Protecting the United States from attack is a collaborative effort between several agencies within the federal government. Additionally, state and local law enforcement and intelligence agencies also provide their inputs and services to the continuous fight against domestic and foreign terrorists and foreign militaries and state actors looking to harm the United States through the use of cyberattacks.
Taylor and Swanson (2018) point out an important detail regarding the terms anti-terrorism and counterterrorism. Anti-terrorism refers to the defensive practices of minimizing terrorism attacks on domestic soil. In contrast, counterterrorism can be considered offensive to ensure the mitigation of terrorists efforts is kept at the site of origin. This idea could include winning over native populations with money, jobs, or food, to keep them from joining the fight. There are several other examples of counterterrorism efforts; however, each one plays a critical; however the United States efforts to counter terrorism attempts against the United States and its allies.
Several U.S. agencies have specific roles in the fight against terrorism and the protection of the United States. Some are centered around anti-terrorism efforts, while others are counterterrorism in nature. The U.S. Treasury Department examines entities who contribute to umbrella terrorist groups, including those charities who have been known to funnel donations to known terrorist organizations (Taylor & Swanson, 2018). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the lead agency monitoring the presence of foreign terrorists, spearheading the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are responsible for assessing the terrorism risk of those in the United States past their visa expiration dates. The state and local law enforcement agencies also have a duty to provide similar services for their respective jurisdictions; however, they also help federal agencies with information beyond the local scope. Other agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Energy, US Northern Command, and specified services with the Department of Defense also contribute to the anti-terrorism and counterterrorism efforts across the spectrum.
The effective use of a cyberattack is a threat to the critical infrastructure of a nation and poses a threat to the military, whose job is to defend against these types of attacks. (Pellerin, 2015). The Department of Defense is just one of many agencies involved in assessing and protecting the country and its infrastructure from cyber threats and attacks. While cyberattacks are not only a form of terrorism, depending on their origin, they could be considered an act of war by a state actor. This notion can be regarded as a gray area until the source of the cyberattack is determined.
Christian Worldview
Like many other religions, Christianity professes its ideology based on the idea of Gods vision of righteousness. Pratt (2010) argues that the term religious fundamentalism has shifted over the years from once describing an extreme version of Christianity, rooted in violent behaviors, to one that now describes Islamic extremism and the violent ideologies they profess. In either case, we must be careful not to judge any violent religious acts without understanding that Christianity also has, and to a lesser degree, still maintains elements of violent tendencies.