HL 6050 DF1 Comments on Southeast Asia Islamic States New Front

Comment on these two post as if you were me with a 100 words each, DO NOT COMPAR THE POSTS, and put 3 references for each post, and please seperate the references.
Colin Blair
In keeping with this week's emphasis on a changing, dynamic world, the article I've chosen, Southeast Asia - The Islamic State's New Front? - explores the Islamic State's recruiting efforts in an area not typically associated with Islamic extremism - Southeast Asia. While groups like Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf have been loosely associated with Al-Qaeda over the past 15 years since the events of 9/11, Mr. Kurlantzick examines ISIL's recruitment efforts while contrasting them to respective nation's propensity for hosting Islamic extremist/terrorist groups. While their efforts are certainly a cause for concern in a region increasingly utilizing social media platforms and struggling to meet the demands of globalization (thus setting attractive conditions for terrorist recruitment), the author is quick to note that the capabilities ISIL has developed in the region are relatively low, citing a variety of geographic, demographic, and religious reasons that make the region less than ideal for traditional terrorist recruiting methods. What the author doesn't speculate on is whether these recruitment efforts are a means of broadening ISIL's appeal in the face of recent tactical and operational losses in Iraq and Syria - something Al-Qaeda did to considerable effective after they lost their safe haven in Afghanistan in late 2001. On a broader scale, these trends only reinforce the dynamism of the 21st century, where globalization, inter-connectedness, and quickly-changing circumstances are quickly becoming the norm, as opposed to the exception, in all aspects of policy, to include homeland security.
Respectfully,
Colin Blair
References:
Kurlantzick, J. (2016, October 04). Southeast Asia - The Islamic State's New Front? Retrieved from Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: http://www(dot)carnegiecouncil(dot)org/publications/ethics_online/0122
Megan Robinson
Election Systems Designated as Critical Infrastructure
This week we examined the dynamic and fluid nature of Homeland Security in the modern world. For my brief, I chose to present an article about the recent call to increase security in the election systems. State Election Systems To get More Federal Aid for Security, written by Tam Abdollah, explained that increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks on our election infrastructure has threatened National Security at a precarious level. Secretary Jeh Jonhson recently designated the U.S. election systems as critical infrastructure – a move that makes both local and state governments eligible for federal assistance. The federal government will now have the authority to conduct security checks and consider physical and cyber security threats against the election systems. The election infrastructure includes, “storage facilities, polling places and vote tabulation locations, plus technology involved in the process, including voter registration databases, voting machines and other systems used to manage the election process and report and display results.” This article is particularly relevant, in light of the recently declassified U.S. Intelligence Report which found that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign aimed at the U.S. Presidential election.
Source:
Abdollah, T. (2017). State Election Systems to Get More Federal Aid for Security. Associated Press. Retrieved from: http://hosted(dot)ap(dot)org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ELECTION_HACKING_HOMELAND_SECURITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-06-17-24-20