Research Paper on Al-Qaeda

Introduction

In recent years, terrorism has been on the rise and has led to the death of innocent civilians including children. The unlawful use of intimidation and violence is what makes the terrorists very dangers. Focusing on al-Qaida in the United States of America, there have been many deaths, tension, and wastes of resources in pursuit of these terrorists whose bargains are sometimes very petty. Al-Qaida is a militant Islamic multinational organization founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden and other Muslim volunteers. It has been labeled as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, European Union and countries like the United States of America, Russia, UK and Russia (Posen, 2002). History of al-Qaida in America traces back to twenty years when the leader of this terrorist group Osama Bin Laden declared war on America. The history of enmity between these two groups traces back to the war in Afghanistan where the Islamic group was fighting against the Soviet Union. After this war, the leader of al-Qaida declared war against Americans who occupied the "holy places" (Hoffman, 2004). The main objective of this paper is to discuss the suitable data collection programs that would be utilized to counter this terrorist group, identify the best IC members to collect intelligence as well as give the most effective intelligence analysis strategies.

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The United States government has been failing in its counter war against the al-Qaida however if better methods of collecting good intelligence were utilized it would help the government learn the weak point of this organization and therefore stand a better chance of defeating them and preventing further attacks (Harris et al. 2009). To begin with, the United States government can try utilizing Bulk meta-data collection which is also known as data about data. To comprehend the general working of this meta-data program we take the example of an email. When an email is sent to someone say at 8:30 am. The time that an email is sent, the recipient of the email, as well as the sender of the email, are classified as Metadata and it is readable by machines. According to Harris et a.., (2006), the main idea that makes meta-data suitable as a counterterrorism strategy is the fact that it gives life's information by making an analysis of the information it gathers from an individual's devices. For instances, metadata gives caller identity, duration of the call and frequency of calling, it also provides the URL, IP address as well as the frequency of visits in case of an internet scenario.

The most advantageous thing about Metadata is giving a pattern can help rule out the suspects. For instance, their financial transaction can be traced and determine who they are meant to go to and for what purpose. If any purchase on weapons is made they can be able to tie the transaction to a particular individual. However, if someone makes a suspicious search on the internet the IP address can trace to the individual making the search .lastly, with information on caller identity, call duration and frequency of the calls, the suspects can be can be investigated to determine the content of the calls ( Harris et a.., 2006).

Another method that the government can utilize to collect data on al-Qaida is by use of HUMINT. This abbreviation is used to mean human intelligence whereby they make use of informants and undercover against to penetrate terrorist groups (Wedgwood, 2002). To use this kind of data collection on al-Qaida requires an informant or an undercover agent. Use of this method helped to understand the motivations of the group, the leadership structure, the plans for an attack and this can help to stop the attack before it actually happens (Chen, 2006). This method, however, is quite dangerous in the sense that the informant can be working as a double agent or the undercover agent is caught snooping by the terrorist group they are spying on and tortured into giving sensitive information which compromises the whole operation.

Another method of data collection that the government can use to counter al-Qaida is the use of massive surveillance in public places to keep watch of suspicious activity among members of the public. This surveillance should be put in public places with high populations like bus stops, airports, supermarkets schools, and health facilities. Most terrorist groups in the past have been seen to target areas with high population hence by use of public surveillance it is possible to identify individuals with suspicious activities and have a ready police force to pull them out before they can do anything dangerous (Bose, 2008).

Data collection is the center of the whole operation as it gives the insight of what force to use and how to counter the whole operation. For this reason, the government agency behind it should be the best in terms of resources, necessary diplomatic relation and agreement to conduct research across borders as well as highly trained office and field personnel (Darling, 2007). In our case of the al-Qaida, the central intelligence agency is the most suited IC to do the data collection. To begin with, the primary duty of the CIA is to gather intelligence on national security it is, therefore, basic "spy" agency for America. With the resources they have and the training g of their agents, they can effectively collect data on any terrorist group or national threats on America.

After collecting information, there is a need for confirmation that this information has facts embedded and therefore an intelligence analysis is conducted using various strategies. According to Freeman (2008), the first thing that analysts do upon receiving the information in determining the credibility and reliability of information. During this process, things like decryption, translation, and interpretation would be very useful. Metadata could have captured the wrong person or just a wannabe, secondly, an informant can give wrong information hence need for thorough confirmation. Upon certifying the information, there is then need to rule out on the competing hypothesis. A piece of information can be subject to many explanations and therefore the analyst should maintain an open mind by use of probability. For instance, information from public surveillance can help to pull out a suspicious person however, it can also be a distraction to the spying agency by the terrorist group as they do the real deal elsewhere hence the probability analysis helps to choose between the two hypotheses (Freeman, 2008). This method has been widely utilized by an intelligence agency to analyze threats and proved productive.

Another strategy is the use of cognitive strategy. This simply means the use of the mind to solve a problem. Sometimes especially after collection of data using the Metadata there is need for a sharp logical mind to connect the patterns of events, this is to mean that after gathering information about a suspects call log, internet searches and bank transaction it is then important to assume the mind of the suspect and therefore predict the next line of action (Chen, 2006). This method, however, has been proved noneffective in some situations where the analyst uses improper analogies to evaluate the suspect; they sometimes also get fixated with the suspect and lose sight of the bigger picture.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the United States of America applies different approaches to counter terrorism; this has helped to reduce the loss of life and destruction of property which has many political social and economic impacts. However, the counter-terrorism war needs a strong starting point in order to formulate strategies that go hand in hand with the plans of these terrorist groups. This paper has concentrated on the most primary thing in the fight against terrorism which is data collection. Data on an opponent is the most crucial I information on a battlefield. Various ways that can, therefore, be utilized to collect information includes use surveillance cameras in public places, use of Metadata and employing human resources like informants and undercover agents. This data, however, need to be in the hands of very experienced and well-trained personnel hence the recommendations of the Central Intelligence Agency. After gathering all pieces of information there is a need to test the credibility and reliability of the information. The most effective methods include the use of probability as well as cognitive logical reasoning to determine the occurrence of a threat.

Work Cited

Posen, B. R. (2002). The struggle against terrorism: Grand strategy, strategy, and tactics. International Security.

Freeman, M. (2008). Democracy, Al Qaeda, and the causes of terrorism: A strategic analysis of US policy. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.

Bose, R. (2008). Competitive intelligence process and tools for intelligence analysis. Industrial management & data systems.

Chen, H. (2006). Intelligence and security informatics for international security: Information sharing and data mining(Vol. 10). Springer Science & Business Media.

Darling, A. B., Berkowitz, B. D., & Goodman, A. E. (2007). The Central Intelligence Agency: an instrument of government, to 1950. Penn State Press.

Harris, P. A., Taylor, R., Thielke, R., Payne, J., Gonzalez, N., & Conde, J. G. (2009). Research electronic data capture (REDCap)-a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. Journal of biomedical informatics.

Hoffman, B. (2004). The changing face of Al Qaeda and the global war on terrorism. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 27(6), 549-560.

Wedgwood, R. (2002). Al Qaeda, terrorism, and military commissions. American Journal of International Law, 96(2), 328-337.