Counter Terrorism Operations
Counter terrorism incorporates techniques, practices and strategies that the governments, military or police departments within a country adopt in their attack on terrorists and their threats. The main tactic that is used against the terrorist is terrorism itself. Counter terrorism involves both the detection of potential acts and the response to related events.
The U.S can boast of successful counter terrorism attack on Afganistan.The U.S successfully invaded Afghanistan in a bid to prevent another terrorist attack in the U.S that was eight years ago. This was successful since before the September 11 ,2001 al Qaeda only managed to attack the U.S three times only at their African embassies in August 1998;the USS Cole incident in October 2000 and finally the September 11 2001 attack.al Qaeda however have failed to attack the U.S on its soil. This is a great failure to the al Qaeda and victory to the effective worldwide counter terrorism programs that have been put in place by the U.S.this success can be attributed to the aggressive intelligence operations that reach from the mountains of Afghanistan through the foreign capitals around the world all the way to New York City streets. This success is credited to the FBI, CIA, New York Police Department and the U.S Military (The Washington Times, 2012).
An example of a failed counter terrorism operation was when the British government failed to catch two groups of British Islamic Terrorists who had carried out attacks the summer that preceded the year 2006.the fact that despite an increased counter terrorism effort since the September 11, 2011 attack. The British Government had made assumptions that no Muslims on Britain would make any attempts to carry out a suicide attack in Britain but this was not the case. The British government made an assumption on and hence underestimated the extent to which young Muslims in Britain had been radicalized.islamic terrorists in Britain had been protected by the larger number Muslims in Britain that were not radicals cut were successful business men,prophesionals and even politicians who insisted that the younger Muslims were not radicalized. These Islamic radicals had coated their own separate societies that the British counter intelligence failed to identify or penetrate thoroughly to stop their attacks. The British police had caught some people involved in earlier Islamic terror attacks and they believed they had arrested the situation.
The failure by the British government in their counter terrorism operation could be preempted if the British government took some measures against the radicalized British Muslims. They could have taken the issues of the young radicalized Muslims seriously and stop making assumptions that they were harmless. They could have tried to contain their activities and not just assume that they could not even think of lunching attacks. Even with the arrest of people involved in Islamic terror attacks, the police would have continued to make arrests and not just assume that they had arrested everyone that was involved in terrorism. They could have also been keenly watching the activities of the young Muslims in Britain through extensive video surveillance and effectively use aerial surveillance measures. They would have been strict and limit the activities of community and humanitarian groups that formed the basis of the societies which the terrorists executed their attacks from. They could also monitor financial records, phone record this was in a bid to brush off the ideology that the business men and other influential members of the society in Britain who were Muslims were not part of the radicalized Muslims.
There are trends that are common for successful counter terrorism operations this include a thorough analysis of information that pertains to the current status of international terrorism, its dynamics and the trends that are escalating. Ensure that an effective counter terrorism system is in place that is in line with the current tactical situation and terrorism development trends. Another trend is the undertaking of special operations that eliminate illegal armed groups and block illegal traffic of arms, ammunition and highly toxic materials. Another trend is the maximizing of pressure on the states that sponsor and give support to terrorists by imposing sanctions that are economic as well as political. A well-planned, organized and an all source intelligence program put in place to identify the threats of terrorism and provide threat intelligence in good time.
References
The Washington Times, (2012). Counter-terrorism gains. Retrieved October 23, 2012 from
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/23/counter-terrorism-gains/?page=alCalahan, A. (2005). Countering terrorism: the Israeli response to the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre and the development of independent covert action teams. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/calahan.htm
