Hlsc 730-discussion 8-reply 2 | HLSC 730 – Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence Strategies | Liberty University

The thread must be a minimum of 200-250 words. MINIMUM OF TWO SOURCES BESIDES THE TEXTBOOK. Must cite at least 2 sources in addition to the Bible.

TEXTBOOK: Prunckun, H. (2019). Counterintelligence theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Inc. ISBN: 9781786606884.

Ronczkowski, M. R. (2018). Terrorism and organized hate crime. (4th ed.). Boca Raton FL: Taylor & Francis (CRC Press). ISBN: 9781138703469.

***FRANK***

Future of Terrorism: Unfortunately, it appears obvious that terrorism, both foreign and domestic, will not innately reduce, therefore, counter terrorism strategies, methodologies, and practices must remain prevalent (Ronczkowski, 2018). Going forward, a distinct emphasis should be placed on countering domestic terrorism, as the current rate of lone shooter incidents continues to increase substantially beyond foreign terrorist incidents. Mass shootings are occurring across the country in volume, becoming so prevalent they commonly dictate news reports (Fikac, 2015). Fikac (2015) describes the active shooters plaguing America, and Western cultures, as an epidemic resulting from an externally focus mindset. Fikac (2015) contends that the U.S. should put its citizen’s problems first, instead of attempting to control worldwide issues. This argument, although not popular, is sound, as mental health drives domestic terrorism, costing thousands of American lives every year and tearing at the delicate social fabric (Fikac, 2015).

Combining newer investigation tools to prevent the rising threat of lone shooters requires a stronger controlling body of social media applications and platform managers (Wade, 2020). Wade (2020) argues for a robust federal law enforcement body to properly regulate domestic terrorist threats, focusing on suspicious behavior, adverse chat forums, demonic content, inappropriate imagery, and associating with foreign terrorist organizations. Social media and its limitless accessibility to view, post, and comment on imagery have encouraged many positive relationships, however, several opposing exchanges have caused and fueled lone shooter radicalization (Wade, 2020).

Potential Changes: The mightiest of reprehensible behavior revolving around terrorism is an apparent overfocus and involvement in external or international problems, clearly jading devoted jihadists against Western cultures (Ronczkowski, 2018). Karipek (2020) displays the undisputed hate jihadists contain toward America and Europe, painting these Western civilizations as the bearer of bombs, guns, and missiles. Many American criminologists, Karipek (2020) included, understand these influences are propaganda-based to extort money and influence over war-torn poverty-stricken regions. Unfortunately, the illusion of devious actions is more powerful than actual actions, due to this unstoppable mentality America, generally speaking, should move toward a more intrinsic management style (Karipek, 2020). This intrinsic management style would place significant American problems first, like border security, health care, social security, local crime, climate control, and economic development, diverting international contempt away from America and toward other Western countries.

HLSC730: Considering this is the last class that this student-researcher will be participating in before the advent of a capstone and dissertation, it is with complete clarity that it receives a glowing review. After shrugging off this rosy feeling, a true critique of this class revolves around the weekly discussion questions. 8 total discussion questions were substantial and although the topics assigned were interesting and fun to research it was slightly taxing combined with the loner papers and final project. A recommendation would be to make 5-6 discussion questions weekly assignments and lengthen the two papers to allow for more deep and critical thinking beyond the surface level discussions. As fitting an inspirational Bible closes the forum, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (English Standard Version, 2001/2016 Deuteronomy 31:6).     

References

English Standard Version. (2016). Bible hub. Retrieved from https://biblehub.comLinks to an external site. (Original

work published 2001).

 Fikac, R. (2015). Protecting Public School Against the Reoccurring Threat of Domestic

Terrorism. Federated Electronic Theses and Dissertations. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/1981Links to an external site.  

Karipek, A. (2020). Portrayals of Jihad: A Cause of Islamophobia. Islamophobia Studies Journal. 

5(2). https://doi.org/10.2307/j50018795Links to an external site.

Ronczkowski, M. (2018). Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime. Taylor & Francis Group. 

            Boca Rotan, Fl. 

Wade, T. (2020). Active Assailant Preparedness: Beyond Active Shooter Response. Practical 

Securities Strategies and Emerging Trends. 6.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817748-8.00011-0Links to an external site.