama bin Laden’s father
passed away he inherited over 300 million dollars. This kid of money gave Osama
bin Laden the opportunity to go to school and learn about engineering. He also got
exposure to writing and teaching of the radical Muslim ideas. In 1990 when the
United States helped Kuwait who was being invaded by Iraq, this upset Osama bin
Laden (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). He was furious to see Muslims fight Muslims
under American leadership. These then made Osama bin Laden declare war on the
United States of America. Now Osama bin laden was training members of Al Qaeda
to go to war with the United States (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
The Al Qaeda is responsible for many of deaths (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
In 1993 in Somalia the U.S. got in a firefight against trained extremist by Al Qaeda.
There were 18 U.S. soldiers killed. Another was in 2000 involving a suicide bombing
of the U.S.S. Cole in Aden (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). This took the lives of 17
sailors and injured 39 others. Lastly and probably the biggest carried out attack is
the 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon bombing strike. Which took the lives of
3,000 people (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).

6. “Weapons of mass destruction” is a term we have heard about over the years,
but what are they, really? There are two key components that make up weapons of
mass destruction (Reed, 2016). One is they have a threat to large-scale destruction,
especially involving civilians and nature (Reed, 2016). It should be noted that there
are three types primarily used weapons of mass destruction, which are biological,
nuclear, and chemical warfare agents (Reed, 2016).
There are many of different chemical agents that can be used some can be
mustard gas, sarin, hydrogen cyanide and chorine (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
We have seen biological agents used in the early 2000’s one being anthrax (Charles
A. Lushbaugh, 2016). This was sent to try and specifically target two U.S. senators
and a news anchor. It never made it to them, however, it did kill the five personnel
who handled it (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). The nuclear bombs vary on type
some can be the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and dirty bombs (PBS Organization ,
2005). Atomic bombs will produce a gigantic amount of electricity and heat. The
hydrogen bomb packs a heavier punch, which it gets from the nuclear fusion (PBS
Organization , 2005). When this bomb goes off it can damage anything around its
radius and can contaminate water, air and soil for years (PBS Organization , 2005).
Lastly, dirty bombs contain radioactive material. When this bomb explodes it sends
radioactive material everywhere and leaves areas inhabitable for many years (PBS
Organization , 2005).
The United States has been using many of tactics to counterterrorism over
the years with specifically designed groups. One groups is the Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA) their purpose is to analyze intelligence from each military branch. A

7. more commonly known group called the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) they
conduct domestic counterterrorism efforts (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Also, they
travel to U.S. embassies and collect intelligence. Another important group is the
National Security Agency (NSA), which works to gather signal and communication
Intel, and does code breaking activates (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). Lastly, a very
important group through out the United States battles has been the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) their main purpose is to abstract intelligence beyond
United States borders (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016). They get intelligence
information by the use of secret human and technology tools to get facts on terrorist
operations (Charles A. Lushbaugh, 2016).
As you can see from the information I gathered in this report terrorism is
very complex. It has many different components that make it up. There is no best
way to fight terrorism but many ways to fight each dimension of terrorism.
Terrorism is nothing new it has just begun to become a very important issue over
the years because it has been put on the back burner for too long. Now we find
ourselves in a world that is constantly trying to find strategies to combat it. We
must act now with a great zeal to destroy terrorism wherever it stems from.

8. Bibliography
Charles A. Lushbaugh, P. B. (2016). Criminal Investigation Basic Perspectives (Vol.
13). (A. Gilfillan, Ed.) New York , New York , USA: Pearson .
PBS Organization . (2005, 5 2). Types of Nuclear Bombs . Retrieved 2 17, 2016, from
PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-jan-june05-bombs_05-
02/
Reed, L. (2016, 2 15). Weapons of Mass Destruction . Retrieved 2 17, 2016, from
Hampshire College: https://www.hampshire.edu/pawss/weapons-of-mass-
destruction
Terrorism Files Organization . (2012, 1 15). History of Terrorism . Retrieved 2 9,
2016, from Terrorism Files :
http://www.terrorismfiles.org/encyclopaedia/history_of_terrorism.html
US Army . (2007, 8 15). A Military Guide to Terrorism in 21st Century , 1. Retrieved 2
7, 2016, from fas.org : https://fas.org/irp/threat/terrorism/guide.pdf