The overall purpose of this paper is to divulge the evolution and brief history of terrorism that threatens the United States. Terrorism; A word to often used and displayed in our modern day society. Terroristic acts are seen all over every media source today. Over and over new reports seem to play about what threats we as American citizens such watch out for, but very little is known to why such heinous acts of selfishness terrorism are continuously being committed. What motivates so much hate, anger, and lack of value on other human lives? Is it race, religion, or money? One thing for sure is the common denominator and that is death. “A better understanding of the motivation of terrorists and their reasons for selecting certain modes and targets of attack can help improve the decisions to allocate resources in the fight against terrorism (Richardson, 2006 p1).”
Racism; One greatly proclaimed motivational reasons for terroristic acts in the United States, but to truly have better understanding of terroristic evolution it is always best to start from the beginning. As far back as the record shows in United States history acts of terrorism is nothing uncommon. From the lynching throughout the entire South to the little talked about 1921 race riot attack on Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma. During that horrible racial fueled attack by the Ku Klux Klan (aka KKK terrorist group) and members of the Oklahoma National Guard, more than 300 African American lives were lost within sixteen hours of attack (Simons, 2011 p1). Although racist acts could be seen though out history even to today there are other terroristic motivation such as religion. In God we trust; Jesus, Allah or whomever most chose to use as motivation to commit acts of terrorism shows us that even holy and righteous beliefs can be corrupted into the plans of pain and death to innocent lives. It has had been depicted in numerous stories and movies how Muslims radicals shout out the name Allah right before the suicide takes place taking the lives of many thereafter in all attempts to go on to a better life in Heaven with forty virgins. Never the less, the holy desecration meaning of any religion for the use of pain and death is in plain words just evil. Another root of evil that seems to always motivate terrorist is money. Financial gain for the purpose of greed and expansion has been and will be one of the top motivators of terrorist groups around the world. Combating the issue of cutting all sources of funding to terrorist groups will be an ongoing challenge for the United States. The overall changes of terroristic motivation will vary greatly but as stated previously for sure the tragic similarity is death. The tactics used by terrorist groups to achieve political, financial, and personal goals have been and will be a revolving door of out the old and in with the new strategies of terrorism. The terroristic evolution of violence, i.e. kidnapping, rape, and murder will be the primary mode of terror solely because it generates the quickest response for the offenders. Tragedies such as American embassy bombings or 9/11 leads us to believe that if major funding sources are destroyed then these transnational terrorist groups will not have access to weapons and tools of mass destruction. The result of September 11, 2001 attack gave birth to the White House issued Executive Orders on Terrorist Funding. Despite the ongoing efforts from the United States government and the Treasury Department, terrorist groups still find new tactics to raise large sums of money.
The changes in modern day terrorist weaponry displays how the simple use of a gun or knife is no longer necessary. These come now in the form of everyday common objects such as, Air planes, cars, trucks, cell phones, and even soda cans. The hijacking methods seen on 9/11 gave evidence to the weakness of the United States transportation security and the added the focus on pre boarding standards for domestic and international flights as well as the increase presents of undercover Air Marshalls aboard each plane. This of course is in efforts to combat hijackings or the attempt of harm the flight passengers. Methods of car and truck bombings has drastically increased over the years from time detonation to driver kamikaze missions makes these every used objects weapons of mayhem. The one newly evolving weapon and terroristic method is the Improves Explosive Device or (IED). This modern day primary weapon of choice has allowed terrorist to strike a precise attack from a great distance and all while using the camouflage of non-threating items, i.e. soda cans, backpacks, and even dead animals. This method of attack has claimed the lives of thousands of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The revolution in the weaponry, methods, and even communication of domestic and transnational terrorist groups still embeds a seed of fear in the thoughts of law abiding citizens of the United States and other friendly allies around the world.
The unknown concern of terrorist targets often raises the elevation of alert for the country and military forces. There are thousand to millions of potential targets that terrorist could hits to cause great harm and also greatly hinder the U.S. but a few targets comes to mind first that’s would pack a devastating punch to the gut of our society as a whole. #1. U.S. Military bases. Most of military base today not only house a good number of men and woman in uniform but also are home to a number a nuclear missiles. The domestic detonation to any one of these nuclear type of missiles could eliminate hundreds of thousands in the blast radius and even more in nuclear radiation aftermath within minutes. #2. Chemical plants. These targets also server as the same type of threat as military bases, due to the potential chemical explosion risk is terrorist were to attack. Also the chemical agents alone could cause far more harm to the environment than the actual explosion itself. #3. Public transportation systems. These targets would be a great tragedy of attack due to the mere number of citizens who use them on a day to day basis. Transportation systems such as New York subway, Union station, or LAX are just a few in the mass number of public transportation hubs around the U.S. #4. Dams. With hundreds of dams from small to massive in size these targets pose a great risk as a target for the U.S. because if damaged or weakened in any way the flooding of any nearby cities would have high casualties. #5. Lakes and river. These potential terrorist target pose a risk due to the Bio hazard contamination that could be unleashed. With little to at times no monitoring of the water qualities of our lakes and rivers could lead to mass spread to a bio hazardous attack unlike the U.S. has ever seen. Which once contaminated to that quantity the effects would be very difficult to reverse. #6. Sports arenas. From former Super Bowel Metlife Stadium in New York to fields of college campus across the U.S. these target are at risk of attack by terrorist shooter, bombing, or spread of bio hazard materials that all would have huge number of lives lost. Over all, the evaluation of terrorism is still evolving and possess a threat to the United States from day to day. To truly understand our enemies both foreign and domestic we must study and strategize against the motivations of terrorist. The efforts to minimize the casualties from terrorist tactics will be an ongoing fight for the U.S.

Richardson L. What Terrorists Want. New York: Random House, 2006.
Simons, Brandi (19 June 2011). "As Survivors Dwindle, Tulsa Confronts Past". the New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2011.