The question is not how can the United States stop terrorism and keep America safe,but how do we protect our people without trampling over them and damaging our reputation in the process?

The biggest terrorist threat we are facing at this moment is the extremist group ISIS. They do not seem to be direct threats at this time, but they are forcing the U.S’s hand in the matter when they are able to manipulate the citizens of our country and turn them against us. They are recruiting members to support them via the internet and the main issue is not  that they are using OUR own people against us, but that we cannot handle and restrain the information received or sent over the World Wide Web.

Many think it is our country’s duty to help protect the lives of others from terrorism and to achieve our political goals, however  that is not the best way to think. If the U.S blindly tries to help everyone it will constantly obtain new enemies. Just like our most current one from United States interference in the Middle East, ISIS now is a threat to the United States.

The internet has transformed into an entity completely different than when it was first introduced years ago. It cannot be completely locked down without the government having total access of all information in the country, which would trample over the people’s rights. It is a very touchy subject; to feel safe and secure would mean giving up our personal freedoms. This can cause an uproar in the country even if the idea was  introduced as an option let alone put into place. My assertion is backed up by the reaction of the populous even when the government wanted to enact the PIPA and SOPA censorship act. There was massive uproar and resistance to it until the government  backed down.

A step toward a solution would be to have a split intelligence campaign to find out the reason or reasons that persuade people to assist ISIS and identifying what can we do to detour that without violating any rights. As well as using our information gathering skills  to focus on who ISIS’s connections are and pinpointing locations of fortitude to  get rid of them discretely so they will not know which country is  participating in acts of aggression. Similar to how we cut the support structure from Cuba under Fidel Castro’s regime and it weakened the threat.

We need to stop supporting dictators most of whom give the funds and armaments we supply them with to the extremists and terrorists. Also, we need to stop assaults using drones and aerial bombardment to try and kill possible terrorists, it more often than not ends up with dozens of civilians dead. The invasion of foreign land for oil, killing of a population, torturing prisoners like in Guantanamo Bay and be open to our own citizens. The combination of these things create more radicals and increase the motivation and severity of the terrorist attacks on the United States.

If we are able to pull back on our prideful actions it could make a big difference in the future and effectively cripple the the terrorists groups that thrive off of what we do right now and increase the safety of our people.