Counterterrorism Law Enforcement: A Historical Analysis - Research Paper

Introduction

Terrorism is the use of illegitimate means such as violent tactics mostly aimed at civilians for political or ideological purposes. The terrorists aim at instilling fear and panic. The terrorist may be revolutionary, therefore seeking to seize power, nationalists to gain autonomy or religious terrorism opposing state secularism. In this paper, I look at the history of law enforcement operations in counterterrorism and the change to law enforcement operations and their efficiency.

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History of Law Enforcement Operations in Terrorism

In the 1960s, terrorism was not a significant concern among the law enforcement agencies in the United States, although it was a concern in Europe, Israel, and other countries in the Middle East. However, there were terrorist attacks by conservative groups such as Ku Klux Klan. In 1970 there was the federal act on air transportation and hijacking signaling the start of the US law enforcement involvement with terrorist cases. International law enforcement agencies were also involved in counterterrorism efforts like Interpol, which created "public safety and terrorism" sub directorate in 1985 to enhance global efforts on counterterrorism. In 1988 the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, led to the expansion of police counterterrorism efforts and the development of units (Deflem, 2010). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was involved in counterterrorism cases in the 1990s these were the bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, centennial Olympic park Atlanta Georgia in 1996 and the world trade center bombing in 1993. There were other high profile cases of terrorism in that decade, such as the bombing of the United States embassies in East Africa.

The September 11 attacks in 2001 resulted in a change of how the counterterrorism police worked. It led to the reorganization of the law enforcement forces in many countries to combat terrorism. There was a concern about the increase of terrorism globally following the bombing of Madrid in 2004, attack in London in July 2005, and the Glasgow international airport attack in 2007.

Key Law Enforcement Agencies That Is Responsible for Counterterrorism

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)

It is under the Department of Justice. It is responsible for both domestic and international counterterrorism efforts. It oversees the operations of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which consists of agents from different agencies. The JTTFs act as the main counterterrorism investigative body in the FBI. The main functions of the JTTFs in counterterrorism are following leads, gathering evidence, collecting intelligence, making arrests providing security for special events, and training agents to work in counterterrorism.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

The CIA is involved in collection analysis and dissemination of intelligence about foreign terror threats facing the United States. Its agents also work in the JTTF and the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

It was formed after the September 11 attacks to unite counterterrorism agencies and institutions. Some of the institutions that were brought under the department from the US customs service are the United States Citizenship and immigration services, United States Customs and border protection, and the US Immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) (Deflem, 2010).

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was initially under the department of transportation, was transferred to DHS in 2003. TSA oversees the Federal Air Marshal Service and the screening of airline passengers for possible terrorist threats.

Local Law Enforcement

State-level law enforcement police are also involved in counterterrorism. After the 9/11 attacks, state police became more involved in counterterrorism, with some states establishing units that are directed towards counterterrorism. The state of Arizona created a counterterrorism center; New York hired new troopers to guard critical infrastructure along the northern border (Foster & Cordner, 2005)

Other law enforcement agencies involved in counterterrorism are the National Security Agency, which is able to intercept communications without a court-approved warrant under the "terrorist surveillance program" and the Office of Terrorism and Financial intelligence which protects the US financial system from terrorism and other security threats (Deflem, 2010).

Change in Law Enforcement Operations in Terrorism

September 11, 2001, attacks created and shifted responsibilities among law enforcement. The attacks served as a wakeup call to law enforcement agencies regarding terrorism threats. The FBI changed priorities with protecting the United States from terrorist attacks being at the top of the new order of priorities.

After the attack, many new agencies were involved in homeland security, such as state law enforcement, which was now being engaged in gathering and analysis of intelligence to counterterrorism. They were also currently more increasingly involved in protecting critical infrastructures like airport events and dignitaries and carrying out preventive patrols. There was an allocation of more resources to counterterrorism activities and reduced allocation to traditional crimes and drug prevention, reducing the effectiveness in those efforts (Foster & Cordner, 2005).

The change occurred in policing in the USA after the attack. Police became more proactive, authoritarian, and centralized with an increased level of intelligence sharing between different agencies (Duru & Bakiev, 2018).

There were increased police duties after 2001. The police also used advanced technological tools for surveillance. There was an increased budget for the law enforcement agencies, and the cops realigned with military and intelligence agencies. The police were also more concerned with bioterrorism and made use of computers for investigation and financial investigation and asset freezing to counterterrorism (Deflem, 2010).

There was the establishment of the Department of Homeland security (DHS), which led to the unification of counterterrorism agencies and the passage of the PATRIOT act "Providing Appropriate Tools Required to intercept and Obstruct Terrorism." This was to enhance security against terrorism, increase funding for the FBI, and enabled the military to offer assistance during emergencies.

The FBI formed the Joint Terrorism Taskforce (JTTF), which was comprised of agents from different law enforcement and other emergence first responder agencies. The JTTFs were created to gather evidence and intelligence and to provide security against terrorist attacks. The agencies involved in the formation of JTTFs are the FBI, who oversees the task force, the CIA, and the Immigration, the New York City Police Department (NYPD and customs enforcement (ICE) (Deflem, 2010).

The local police vary in the way they responded to the September 11 attacks. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) was among the worst-hit agencies losing 23 officers during the attacks (Deflem, 2010). Since then, the NYPD has been involved in counterterrorism activities. The NYPD provides security to vulnerable areas of the financial district and has standby tactical teams ready for deployment in case of an emergency. The NYPD has formed a specialized counterterrorism Bureau and partners with other agencies in the JTTF in counterterrorism efforts.

Other state police responses were the state of Arizona creation of a counterterrorism information center and the state of Washington establishment of a canine explosive unit (Foster & Cordner, 2005).

The Interpol has undergone changes since 2001 with the institution of new international communication and new policy resolutions criminalizing various acts which constitute terrorism (Deflem, 2010).

Due to the reallocation of law enforcement resources to counterterrorism, other common crimes are likely to increase, resulting in furthers insecurity. The proactive, centralized, and authoritarian policing and aggressive intelligence gathering are likely to interfere with the US citizen's privacy rights. However, the increased police capability can also help reduce other forms of crimes since most other crimes such as money laundering are related to terrorism and other crimes such as financial and drug crimes.

JTTFs have proven to be cost-efficient approaches to counterterrorism. However, "efficiency does not equate to effectiveness." (Deflem, 2010). There have been few arrests by the FBI and claims of thwarted terrorist attempts.

The NYPD organizes training programs to teach law enforcement officers the use of counterterrorism tactics, such as identification of possible vulnerable targets (Deflem, 2010).

Conclusion

Terrorism has been a threat to people's security and life for long. Law enforcement agencies are tasked with providing security to the population; this also includes the security from terrorist attacks. The threat of terrorism was brought to many law enforcement agencies' attention by the 9/11 attacks and exposed many limitations to the systems employed then to protect against terrorism. There was a need to change how law enforcement agencies dealt with the threat, and as seen, many changes were made.

References

Deflem, M. (2010). The policing of terrorism: Organizational and global perspectives. Routledge.

Duru, H., & Bakiev, E. (2018). Examining terrorism threat and police performance. International Journal of Public Policy, 14(3/4), 258-274

Foster, C., & Cordner, G. (2005). The impact of terrorism on state law enforcement. Richmond, KY: The Council of State Governments and Eastern Kentucky University.

Kris, D. S. (2011). Law Enforcement as a Counterterrorism Tool. J. Nat'l Sec. L. &Pol'y, 5, 1.

Waxman, M. C. (2009). Police and national security: American local law enforcement and counterterrorism after 9/11. J. Nat'l Sec. L. &Pol'y, 3, 377.