Terrorist Organizations Exploitable Weakness in Essay

Alien Absconder Apprehension Initiative

The goal of the alien absconder apprehension initiative was basically to increase intelligence opportunity by interrogating middle easterners. The goal was partially attained as many Arab descent people in the U.S. were detained and deported as an implication of the Alien Absconder Apprehension initiative. Within a time span of one to two years, almost 1300 fugitives were detained and deported due to which the likelihood of crime occurrence became low. However, the concentration was on the Arabs only, while it should have been on other descents as well (Miller, 2012).

Although the Alien Absconder Apprehension Initiative is well appreciated by most of the people, it has its drawbacks as well. Many innocent visitors were deported based on doubts of them being potential terrorists within the country.

About Point of Failure (POF)

A point of failure can be identified by certain conditions such as a loop of ineffectiveness i.e. If a process isn't carried out in the way it was intended to be despite the alterations that are made to make it work, if a process doesn't give the same result as expected, if the process isn't completed on time etc. Law enforcement and other agencies of the Department of Homeland Security need to learn one important thing about the processes, policies and tactics they design, before a POF occurs.

In every process there is a task that acts as a hub or gives multi-connectivity to other subtasks. If the hub works well, the POF is less likely to occur. If in case POF does occur, they should have a contingency plan. The contingency plan should comprise of a different strategy and should have multiple routes in order to avoid dependencies on a single hub. In this way, even if POF does occur, it would have a minimum negative effect on the actual implementation plan.

Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Geneva Convention

The members Taliban are covered by the Geneva Convention while members of al Qaeda are not due to the four criteria set out by the. The four criteria are

(a) Having a leader who is responsible for the subordinates. This actually represents that the irregular militia is organized and will carry out attacks systematically for a purpose. Having a leader basically represents that the militia is going in one direction.

(b) Recognizable by a fixed distinctive sign. The militia must not be just a group of people carrying out acts together, rather it should be a group of people being united under a distinctive sign that gives the entire militia a long-term goal.

(c) the militia should declare all its arms and carry them openly. If the militia hides the arms and carry unexpected hidden attacks for an unidentified purpose, the militia will be referred to as a terrorist organization.

(d) Any militia that conducts their operations without abiding by the laws and customs of war are referred to as terrorist organizations. Thus for a militia to be identified as a militia whether irregular or regular, it is important to abide by the laws and customs of war.

While Taliban do abide by the four criteria, al-Qaeda members don't as al-Qaeda does not abide by the laws and customs of wars and does not declare or carry its arms openly. Thus the Geneva Convention covers Taliban and not al-Qaeda.

References

Bolz, F.J., Dudonis, K.J., & Schulz, D.P. (2001). The Counter Terrorism Handbook. New York: CRC Press LLC .

Cohn, E.G., Farrington, D.P., & Wright, R.A. (1998). Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice. Westport: Greenwood Press.

FBI. (2012, September 5). USA Patriot Act Ammendments to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Authorities. Retrieved from FBI - the Federal Bureau of Investication: http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/usa-patriot-act-amendments-to-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act-authorities

Miller, T.A. (2012, September 5). Blurring the boundaries between immigration and crime control after September 11. Retrieved from Boston College: http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/schools/law/lawreviews/journals/bctwj/25_1/04_TXT.htm