Star Trek Tackles Terrorism
When TNG took to air in the late 80s, the United States was much more aware of international terrorism compared to the late 1960s when the original series was cancelled.
This week marks the one year anniversary of the death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of American Seal forces. Terrorism has gripped much of the American landscape during the past decade following the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. Since then television series like 24 used, and might some say exploited, the issue of terrorism because it struck a chord with the audience. Yet some might be surprised to know that Star Trek began exploring terrorism soon after the premiere of The Next Generation in 1987. When TNG took to air in the late 80s, the United States was much more aware of international terrorism compared to the late 1960s when the original series was cancelled. By the mid-1980s, the nation had first-hand experience with Islamic extremist terrorism, including the 1979-80 Iran Hostage Crisis and the 1983 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon. Star Trek creators saw an opportunity to address this important political issue and it soon became a topic of numerous TNG episodes and the backstory to much of Deep Space Nine (DS9). 
One of TNG's first efforts to address terrorism was the 1990 episode The High Ground. While delivering humanitarian aid to the Rutians, Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by a charismatic terrorist named Finn who hopes this will force the Federation to aid his cause. This episode drew upon the experiences of Northern Ireland and included attacks on innocent civilians. Finn compares himself to American revolutionary leader George Washington who he says escaped the label of a terrorist because he won that war. Captain Picard and Data also have an interesting conversation where Picard condemns the use of terrorism as a political strategy. The High Ground marked Star Treks initial examination of terrorism by encouraging viewers to understand the positions of all of those involved, though producers portrayed it as something that only affected other worlds or peoples. 
Two seasons later TNG again addressed terrorism in an episode that introduced viewers to the Bajorans, who later became central to the storyline of DS9. In Ensign Ro, the Enterprise responds to a terrorist attack on a Federation outpost on Solarion IV. Orta, the militant leader claiming to represent the Bajorans, claims responsibility for the attack as part of a campaign to regain his home planet, after the Cardassians forced them to flee. Picard and Ro are sent to convince Orta to negotiate peace with the Cardassians. In the end we discover that Starfleet sent Ro on a secret mission to trade weapons in exchange for Bajoran promises to end terrorist attacks on Federation outposts. This episode in many drew upon the real events of the Iran-Contra Scandal where the Reagan administration traded arms for hostages. Less than a month after the broadcast of DS9s two-part episode The Maquis, Next Generation offered its own examination of these renegade Federation colonistsIn the 1994 episode Preemptive Strike the USS Enterprise interrupts an attack by the Maquis, a group of renegade Federation colonists, on a Cardassian vessel near the Demilitarized Zone. Starfleet command decides to send Ro Laren on an undercover mission in to thwart future attacks, but Ro soon identifies with the Maquis and joins them. This episode paints the Cardassians in a rather negative light, thus making the Maquis that much more sympathetic, though Starfleet's declaration that the Maquis are traitors complicates this somewhat. TNG writers further blur the line between just action and terrorism when Ro, a Starfleet officer, turns against Starfleet and betrays Picards trust. 
TNG was just the beginning of Star Trek's examination of terrorism. In my next piece I will explore DS9 where terrorism is central to the storyline just as terrorism increasingly became central to the American experience in the 1990s.