Needed: A Worldwide Network to Defeat Terrorism by E D Phillips
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last
edited: Friday, December 4, 2015
Posted: Friday, December 4, 2015
While others many quibble over names and acronyms, it is time for the civilized world to declare war on every organization, every ideology, and every person who seeks to murder anyone other than themselves. It matters not who gets their feathers ruffled in separating out the extremists from the well-intentioned. As long as there are terrorists with guns, bombs, and knives who kill in allegiance to a religion, to an ideology, to an illusion—or for no reason at all—they need to be stopped. We dare not grant them safety, solemnity, nor sanctuary in any location at any time.
We need an international intelligence-gathering network, one that culls data and information from high technology surveillance sources to on-the-ground observations, with instant data transference, with brain-inspired computing—algorithms that adapt, change, and predict before-the-fact. All of this needs to be linked to central decision makers that direct resources for rapid action. Satellites and drones must play active roles in this network. Safety features can be built in. Circuit breakers can be tripped when linkages show ambiguities. Great care would need to be taken to prevent hacking or feeding false information into the system. Survival techniques can also be built in with scanners and other detection techniques that rapidly appraise the integrity of the system, and that fix themselves.
This is not the time to be timid or to procrastinate. There are no perfect systems, just as there are no perfect violators against humanity. Let the critics take out their wailing in any forum they choose, but let the innovators and creative minds work to solve problems and issues now. Those who like labels can attach “domestic” or “international” to whomever or to whatever they choose. Labels are little more than distractions from the objectives in front of us.
Such a network can be circumscribed in scope and by costs. And those costs cab be shared among nations. We cannot spend our way to safety, nor can we hide in fear from terrorists. It may take years, decades or even centuries to contain and defeat all those who would do us harm. If that is the new price of freedom, so be it. But we can never cave in to them nor learn to live in fear. The price of freedom is still eternal vigilance.
ED... I basically concur with your intelligent synopsis of the current situation, and agree that there is no real "quick fix."
However, several major issues in my mind, seem Not to be addressed by The Administratiion, other Countries, and the Media, namely:
1. MONEY ... Follow the money trail ... WHO is buying ISIS oil? news just yesterday said Turkey was! WHERE do they Store their money? WHICH BANKS? Freeze the accounts! Confiscate the Money!
What produces the income? OIL ! bomb the oil fields ... Literally stop the Flow!
2. IMAGE ... All of the Bull-Shit worrying about what the "others"think of us, the US.
when you look at the numbers of Deaths, especially innocent "collateral damage" ...
No other country on Earth Ever Dropped Two Atomic Bombs and caused such Carnage of Thousands, or Hundreds of Thousands ... are we Satan? The Snake?
Maybe they All need a Reminder of this One Fact?
"WAR IS HELL!"
"You have to break some Eggs to make an omelet!"
"Fight Fire with Fire!"
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"
The Only Thing Bullies Respect is ... STRENGTH !!!
Once again, I commend you always focusing on alternatives and solutions to big problems in the simplest way, possible. I am so sick of complaints without solutions or solutions shot from the hip like I'm hearing from politicians that only stir up acrimony and hate.
I agree with Quantaman somewhat. I believe recently, Obama alluded to some of the measures in place that the public are not readily aware of. I am quite amazed at the rapidity with which European authorities have uncovered and cracked down on cells in their countries. News this morning revealed how many radicalized terrorists are being watched and thwarted without our even knowing about it because it doesn't make the news. Rather than doing carpet bombing like Russia, the US administration has been very careful to determine where terrorist leaders are and attack them as precisely as possible so as to not enrage the local population when taking out terrorists in their own backyards.
My added suggestion is that the general public with cell phones can and should record videos of anything they see that is suspicious and submitted to a YouTube -like international crime reporting site like Crimestoppers.
As much as many Americans hate to have their private lives observed, I would rather be called to question for my poetry and be exonerated rather than have a crazed poet bent on suicide by glorious killing of innocents not be detected.
The key words in my narrative are "brain-inspired computing—algorithms that adapt, change, and predict before-the-fact." Algorithms of this kind are in their infancy. They mimic the human brain, but do so perhaps a trillion times faster than we can. Better to put this kind of computing to work for us than against us. Believing that NSA has them now is wishful thinking.
Certainly our sense of freedom has been tarnished by recent acts of terrorism on our own soil, let alone the rest of the world. And, our freedom will continue to be restricted with stringent means necessary to combat terrorist threats before they happen which has been the intent of intelligence-gathering networks all along. With all the bones nations have to pick with other nations for ideologies, I'm having difficulty foreseeing this noble endeavor of inter-communication stepped up. I agree with you that whatever is done, will take years to achieve
Edward, where have you been? NSA (and its sister affiliates like Interpol) have a global effort to gather info. I'd guess if you printed out all their info in paper form, you'd cover Manhattan Island 100 yards deep. And that's just the last ten years or so. What's needed are better ways to make sense of the data. This implies correlating to agents on the ground. In short, the geeks have to forget about using nebulous profiles to narrow down their suspects. They have to forget about legally blind Predator drones. They have start doing it the old-fashioned way, by finding terrorists in the flesh.
With world history cluttered with one version or another of "hate" thought and intent, one is left contemplating the question of ever finding an answer. We can't afford to be defeatists, but neither can we delude ourselves into thinking humanity can crawl out of their primitive hard wiring of the "fuckee and fuckor" mindset and miraculously heal itself. Yes, fear is the primary culprit. It has been, and will always be, as long as individuals refuse to accept themselves as unique, some smarter than others, some wealthier than others and some prettier than others et al, but all "human," until they're not. Oh, my, so many make that non-human choice so easily in today's world. Thank you for writing this. Hopefully it will stimulate thought for solutions that bore beneath the nonsense of political advantage and quietly allow some rational and deliberate focus on one's breath. It worked for centuries in Asia before western versions of a better mousetrap came into existence. Perhaps for some of us, it's time to think about how to radicalize love and kindness. Mmm.
Complete Troubleshooting & Repairing guide to hot air furnaces * Complete operation, maintenance, and repair * Covers gas, oil, and electric forced air systems * Includes flowcharts and highlighted tips and solutions to common furnace problems
Complete Troubleshooting & Repairing guide to hot air furnaces * Complete operation, maintenance, and repair * Covers gas, oil, and electric forced air systems * Includes flowcharts and highlighted tips and solutions to common furnace problems
However, several major issues in my mind, seem Not to be addressed by The Administratiion, other Countries, and the Media, namely:
1. MONEY ... Follow the money trail ... WHO is buying ISIS oil? news just yesterday said Turkey was! WHERE do they Store their money? WHICH BANKS? Freeze the accounts! Confiscate the Money!
What produces the income? OIL ! bomb the oil fields ... Literally stop the Flow!
2. IMAGE ... All of the Bull-Shit worrying about what the "others"think of us, the US.
when you look at the numbers of Deaths, especially innocent "collateral damage" ...
No other country on Earth Ever Dropped Two Atomic Bombs and caused such Carnage of Thousands, or Hundreds of Thousands ... are we Satan? The Snake?
Maybe they All need a Reminder of this One Fact?
"WAR IS HELL!"
"You have to break some Eggs to make an omelet!"
"Fight Fire with Fire!"
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!"
The Only Thing Bullies Respect is ... STRENGTH !!!
Peace ... My Friend !
I agree with Quantaman somewhat. I believe recently, Obama alluded to some of the measures in place that the public are not readily aware of. I am quite amazed at the rapidity with which European authorities have uncovered and cracked down on cells in their countries. News this morning revealed how many radicalized terrorists are being watched and thwarted without our even knowing about it because it doesn't make the news. Rather than doing carpet bombing like Russia, the US administration has been very careful to determine where terrorist leaders are and attack them as precisely as possible so as to not enrage the local population when taking out terrorists in their own backyards.
My added suggestion is that the general public with cell phones can and should record videos of anything they see that is suspicious and submitted to a YouTube -like international crime reporting site like Crimestoppers.
As much as many Americans hate to have their private lives observed, I would rather be called to question for my poetry and be exonerated rather than have a crazed poet bent on suicide by glorious killing of innocents not be detected.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane