The Strategic Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Strategic Environment - Assignment Example In this period, there has been an increased threat to U.S national security, more than ever before. There are several factors contributing to these threats such as increased development of weapons of mass destruction, more countries becoming a nuclear power, increased formation of a terrorist organization, rebellious groups taking refuge in other countries and operating against U.S interests etc. It can easily be seen that, during the 21 century, there has been an increased threat to a country’s security and national interests. The infamous 9/11 incident that shook the world and brought Al Qaeda on the big screen, the London bombings of 2005, the Mumbai attack in 2008 etc. All these infamous incidents show that every country is under extreme threat whether it is from terrorist organizations, infiltrates within the country or due to any other reason. It is very obvious that a country has to take steps and measures to protect its country and U.S being a global and nuclear power and a world dominant it is very natural to say that it has to safeguard its interests the most. It is safe to assume that the U.S would have the best strategic intelligence cycle in place, but it too is liable to mistakes, such as in 2003 when the strategic intelligence information confirmed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and therefore invaded Iraq; however, later they were proved wrong as there were no WMD(Johnson 2007). There have been several factors identified by the National Intelligence Security (NIS) which may cause harm to U.S National interests, however the most significant are: Violent Extremism: It has been identified by the NIS that violent extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Taliban etc will continue to pose a great threat to U.S security. It has been acknowledged that these people are not causing threat for the purpose of acquiring money or abduction but they are seriously out for what they call revenge and will take any possible steps to cause dish armony and violence in different regions. They have previously done that on several occasions and in different countries such as U.S, U.K etc which shows that they can reach such places even when there is tightest of security present. The steps identified by the U.S to counter them is to identify such terrorist groups and people, intercede and disrupt, cut off aid and supply of weapons of mass destruction and stop their operations. Enhance Cyber security: Enhancement of cyber security is a significant step that the U.S should take in order to reduce the threat of proliferation through cyber space. It has been identified that the architecture of U.S digital structure is not very secure (Johnson 2007). It was found out that there have been attempts to valuable information from the Pentagon through cyber space. Now, all the information is stored digitally, so there has been an increased attempt by these terrorist groups to explore future advancements of America’s intelligence or ganizations, so they may act accordingly. Through cyber space these terrorist organizations have attempted to change or steal information in order to undermine the nation’s confidence and attack the country (Johnson 2007). Increased use of Wifi etc has made internet vulnerable and terrorist could easily hack password of a normal user of Wifi and use it to steal