Samenvatting

In its past, terrorism has evolved from old terrorism into new, even more catastrophic terrorism. Today, hundreds or even thousands of people can become victim from one moment to the other, through which the fear for terrorist attacks has increased a lot lately. Next to that, Europe has become much more attractive for terrorist attacks through several reasons. Europe is easy to enter for terrorist, Europe already has a lot of terrorist groups inside its borders, and NATO interventions can lead to anti-EU-terrorism, therefore it is important that the EU becomes a strong unity with one strong counter-terrorism policy.
As a response to the increased threat of terrorism, the EU has established an Internal Security Strategy and the European Union Counter Terrorism Strategy. The Internal Security Strategy is made to "protect people and the values of freedom and democracy, so that everyone can enjoy their daily lives without fear" (European Council, March 2010, p. 12). The security model is built upon ten strategic guidelines with the emphasis on the EU-wide approach. The European Union Counter Terrorism Strategy has a strategic commitment: "to combat terrorism globally while respecting human rights, and make Europe safer, allowing its citizens to live in an area of freedom, security and justice" (European Council, April 2005, p. 2). The strategy consists of four aspects that fit under its strategic commitment: prevent, protect, pursue and respond. Most important points within this strategy are to combat radicalisation and recruitment of terrorist, to reduce the vulnerability of targets to attack, to pursue terrorists across borders and to put an end to sources of terrorist financing (Europa, n.d.).
Also the United States developed a Counter Terrorism Strategy, namely America's National Strategy for Counter Terrorism. This strategy is established with the goal to disrupt, dismantle and eventually defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates and adherents to ensure the security of America's citizens and interests (National Strategy for Counterterrorism, June 2011). The US uses core principles to guide their counterterrorism efforts. These principles are: adhering to US core values, building security partnerships, applying to counter-terrorism tools and capabilities appropriately, and building a culture of resilience.
When comparing the US Counterterrorism Strategy and the EU Counter Terrorism Strategy, it can be concluded that both strategies differ much from each other. The US and EU face different threats from (Islamic) terrorism, they have different perceptions about common threats and they use different tools and means in their combat against terrorism.
When comparing the statistics of both countries, it is noticeable that the US needs to deal with far less terrorist attacks than the EU. Looking at statistics of both countries, a significant decrease of terrorist attacks is noticeable since the establishment of the EU's Counter Terrorism Strategy. Therefore, the EU Counter Terrorism Strategy can be called an effective strategy, but in comparison with the US strategy, some improvements can be implemented, in order to create a truly effective strategy. These improvements consists of an increase in cohesion and cooperation between Member States, executing further extensive research, and further enhanced transatlantic cooperation.