Assessing whether the world is safe or not is a very difficult task. It is one that cannot be achieved by only looking at statistics of homicide rates, war rates, assault, or violence rates. To truly assess whether the world is safe, you have to not only look at what has happened, but what could possibly happen. To ignore the possibilities of danger would be akin to saying someone who has a loaded gun to their head, but has not been shot yet, is safe. Even the determination of what qualifies as safe rapidly changes. Cyber threats are an ever looming aspect to safety, yet most likely would never cause immediate harm to one’s life. If the possibility of infrastructure-crippling cyber-attacks aren’t included in the crime or violence statistics, then how can you make an accurate assessment of safety? When examining world trends, the world may seem like it is safer than ever, and in some instances, that is true. However, with the imminent threat of terrorism and cyber-attack, the world is more vulnerable now than ever before.
When assessing how terrorism relates to the overall safety of the world, it is important to consider the possibility of attacks as well as carried out attacks. One could say that the United States is safe from radical Islamic terrorism because we have not had more than a handful of attacks since 9/11. Conversely, one could say that we are at our most vulnerable because we are being targeted more frequently. The low occurrence of terrorist attacks does not shade the fact that we are constantly faced with the threat of attack. It is naïve to assume that because attacks are not carried out then we are safe from terrorism.
Often, Americans do not consider the fact that terrorism affects more people than the United States. With the recent attacks in Paris, we are tragically reminded of this issue. Any Western democracy poses a threat to the teachings of radical Islam and thus becomes a target. As long as violent extremism exists, there will be danger. For the past three decades, intervention in the Middle East has provided an atmosphere that is benevolent to violent extremists. Now more than ever, with the failed states of Libya and Syria, the Middle East serves as a breeding ground for this type of violent thought. These extremists do not always succeed with their plans or carry out plans day-to-day, but their presence is looming and the danger is real. Terrorist groups often operate on a global scale and pose a threat to the welfare of the world.
In addition to potential terrorist attacks, cyber threats appear to be on the rise. Thousands of cyber-attacks are attempted every day. It is such a real threat to national security that the NSA, along with other intelligence gathering agencies, have led the way to increasing our cyber-security and expanding our limits of cyber-warfare. The United States is quite successful at deterring these threats. However, occasionally security breaches occur and the damage is severe. Most recently, the cyber hack on the Office of Personnel Management led to 21 million government employees' information being stolen. Some people would say that we are generally safe from cyber hacks because they fail for the most part. However, it is truly a matter of perspective and the sheer volume of attacks, successful or not, qualifies as dangerous.
Cyber threats do not currently pose a direct threat to global security. That is to say, there is not technology that would cause an Armageddon-like shutdown of the nation’s key infrastructure. This would lead to the belief that realistically cyber-attacks are generally low to middle level security threats that will never affect the global welfare. However, there was a time when there were no nuclear weapons and bombs would not potentially affect the lives of millions of people. This comparison serves as a reminder that technology is rapidly advancing and an infrastructure-crippling technology could exist one day. Again, while cyber threats do not now cause irreversible damage, the scale of which the attacks are being proposed poses a serious threat to global welfare. The possibility of a total infrastructure killer is quite possibly more dangerous than the possibility of nuclear war.
The worst aspect of extremist terrorism and cyber-attacks stems from the fact that often times, non-state actors are the perpetrators. Governments can be reasoned with, sanctioned, attacked, and even destroyed, but the fact remains that a group of ten people could potentially cause more damage than any government. Evil exists in the world, and as the motivation for violence increases and the technology by which it is carried out advances, the world becomes more and more vulnerable. Progress is a good thing, but can be used to meet the wrong end.
