How to fix the issue of Terrorism: In a Nutshell
It is possible to stop terrorism with these seven ideas.
1. Fix basic human problems like education and poverty issues, belonging, identity, and unemployment. Use social workers.
Those who climb the staircase to terrorism experience varying levels of frustration, passion, or anger in support of their beliefs and can eventually chose to act upon that. Those who become terrorists do so because they feel as though they’re not being heard; or they feel insignificant, or unimportant, or their cause or belief is meaningless. By essentially using social workers (for lack of a better word) across communities and getting to the root causes of why individuals choose terroristic acts like bombing things or people, we can fix more basic problems first.
For some, joining a terrorist group could be a way to earn money, it could be a way to seek revenge for ways others have hurt them. Some have been bullied as children growing up and this is a way to make up for those wrongs against them. Others still seek violent extremism as a way to be heard and to force change for what they want.
By creating resilience in individuals and the community by using a social worker “system” locally, many of these problems could be diminished before they grow.
2. Create a comprehensive National US Counterterrorism Strategy that involves a plug-and-play methodology for deterring violent extremism that locals can use at their level.
By creating an overall national strategy that other states can understand and use as a starting point for deterring violent extremism, localities can plug and play methods that they can tailor to their area. Our country currently has an outdated, generalized National Counterterrorism Strategy but it provides no tools or guidelines by which local communities can use for their towns and counties. The 2011 strategy provides an overview of the threats but has no actionable ways communities can deter violent extremism. There is no community involvement or a call to resiliency at the community level in the 2011 strategy.
3. Create a ‘what is violent extremism’ basic course for parents and community members so they know what it looks like and tips for what they can see is suspicious.
Surprisingly, this concept is being planned at the federal government level now. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has devised a Community Awareness Briefing (CAB) that will provide a “what does violent extremism look like” with an eye toward parental involvement in helping to deter children. This briefing is one tool communities could provide to schools or in local centers to give parents a better idea of what to look for in deciding if their children or people they know are becoming violent extremists.
4. Create an integrated approach to countering terrorism across many platforms on social media.
There must be a clear, concise, easy, consistent messaging plan against violent extremism in America. To date, there has been minimal effort in countering violent extremists and terroristic messaging in America. Again, American needs an overall strategy to countering and deterring violent extremism that begins at the national level, but which states and communities across our country can also utilize for local deterrence methods. The messaging should be credible and consistent. These messages should be shared throughout all information platforms, to include: television, newspapers, Internet, on social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, in chat rooms, and beyond. These messages should be spoken of and displayed throughout communities and in schools.
5. Continuity of messaging, saying the “right” things.
This tool in our counterterrorism approach harkens back to fixing basic problems that individual’s experience. Namely, that of being bullied, harassed, or physically harmed when they were younger. By using key themes across America that consist messages of tolerance towards others, acceptance of everyone despite our differences, and individual resilience, we can help fix some more basic, yet common, personal problems. Along with creating a healthy messaging strategy, if we ask positive role models to speak up and embrace these themes — in schools, communities, in the media, everywhere, we can create a more credible consistent healthy approach to countering and deterring violent extremism in America.
These ideas aren’t necessarily my ideas alone. If we look to other countries to see how they too are advancing the fight against terrorism, we can see many good examples of what is possible and what could work here in America.
The United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and the European Union all have proactive strategies in place to help counter terrorism in their respective countries. The United Kingdom (UK) has the most robust strategy in place, called Counter Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST). Australia has a strategy called Living Safe Together. The Netherlands has created SAFIRE, the Scientific Approach to Finding Indicators and Responses to Radicalization. This approach seeks to understand the root causes of terrorism, something the US could learn from as we attempt to create a stronger national counterterrorism strategy. The European Union (EU) has created a Counter-Terrorism Strategy that builds on the efforts of their member countries and helps to fill gaps in their counterterrorism efforts.
Local governments across the country are finding out that they can’t rely on the federal government to provide them with counter violent extremist policies. Now that they are leading their communities in building up community resilience and engaging the people, they are realizing the value of gaining intelligence and information from them. For example, in Australia the government is leading efforts to create resiliency and tolerance in individuals through various community and education programs. In America, connecting local government, law enforcement, and community leaders to help foster relationship building and resiliency will allow communities to grow and communicate among themselves.
And poof, terrorism would stop dead in its tracks.
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