Your first question highlights the individual citizen's role in combating terrorism. Below is a website you might find useful. It is authored by the New York State police and discusses how teenagers can help in the fight against terrorism. Whether you live in New York state or not, many of these ideas are extremely helpful. The most important, of course, is to learn how to report any suspicious activity you see. Other ideas involve setting up a neighborhood or school watch, knowing how to respond to emergencies, and even learning CPR.
What teens can do against terrorism.
Here's the FBI page on how to recognize suspicious activity:
Help prevent terrorism.
Here are some highlights from the FBI page:
Surveillance: Are you aware of anyone video recording or monitoring activities, taking notes, using cameras, maps, binoculars, etc., near key facilities/events?
Acquiring Supplies: Are you aware of anyone attempting to improperly acquire explosives, weapons, ammunition, dangerous chemicals, uniforms, badges, flight manuals, access cards or identification for a key facility/event or to legally obtain items under suspicious circumstances that could be used in a terrorist attack?
"Dry Runs": Have you observed any behavior that appears to be preparation for a terrorist act, such as mapping out routes, playing out scenarios with other people, monitoring key facilities/events, timing traffic lights or traffic flow, or other suspicious activities?
Your next question discusses what a country can do to combat terrorism. Various countries around the world have instituted certain important measures, and ours is no different, if you live in the United States.
Here is how President Obama and other officials are handling the threat of terrorism in the aftermath of the Paris attacks:
1)Increased security at airports and big cities.
The NYPD has deployed a new counter-terrorism unit of about 560 officers in New York City. Security will be ramped up at subway stations and important landmarks such as Times Square and the World Trade Center. Other cities may have also instituted similar measures around the United States.
2)Department of Homeland Security efforts.
Did you know that Homeland Security has fusion centers which coordinate efforts between first emergency responders, law enforcement, and private security personnel? Homeland Security also has a passenger screening list for airports and a visa security program where special agents are deployed to high risk security areas to identify potential terrorists. Please refer to the link for more information.
3)Obama administration changes to the visa waiver program.
This is a page detailing some new steps our government is taking to combat terrorism after the Paris attacks. Some highlights from the page:
DHS will immediately take steps to modify its Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) applications to capture information from VWP (Visa Waiver Program) travelers regarding any past travel to countries constituting a terrorist safe haven.
Identifying possible pilot programs designed to assess the collection and use of biometrics (fingerprints and/or photographs) in the VWP (Visa Waiver Program) to effectively increase security;
DHS will offer assistance to countries to better facilitate terrorism information sharing, specifically to include biometric pilots. For example, DHS and the Terrorist Screening Center will assist all interested VWP countries in screening refugees or asylum seekers, including through the application of extensive terrorism information already provided to VWP members and through piloting capability for conducting near real time biometric checks.
Hope this helps! Remember that you do not need to include everything that is posted here. You may decide to include some things and not others, based on the prompts given by your instructor. Hopefully, some of these will help you write your essay and reassure you that much is being done to combat terrorism in our country.
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