Dear Future President of The United States,

Many issues face you as you enter your first term as POTUS. However, I feel that the most pressing of these issues is that of global and domestic terrorism. Ever since the attacks on the world trade centers in NYC on September 11th, 2001, the good people of the United States have been painfully aware of those who wish to destroy their way of life. The dark hand of radical terrorism has spread from that tragedy and many others like it. The American people have felt the pain of an attack before and we will do all that is in our power to prevent such an atrocity again. However, it is up to you and your administration to put a definitive end to radical terrorism and the destruction it bestows upon the world.

We face  the threat of both organized terror groups such as the self-proclaimed Islamic States of Iran and Syria (ISIS) and Al Qaeda, as well as freelance attacks perpetrated by individuals and small groups. All of these people have been sources of widespread terror throughout the globe. However, it is ISIS in particular that poses the greatest threat. The Islamic State has claimed land in over a dozen countries according to FOX News, and has an estimated 20,000 able-bodied personnel from over three dozen countries in their ranks. Every day, they recruit more and more people around the world through the internet and social media hoping to inspire the next attack on the people of the world. Their military is becoming more sophisticated and dangerous in every moment. They have captured many US military weapons and vehicles from rebels in the Middle East. There have been attacks at Brussels, Sana’a, Paris, San Bernardino, and Orlando amongst many others in the last two years alone credited to ISIS. According to CNN ISIS has “conducted or inspired more than 140 terrorist attacks in 29 countries other than Iraq and Syria...those attacks have killed at least 2,043 people and injured thousands more.” According to the New York Times “more than 1,200 people outside of Iraq and Syria have been killed in attacks inspired or coordinated by the Islamic State in 2016.”

These tragedies cannot go on and the United States has the power to end these kinds of terrorist attacks at home and abroad, so what will you, as Commander in Chief of the most powerful nation in the world, do to help vanquish this global threat?

Sincerely,

Luke Hetherington