What constitutes as terrorism is the “unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”; and when looking into the document, it is a bit confusing to understand if the mental state of these perpetrators are being labeled accordingly. Another form of terrorism that seems to get confused for political terrorism is the religious side of terrorism where extreme heinous acts are carried out on specific ethnic groups. On page 35 we see that Jihadist terrorism is better suited for those with mental instability which cause a radicalization effect which in turn blurs the ideological conviction of the crime. Take for example on page 36 when a court case came about involving “The Hague (Netherlands) on 5 May 2018, for example, the court held that there was no terrorist motive and that the perpetrator’s actions were the result of a psychotic disorder“. If we look at statistics though we see there is a steady decrease in arrested suspects in the EU, from 687 people in 2015 to 436 in 2019. I feel that implementing AI to facial recognize people at airports would be beneficial to catching those that may inflict harm on others for political gains or mental instability. To further explain my thoughts on AI software and in airports, I feel that right after exiting and entering the aircraft, one should have their picture taken and uploaded into a database to track individuals on how long they have been gone and to have their picture in a database to reference later. If a camera picks up their face signature after an attack and the perpetrator gets away, it would send a signal to authorities with both a clear photo from the airport and a small clip of the person in action committing the crimes. This would fall under defense innovation and counter terrorism measures.

Facial recognition will be the next thing when it comes to catching criminals and being able to develop such technologies that can understand how someone ages is around the corner. We call this DEFENSE INNOVAITON. Using facial recognition here in the US would be valuable, as seen with the FBI, they simply post pictures up and hope for the public to do some of the work. Whereas, if you could cut out the people and rely a little more on technology to do the work, it would be a win for the FBI. Nevertheless, I saw encrypted data through companies which is also a smart idea. I would like to talk about the history of terrorism though the EU to better understand why such rules were implemented. The IRA has always set up bombings in Ireland and has been pushed back to Northern Ireland over the years, however there is always a threat of an insurgent putting a bomb in a garbage can or underneath a car to create havoc. Border security was heightened at the time of the Paris Bombing. The document highlights how "It is estimated that 50 000 persons have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist groups, including 5 000 individuals from the EU, of which around one third are still located in the area." which shows the importance of having AI to help police officers detecting if someone is wanted or a terrorist in facial recognition. The prevention and mitigation techniques are like our procedures in the United States as well from what I have read. Religion was also discussed and how people may be targeted more often; as seen with the Christchurch, New Zealand attack, so some policies were made to protect those in places of worship as seen on page 12 “foster cooperation between the different faith communities and the relevant national authorities as they exchange experiences. As from 2021, the Commission aims to support projects that enhance the physical protection of places of worship in close coordination with Member States”. This leads us to how terrorists attack people through means of firearms, where the EU laid out a plan to “the Commission will adopt an implementing regulation under the Firearms Directive, establishing a system for exchange of information amongst Member States on refusals to grant authorizations for acquiring a firearm” which means if denied in one state that individual will be denied in other participating states. Next on the list are bombs, I mentioned bombs above, but bombs are a generic term with a broad audience. There are several types of bombs used and the restriction of allowing people to obtain specific chemicals would be implemented. The four types of bombs are “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear” which can wreak havoc in small locations. I think this document did a fine job in reviewing past events in history to make well decisive defense plans for possible future events.

I fully agree to this when National Strategy needs actionable steps in policies to hold other countries responsible, however don't we stop trade with any terror organizations and look down upon countries that may have an impact domestically?

I would like to specifically talk about how well organized this plan is. International terrorism has an influence on radicals in every country and even in America. Many forms of recruitment are through forums online. In 2005 alone there were well over 4000 websites which were about recruitment (Waskiewicz 2). On page 8 of the document it states "al-Qa'ida's global network remains resilient and poses an enduring threat to the homeland and United States interests around the world. " which is primarily internet based. When it comes to my specialty in Defense Innovation, my thoughts are to create R&D defense strategies to mitigate any problems that arise when it comes to financial instability due to an attack. From a homeland security perspective, creating departments to help combat the terrorism forums and recruitment websites is crucial. Some dangerous people like Abu Khalid Abdul Latif who was going to bomb a Seattle Military Facility. When it comes to stopping things from happening in regards to terrorists, cyber security and operations are highly valuable. Read more on the beginning involvements of terrorism when online forums and YouTube was big on recruitment in the link below. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg74647/html/CHRG-112hhrg74647.htm