What other issues might be impacting the evolving threat environment?

1. PART II: Essay question.
   Include an introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. [40 points]

1. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to allocate almost $2 billion for grants given to state and local jurisdictions to protect against terrorism and other disasters. Nearly $80 million was designated to protect against domestic violent

extremism. The Homeland Security Secretary said that DHS considers that the most substantial terrorism threat “comes from small groups of individuals who commit acts of violence motivated by domestic extremist ideological beliefs.” In addition, he said: “While we continue to lawfully protect against threats posed by foreign terrorist organizations, we also must ensure adequate focus and funding is provided to combat domestic terrorism, some of which is motivated by false narratives and extremist rhetoric spread through social media and other online platforms.”

As you all know, there is not an infinite amount of money, personnel, or resources available to respond to all major threats/concerns. Policy decisions are almost always about making tough choices. If we use time, resources, and personnel to focus on problem A, we have fewer resources to focus on problem B or C. It is a difficult bureaucratic dilemma for policymakers and an unfortunate reality of policymaking: the number of significant problems far outweighs our capacity to respond to them all.

The decision here to allocate nearly $2 billion to allocate to terrorism generally and almost $80 million to fight domestic groups specifically is such a choice.

In this essay, discuss whether it is a choice that makes sense to you. There is not a wrong answer here, but I do expect your discussion to engage what we have learned this semester so far. Specifically, you know a lot about the domestic and international terrorist threats faced by U.S. law enforcement historically and currently. First, begin with a discussion of what you have learned about international (jihadist; al-Qaeda, ISIS) and domestic (far-right, far-left) threats to the U.S. Second, the language of DHS’ announcement acknowledges that the threat landscape is evolving, driven by social media and political rhetoric. How is the radicalization literature we have read relevant to understanding how social media and political rhetoric might impact radical beliefs and radical actions and do you think that social media and political rhetoric are important considerations in the radicalization process? What other issues might be impacting the evolving threat environment? Finally, conclude with a discussion of whether you agree or

disagree with the decision by DHS to focus on domestic violent extremism. Explain your stance.