Milestone One: Introduction and Background on Terrorist Attack

Milestone One: Introduction and Background on Terrorist Attack

In a globalized world, counterterrorism efforts and research within the criminal justice field continue to expand, and their need is repeatedly underscored by each new attack. Those who seek to mitigate terrorist threats understand that terror does not occur in a vacuum. They explore how historical events, geopolitics, and previous terrorist attacks can influence the nature of terrorism in the world today. Counterterrorism professionals must have the ability to think critically and analytically about current and emerging threats and issues in order to consider all possible outcomes. One way this is achieved is by conducting an alternative futures analysis (AFA). Typically an AFA is conducted by counterterrorism analysts prior to the occurrence of a terrorist event so that alternative trajectories of a known threat can be identified. Rather than predicting one outcome, an AFA attempts to use the complexity and uncertainty of a situation to describe multiple possible outcomes (futures) that intelligence professionals and policymakers should consider.

For your final project, you will conduct a modified version of an alternative futures analysis. You will select a modern terrorist attack as a foundation for exploring alternative futures and critically analyzing the government’s response to the event. In your analysis, you will determine the historical events that set the stage for the attack, including the events that led to the formation of the terrorist organization involved. You will then consider the local and global impacts of the government’s response to the attack, along with the response’s intended goals and unintended consequences. You will describe a possible alternative response to the attack and explain how that alternative response might have made the terrorist organization more or less of a threat to the world today. Finally, you will evaluate the present counterterrorism approach of the country in which the attack occurred and explain how an alternative approach could potentially impact future terrorist actions.

Before beginning this assessment, you must choose one of the following modern terrorist attacks to use as the basis of your analysis.

 Bali nightclub bombing: Indonesia, October 12, 2002

 Madrid train bombing: Spain, March 11, 2004

 London bombing: England, July 7, 2005

 Mumbai attack: India, November 26, 2008

Prompt: In your discussion in this module, you chose which terrorist attack you will focus on for your final project. In this first milestone, you will complete an introduction and provide background information on your chosen attack. The milestones in this course will allow you to draft ideas and receive feedback from the instructor throughout the course. Each milestone builds on the previous one. These assignments will ensure that you are on the right track before you submit the final project in Module Nine.

You may want to review the entire Final Project Guidelines and Rubric document to understand the full scope of the project. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

● Introduction: Draft the details of the terrorist attack you selected. Be sure to touch on when, where, and how the attack took place, and to describe the terrorist group responsible.

● Background on the Attack: Draft a discussion of the events that contributed to the attack’s occurrence, including the formation of the terrorist organization involved. Limit your focus to historical events that occurred from the Cold War to the present.

○ Explain how the history of the geographic region where the terrorist organization originated contributed to the attack. In other words, how did the region’s history create a volatile atmosphere or lead to tensions that contributed to the situation?

○ Describe the sequence of relevant historical events that set the stage for the terrorist attack. Events to consider might include government policies or decisions, political elections, military actions, and other terrorist attacks.

○ Describe the evolution of the terrorist organization involved in the attack. Be sure to consider the global historical attacks, policies, or decisions that led to its creation.

The intent of this assignment is to draft your thoughts and receive feedback from your instructor. Make sure to review this feedback and incorporate it into the following milestones. Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your paper should be at least 2 pages in Microsoft Word, with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least two sources cited in APA format