Counter Terrorism Discussion: Agencies, Intelligence, and Methods

This discussion post examines counter-terrorism strategies by analyzing the roles of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Energy. It highlights the importance of these agencies in combating terrorism, including their use of military tactics, electronic surveillance, and information technology to counter threats. The post further explores the significance of Human Intelligence and Signals Intelligence in providing security, tracking movements, and intercepting communications. It emphasizes the complementary nature of these intelligence forms and their crucial role in ensuring homeland security. The discussion underscores the evolving nature of terrorism, including cyber threats, and the need for cooperation between agencies and various intelligence methods to effectively counter terrorist activities.

Running head: COUNTER TERRORISM
Counter Terrorism
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1COUNTER TERRORISM
Discussion 1
For the purpose of discussion on counter-terrorism, two agencies of intelligence, the Defense
Intelligence Agency and the Department of Energy shall be taken up. The Defense Intelligence
Agency, mainly concerns itself with the military forces and engages in roles which involve
combatting the enemies. The type of intelligence used by this particular agency is related to
military tactics and plays a very important role in shaping the strategies of warfare (“Dni.gov”,
2018). The Department of Energy is responsible for securitizing the national interests using
scientific and software oriented tools. They develop intelligence that is used to intercept the
threats from beforehand by electronic means. Their role is also very crucial for ensuring that the
vital databases of the nation do not get hacked. The kind of intelligence which the Department of
Energy requires the most for executing the operational aspect is mainly related to information
technology. Both the agencies which have been talked about in this section are inevitable for
countering terrorist activities, and are complementary to each other (Falk & Morgenstern, 2009).
Given the nature of terrorism in today’s world, it is not just limited to the violent attacks like
bombings or opening fire at innocent civilians, the cyber world can also be threatened by the
terrorists who can potentially paralyze the country by hacking the databases. With increasing
advancement in information technology, it has become easier to track movements and take
necessary steps by disseminating information rapidly. So it becomes clear that without the
cooperation of the Department of Energy, the task of the Defense Intelligence Agency shall
become quite difficult in the battlefield ("Intelligence Branch", 2018).
Discussion 2
For the purpose of discussing about the importance of two different types of intelligences with
regard to its role in providing security to the homeland and at the same time be proactive in

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countering the terrorist activities, the Human Intelligence, and the Signals Intelligence has been
chosen. Given the nature of complementarity of the chosen two forms of intelligence, and the
requirement to respond and adapt to the needs of the time, they are inevitable. The Human
Intelligence comprises of raw evidential reports collected from the field itself, it could be the
potential suspects or the ones who have witnessed a particular incident and also has a knowledge
of the culprit. The agents working for the FBI collect these informations so as to get a clue of any
imminent danger and thereby take steps to counter it effectively (“Office of Intelligence and
Analysis”, 2018). The Signals Intelligence is crucial for not just tracking the movements of
vehicles, electronic devices and humans, but is also very vital for getting a knowledge of the
communication and conversations happening between two or more parties which could be the
potential culprits to a crime. Information oriented intelligence is inevitable in today’s world to
direct and guide actions, and at the same time it is also necessary that human intervention be
there to directly counter the motives of the terrorists. They both work together for the sake of
ensuring that the necessary information prompts to undertake the necessary action at the earliest
possible (“Cia.gov”, 2018).

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References
Cia.gov. (2018). Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. [online]
Available at: https://www.cia.gov/index.html [Accessed 27 Oct. 2018].
Dni.gov. (2018). Home. [online] Available at: https://www.dni.gov/index.php [Accessed 27 Oct.
2018].
Falk, O., & Morgenstern, H. (Eds.). (2009). Suicide terror: understanding and confronting the
threat. John Wiley & Sons.
Intelligence Branch. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.fbi.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/intelligence-branch
Office of Intelligence and Analysis. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/office-
intelligence-and-analysis