@Clara Calavia Sarnago I like how you talked about the recent elections and fairness. You are very right, and it's a good thing the rumors proved to be false. Do you think this was the case for 2018 too? Or even 2016? There was a lot of discussion about Russian influence for the last election. And in 2018, NATO had a whole section about Russia and the influence they had. It's crazy to see where we have come from and even crazier to think where we are going as a society and technologically.

@Collin Gawron I agree that it's a good thing they are on the same page. I was glad to see the different departments working together and focusing on the task at hand. My dad always says 'many hands make light work'. And it's true. The more people they have working on this project and keeping America safe, the better. There will always be problems, so it would be better if we can solve them before they become a big issue. It doesn't sound like this was the case in the past. But hopefully in the future, we will be able to prevent the destruction before it happens.

In one of my other posts I just mentioned joint agencies and working together. I mentioned that I didn't think the different departments worked together as well as they could, and then as soon as I said that, this article was given to us. It shows the departments working together and sharing information about recent cases. It says specifically, "We the Department of Justice, including the FBI, and Department of Homeland Security, including CISA... Looks like I was wrong and the agencies do have good relations and are able to at least write a report together. I liked that it talked about cybersecurity. It is very relevant to the topic at hand. Especially in 2018, there was a lot that happened which resulted in having a lot to talk about. 2020 was also a big year for things to happen, especially cyber attacks. The world was shut down and some people didn't do anything other than stay home and learn new exploits and hack different things. Computer usage saw a big increase and so did the attacks that come with it. Some people even started working together. At least agencies did and is how they found so many of the attacks because they worked together finding them. Good job joint task force. It's cool that they teamed up and wrote this report. I really enjoyed reading it.

@Collin Gawron I agree and am a big advocate for what you are saying. This was a great post and it really fit into my section. So, thank you. Cyber attacks and cyber presence is ever growing. I feel like especially where technology is going, cyber security will always be a needed field. And the fact that a pandemic can stop everything but terrorist groups is unnerving. If that can't stop them, what can? They moved online and continued talking with one another. Do you have any suggestions to better the cyber defenses? Anything you think will help in the future? Everyone really does have a cyber presence, and like @Joshua Naraine was saying, the technology can lead to ways for terrorist organizations to reach out to individuals and increase their cells. It is unfortunate, but luckily we can use computers and technology to our advantage as well, and hopefully be able to stop them in their tracks.

@Cooper Bargabus I agree with what you said and said something similar about the pillars and communication. Agencies need to share information they have. It could be really dangerous and result in death if the right circumstances lined up and not all the details were known. I talked about some of the joint agency programs that are starting, but feel like there should be more. What do you think? Do they do a good job at sharing the information? Have they come a long way from the beggining? Can improvements still be made? I look forward to hearing from you and reading more of your posts.

@Joshua Naraine hey I like your post. It provides a lot of information in a relatively small amount of time. I like what you said about the forming terrorist groups. That has been a big focus of yours and I have thought it was interesting all the way through. What are some of the reasons you have found so far? Lack of purpose? Desire to do something bigger than theirself? How do we fix these problems? I like your topic and I look forward to hearing more.

@Clara Calavia Sarnago I agree with what you are saying about the different dynamics and things that potentially cause fights and wars. Other dynamics could be where you live, culture, or even your religion. In this day-and-age, people use anything as leverage and it's really unfortunate to see. I'm glad this document presented ways to lessen the damages and try to fix the problems at hand. I really liked this article as well as your post.

@Collin Gawron the domestic terrorism really has been a big problem and we should use all resources at our disposal to fix the issue at hand. Do you think we will ever be terrorist free? I feel like it is similar to a hydra. You take down one organization and two take its place. So these strategies presented are good, but it will never completely eradicate the problem at hand. Hopefully it will help some and soon enough we will be able to come up with even newer strategies to stop the problem.

The article is insightful and I enjoyed reading it. The article mentioned one of the indicators being making short, unexplained trips to foreign places or communicating with foreign nationals. I actually just did a video on security clearances as well as a paper on getting a security clearance with foreign families. These foreign interactions were one of the main things talked about and were indicators of terrorism or at least crimes against their country. I as well as the article talked about recommendations to curb these issues. It mentioned starting programs to deter these acts from future generations and ensure other locations and companies are safe from noncitizens. This is an unfortunate circumstance and case study but was an interesting read.

National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism Part 2 I enjoyed this about as much as the first half! It is a great source with good suggestions in it. One suggestion specifically said, that people needed to "improve information sharing across all levels within, as well as outside the federal government." This is good in theory, but I feel a lot of agencies don't follow this. Instead they think that their agency should take credit and they shouldn't tell others about details, or aren't allowed to tell them because of security clearance levels, or think it isn't important to the case. More information can be found about this topic at https://www.police1.com/police-products/communications/articles/technology-isnt-the-biggest-problem-for-information-sharing-in-law-enforcement-x5XzuiFPyCwl8gUC/. Federal agencies have started to create joint task forces which helps with the problem. However, I feel like more could still be done, not only in this aspect, but with all the suggestions. Whatever the situation may be, issues will always arrive. It doesn't matter how many suggestions are made, at the end of the day it's what actually gets done. If nothing changes then a lot of people's time and energy was wasted. I think there are some great suggestions in the passage, and I hope that some or most of them can come into fruition soon enough.

@Veronika Goncharova I agree with what you are saying. You have a good post and are right in saying that cybersecurity is hard to manage and keep track of. There is always something new, or some little error. It's always the small issues that have the biggest consequences and you can't manage everything at once. If we could, that would be amazing and would have the potential to fix so many problems. Not only local terrorism, but could also ease tensions and other country conflicts. Hopefully, that is what is to come and good things are in our future.

@Mackenzie Bruns I agree with you about staying up to date on things. This is especially true for cyber security and technology. It is always evolving, and advancing and the techniques to stop it must also evolve. People say that you are always going to school or always learning when you are in a tech field, and the advancement is why. By the time you completely learn one system, there is already a new one out with different features and guidelines. New exploits could have also been found and you really just have to stay vigilant and stay on your toes. I like your view point on the religion and how it causes conflicts. It shouldn't be true, but it is very prevalent and is a constant problem for people. It's a big avenue for disagreement and conflict. Hopefully we can get the problem fixed though and not have to worry about it.

This was a very interesting read and I liked how it fit in so well with counterterrorism. It talks about some acts of terrorism, and some organizations throughout history. It even mentions how these acts can be done by individuals, groups, or radicals. I recently wrote a paper about hacktivists which is online activists. While they fight for "something noble", most of the time, the acts they commit are still illegal and could count as terrorism. One of the groups even shut down a police station's website, and wouldn't let them access their network and supplies. This could result in serious problems, and give other terrorists hope that they can do something similar or even worse. Things like this, are how terrorism is moving online, and into the cyber realm. It needs stopped everywhere; on the streets and in the computers. I am looking forward to reading part two of the section, because I want to see what is said on the stopping of crimes, and how to repair the systems that have already been destroyed. I want to see how to improve relations, and what normal people, like me, can do in order to make the world more peaceful, and less of a terrorist dominated society.