Homeland Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Surviving Terrorism (The Mcgraw-Hill Homeland Security Series) [Hardcover]

Homeland Security (The Mcgraw-Hill Homeland Security Series) by Mark Sauter and James Carafano is an all encompassing work that is a must for students and Homeland Security professionals alike. It is a comprehensive account of the evolution of Homeland Security, and the cornerstone text for a series of our continuing education courses.

Hard to put down! The work is divided into three parts, each building into the next. The first part is a historical perspective of Homeland Security from Colonial America, through today and the challenges imposed by contemporary terrorism. The second part is an in-depth look at the terrorist, their mindset, training, tactics and weapons. In a very clear manner, it enables the reader to understand Jihadists, Transnational and Domestic terrorists, and their goals. The final part outlines the issues of organization, policies, programs and concerns that have rapidly developed since the attacks of September 11th. It effectively culminates with the final chapter, The Future of Homeland Security: Adapting and Responding to the Evolving Terrorist Threat While Balancing Safety and Civil Liberties, which looks at terrorism, technology and the future of Homeland Security. The five appendices provide a wealth of reference and background material, and each chapter ends with a summary and quiz that makes it a natural choice for academic courses.

Whether you are a student, educator, law enforcement officer, first responder, CERT Team member, Homeland Security professional or concerned citizen, this book will give you a solid and insightful perspective of homeland security yesterday, today and tomorrow. It will be a key text in my reference library for years to come!

"Homeland Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing and Surviving Terrorism", contains two chapters addressing the Islamic aspects of the current era of terrorism and jihad activity: Chapter 4, "The Mind of the Terrorist: Why They Hate Us", and Chapter 5, "Al-Qaida and Other Islamic Extremist Groups: Understanding Fanaticism in the Name of Religion". Each chapter is complimented with endnotes (29 for Chapter 4, and 19 for Chapter 5) and the absence of a bibliography suggests that the endnotes comprise the primary sources for each chapter. There are no Islamic sources.

Chapter 4, "The Mind of the Terrorist: Why They Hate Us" addresses Palestinian Terrorism, Iranian Terrorism, Suicide in the Name of Islam, Conditions For Terrorism and other considerations such as strife, poverty, ignorance, political oppression as motivations and sources of terrorist activity. The mandates in Islamic law animating jihad and directly influencing the terrorist mindset are not addressed.

In Chapter 5, "Al-Qaida and Other Islamic Extremist Groups: Understanding Fanaticism in the Name of Religion", the authors identify the five pillars of Islam and simply state that Zakat is the Giving of Alms.

A primary legal reference within the Sunni tradition, Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri's "Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law", tells the Homeland Security Professional that there are eight obligatory disbursements for Zaket. Three of them support warfighting and impact Homeland Security: Those Whose Hearts are to Reconciled; Those Fighting for Allah; and, Travelers Needing Money.

"Those Whose Hearts Are To Be Reconciled" (Traveller, page 270-271) states that "alms" may be given to ensure propagation of the faith in initial stages. Those to be reconciled include: Chief personages of a people (with weak or fledgling institutions needing economic support to improve or whose peers may be expected to enter Islam); Heads of a people who collect zakat for Islam from Muslims living near them who refuse to pay it; and, Heads of a people who fight an enemy for Islam at considerable expense and trouble to themselves. The obligatory disbursements for those whose hearts are to be reconciled constitute funding mechanisms facilitating the establishment of Islamic footholds in non-Muslim areas and the consolidating of those footholds to increase Islamic influence.

"Those Fighting for Allah" (Traveller , page 272) includes those engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted and are to be "Given enough to suffice them for the operation even if affluent of: weapons; mounts; clothing; expenses: and, for the duration of the journey, round trip, and the time they spend there." Current interpretation and practice has been to provide expenses in supporting such person's family during this period. The obligatory disbursements for those fighting for Allah constitute a funding mechanism for combat, combat support and combat service support operations. This disbursement category is ideally suited for supporting autonomous, decentralized, asymmetrical military operations.

"Travelers Needing Money" (Traveller, page 272) include those who are "passing through a town in Muslim lands where zakat is collected or whose journey was not taken for the purpose of disobeying Allah, if such a person is in need, he is given enough to cover his personal expenses and transportation, even if he possesses money back home." The obligatory disbursements for travelers needing money defrays personal expenses and transportation costs associated with individual movement to and from conflict zones.

Continuing with Chapter 5, the authors touch very lightly on jihad failing to discuss the operational considerations both animating the enemy and whose understanding is essential to the Homeland Security Professional.

In addition to "Reliance of the Traveller," Al-Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya's, "Riyad-us-Salihee", (Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 1998), p. 976-1016 and Ibn Rushd's "The Distinguished Jurists Primer", (Vol I and II, Garnet Publishing, Reading, UK: 1994), 454-487, clearly identifies combat, combat support and combat service support roles for the Muslim community when one initiates Jihad. There is clear legal guidance on the following points: upon whom support to Jihad is obligatory; conditions affecting the obligation; identification of the persons to be fought; the scale of harm that may be inflicted on the enemy; conditions for the declaration of war; the identification of the number from whom retreat is not permissible; permissions for truce and the two reasons for waging war (to force the conversion to Islam and to secure the payment of the "jizya").

These essential considerations for assessing the present environment are neither addressed nor referenced in "Homeland Security" but may be readily accessed by reading Islam's legal texts.

All first editions are, in essence, first drafts. If the second edition of "Homeland Security" incorporates Islamic sources and objectively explores the influence of Islamic law on the tactical, operational and strategic elements of today's terrorist environment, the Homeland Security Professional will have a truly invaluable desk reference.

Needed this book for a graduate class. It was written out fairly well and related appropriately to Homeland Security and associated terrorism.