Saturday, September 14, 2019
Analysis on the function of Total Domain Awareness Essay
Thesis Statement The raging mount of terrorism and other sort of violence has been considered as a major plague in the country (Scott-Donelan). Consequently, the dilemma caused by the aforementioned perspectives has caught the attention of the government, mandating those who were perceivably obliged for the eradication of such predicament lead to an echelon of initiatives which apparently falls on the bounds of taxing and various technological innovations. Hence, the most debated issue belying the arena of controversy in such regard is the commencement of â€Å"Total Domain Awareness†. Introduction            In the light of thoroughly understanding the essence and the purpose of â€Å"Total Domain Awareness†shall be sought through the enlightenment of the factors which triggered the birth of the subject under study. Moreover, the sagacity of what seemingly signifies the importance of TDA is traced in the history by which it presupposes as well as the key players implementing the perception of TDA. Furthermore, since it had been stressed that TDA is a manifestation of the immediate response of the government towards the plagues which is bugging the country, it is fair enough to dwell on the arena of the dynamics affecting on the whole picture of its purpose then later tackling the potency of the application through a critical analysis on institutions or organizations (Shahbazian, Rogova and Valin) which settle their activities with the help of TDA. Background of TDA            For the benefit of the internalization of the term, it is best to dig deep in the definition of each word of the phrase; Total – domain  and awareness[1].  In the field of technology and incident monitoring, it is termed as the core treatment in obliterating and decreasing the prevalence of uncontrollable ‘criminals’ or law offenders through the attachment of a technological device in a certain â€Å"unit†for the purpose of speedy tracking (Ziman). Total Domain Awareness is a form of ‘government approach’ with the use of a device to serve as â€Å"spy†in the activities of those inhabiting the territory upon which the device has been attached.; thus, tracing all the possible locations (domain) of the person through the use of a ‘portal based environment’. The cited pioneer key player of the said technological device is the popular Lockheed Martin Corporation[2], in collaboration with NAFTA. Issues giving birth to TDA            As established in the agreement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the main purpose of the organization is to serve as the vanguard in lashing the private and public sectors of the state to collaborate together in uplifting the array of importance of business in the national and international trade arena, delight of transportation, assurance of security and other environmental concerns. However, since that any state is inevitable to have dilemmas caused by a vortex of uncontrollable reasons hence the only means to expunge the said quandary of crisis is to impose and implement measures and innovations to lessen the possibility of its occurrence. Terrorism challenging the government Terrorism has been one of the most debated issues in contemporary times, spawning huge concerns both globally and locally. The weight of such concern is drawn from the fact that terrorism has brought fear to the lives of many, quite apart from the fact that it has destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. Its long term effects can also be equally devastating, if not more, noting that the world market and individual economies of countries are, to a certain extent, affected by terrorist activities. Even the mere â€Å"presence†of terrorists is enough to spoil the budding hopes of nations seeking peace amidst the growing face of danger. However, the basis for the growing concern over the fear harbored from the dregs of what we call â€Å"terrorism†is yet to be resolved. The reason to this rests on the fact that there is no single definition of terrorism, one that is universal and transcends the differences in ethnicity, culture, religion and political background to name a few. For the most part, terrorism is held as a form of activity, usually through violent measures, in achieving a certain type of goal where the orientation of the â€Å"agents†of terrorism are inclined to sacrifice themselves for the realization of a given mission. Consequently, the objectives being pursued by terrorists can also be drawn out from a set of ideologies that border on several concerns, the widely-known types of which are either from an ethno-religious context or from a political environment. What sets terrorism apart from any other form of activity engaged upon by individuals or a group of individuals relatively operating from a wide scope to a specified area is the basic fact that terrorism is an organized activity. However, terrorism is not only an organized form of activity. It is also founded on principles that serve as the guiding tenet for these organized activities, the means of which settle from the most violent down to the crude installment of fear in the lives of civilians or certain groups of individuals. On the contrary horizon of countering terrorism is still vague as of the time being because US means of realizing the annihilation of terrorism is not transparent in its genuine cause. President Bush’s tactics are always under scrutiny because of its failure in providing hard facts or concrete ways of waging anti-terrorism to another counter (Scott-Donelan). For example the case of Iraq, in which he endorsed that this country obtains weapons of mass destruction, thus he wage war in Iraq. In the end, there’s no single evidence of such weapon. Countering terrorism is a must but sometimes the vagueness of how it would be done is also dangerous because a given country that is suspected of terrorism is vulnerable to jeopardizing consequences. How technology shall serve of help in eradicating the crap of terrorism is still at stake. Violence caused by Mass Media            The presence of mass media as a tool of communication has increased largely because of the technological innovations consistently being introduced not only in advancing the productivity rate of media organizations but also in expanding the capacity of the various media outlets to include a wider range of topics (Hudson). With this expansion, the subjects incorporated into the mass media has also been augmented (Graber) such that former topics that were once rarely untouched have now been constantly infused with unceasing publicity such as those that tackle Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The level of morality of individuals are conceived to be one by which their respective behavior are dependently being implied to. With regard to behavioral psychology, it had been stressed that an individual’s personality is the manifestation of the influences which one had been able to acquire all throughout his childhood carried until adulthood (Wright). Americans’ somewhat insatiable appetite for violence had been depicted and described in the violence saturate of their culture.   In an article written by Lillian BeVier, she elaborated various examples on how media had taken a huge part on violence in today’s generation. Her findings led her to an echelon of realistic and obvious results such as: songs urging to rape women, killing police officers, committing suicide, and all other heinous crimes which are said to be the message conveyed by some songs (â€Å"The National Entertainment State†; Niemeyer). However, the issue of violence being a triggering factor for such violence were not thoroughly given substantial evidence with regards to the exposure on media, she had clearly emphasized that there is a need for the government, the Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, nor any state legislature to provide the discretionary and lawful measures as having to be given the power to legislate such constraints to avoid producers or purveyors commit such insatiable mistakes on the field of media communication. Analysis and Discussion            With the given issues above, it is evident that the wrath of violence in the contemporary society is outrageously uncontrollable. Given with such statement, it may be taken to assumption that the government is desperate in looking for ways to control the rising number of violence and crime counts in the country that they tend to jump in the valley of initiatives. Trying to apply any sort of application which they ought to believe is feasible enough to help the law enforcers in incarcerating those who has affronted the law and thus needs jurisprudence.            In essence, the organizations such as NASCO[3], NAFTA and Lockheed Martin had been cited as the catalysts of the so-called â€Å"Orwellian Nightmare†technology aimed for the purpose of security among the inhabitants of the country through the form of a device which possesses the ability to keep in track of the â€Å"location†of any form – it has the capability of gathering, correlating, and interpreting fragments of multi-source entities such as Radar, AIS, & GPS tracks, Open Source, Intelligence, Watch list & Law Enforcement Report, CCTV, Bioterrorism sensors. Hence, gathering together all data into one collaborative portal-based environment in an automated scheme (Hansen and JonesReport).            In further deliberation of TDA, it is evident that its purpose is mainly for â€Å"tracking†. A deeper forethought on TDA shall lead to the discussion of two assumptions: for terrorism reasons, and for the government to have a â€Å"sensor†on all the modes of transportation in the country (Corsi). Consequently, the efficiency of the new technology is still fresh in the ocean of controversy since that critics somehow perceive the idea of its implementation as rather a form of ‘fraud’ from the government, nevertheless, an income-generating machinery which is not considered as an â€Å"A†list in the needs and understanding of many. Incident Monitoring In collaboration with the issues raised above, a critical comprehension of the main purpose and essence of TDA in the society is explicitly rendered by the government as that which will â€Å"help†in monitoring incidents (Strandburg and Raicu). Perhaps, the government is apparently stating the extrinsic evidence and apprehension of the definition of TDA. Taking the brighter side of its establishment would lead to an illustration of necessity indeed (Hansen and JonesReport). Yet, the question on its real intent is undeniably questionable in the internalization of those whom has gone way beyond the shallowness of ‘plainly’ understanding. Conclusion            In reality, TDA lends a hand to the masses especially during emergent incidents, in view of the fact that it has the ability to ‘track’ the location, then those who are vested with the obligation to respond to the immediate call for help will not have a hard time in searching for the site where the incident took place. In addition to that, cases such as kidnapping and car napping will not be a weight to law enforcers in getting to the culprits (Ziman). With the aforementioned device, it will be easier to track the robbers and all the other sort of goons floating in the scenery. In the case of taxing, â€Å"run-away debtors†will be locked in the most abrupt time since that they shall be easily tracked in the hastiest method of confinement. Like what is often seen on ‘detective’ inclined movies, the world will be a serene and ideal place to live in, at least for a certain shape (Paul). Less criminals – everyone shall be spied, and so all must be careful in their actions – quite a paradise in assertion. Yet, the outnumbering refutes to the â€Å"real†purpose of the government still remains laid on the table. Works Cited Corsi, Jerome R. â€Å"Bush Administration Quietly Plans Nafta Super Highway.†Human Events, 2006. Graber, Doris A. â€Å"Mass Media and American Politics.†Political Science Quarterly 95.4 (1980): 701. Hansen, Nathan M., and JonesReport. â€Å"Nasco, Lockheed Martin, & ‘Total Domain Awareness’: Lockheed Martin’s Plan to Tax and Track All Modes of Transportation in North America.†Jones Report, 2007. Hudson, Heather. â€Å"New Communications Technologies: Policy Issues for the Developing World.†International Political Science Review 7.3 (1986): 334. â€Å"The National Entertainment State.†National Review, 2006. 13-30. Vol. 283. Niemeyer, Gerhart. â€Å"Sex and Violence.†National Review 27.29 (1975): 834. Paul, Ron. â€Å"The Nafta Superhighway.†Texas Straight Talk, 2006. Scott-Donelan, David. Tactical Tracking Operations. Colorado: Paladin Press, 1998. Shahbazian, E., G. Rogova, and P. Valin. Data Fusion for Situation Monitoring, Incident Detection, Alert and Response Management. Washington: IOS Press, 2005. Strandburg, Katherine, and Daniela Stan Raicu. Privacy and Technologies of Identity: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation. 1 ed. New York: Springer, 2005. Wright, Peter. â€Å"Factors Affecting Cognitive Resistance to Advertising.†The Journal of Consumer Research 2.1 (1975): 6. Ziman, John. Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. [1] Definition: Total – A whole quantity; an entirety. Domain (law) – The land of one with paramount title and absolute ownership. Awareness – The state of being fully conscious of pertinent stimuli and really experiencing a task or situation. [2] Lockheed Martin is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company. Aside from that, the company is also considered as the world’s largest defense contractor (by revenue). As of 2005, 95% of Lockheed Martin’s revenues came from the United States Department of Defense, other U.S. federal government agencies, and foreign military customers. See http://www.lockheedmartin.com for more information and data on the company’s goals and objectives. [3] The National Association of Security Companies (NASCO) is the nation’s principal contract security trade association. NASCO is leading efforts to set beneficial fundamentals for the private protection industry and security officers by monitoring state and federal legislation and measures affecting the quality and efficiency of private security entities. See http://www.nasco.org for more information.
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