Terrorism

Ever since the U.S. Embassy bombings in 1998, and the Clinton Administration's response to them (Operation Infinite Reach, which consisted of cruise missile strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan), I've wondered why we didn't start consulting more with other security and counter-terrorism experts worldwide.  It would have been better to consult with people in other countries who have had a history of dealing with terrorist threats. Israel and Egypt have much experience with the types of Islamic extremists which were targetting the United States. The United Kingdom and Spain have dealt with home grown "terrorist" militias advocating independence of certain provinces dominated by specific ethnicities. So many nations have the experiences and training we lacked, and we could have learned much instead of trying to blunder our way through it.

September 11th, 2001 was not the first time I had ever heard of Osama Bin Laden. I remember the 1993 World Trade Center bombings from when I was young, and remember in subsequent years of hearing about possible connections between those attacks and Osama Bin Laden. I heard more about this man following the embassy bombings in 1998. I came to know and understand more about Osama Bin Laden, but until 2001 he was not a figure whose motives I knew very well, nor did my young mind understand them as well as I now understand them. Still, I always knew that if people were trying to attack us, particularly targeting our transportation infrastructure, that we should consult with the experts who have dealt with such things in the past, and still deal with them day to day.

That fateful day back in 2001, however, strengthened my belief that we needed to consult with international security experts immediately. My thoughts automatically focused on Israel, whom I admire for their transportation security and most of their counter-terrorism policies (although not all, especially the way they've treated Lebanon and the Occupied Territories). Since then, I haven't really aired my beliefs on the matter to many people, because of one reason or another: I was shy, no adult would listen to the ideas of a teenager, the system was too big and too corrupt for me to attempt to penetrate, et cetera. Eventually it faded from the forefront of my mind as other issues occupied it: the economy, the War on Afghanistan, the illegal War on Iraq, the dismantling of our civil liberties, et cetera. Still, deep down, I've always been disappointed with the blunder that our attempts to solo our "increased" homeland security has been.

Then the foiled terror plot announced yesterday began to bring it back to the surface, as my disappointment with homeland security and the fearmongering of the U.S. Department of the same name (only capitalized!) roiled. But I didn't really remember it until I spotted a quote in an article on CNN.com from an Israeli named Rafi Ron, the former head of security at Tel Aviv's Den Gurion Airport:

Rafi Ron, former head of security at Tel Aviv, Israel's Ben Gurion
Airport, said screeners should focus more on finding suspicious people
than on hunting for potential terrorist tools.

"It is extremely
difficult for people to disguise the fact they are under tremendous
amount of stress, that they are going to kill themselves and a lot of
people around them in a short amount of time, and all the other factors
that effect their behavior," Ron said.

And it hit me again: we should have Israeli security consultants training transportation security around the country. In the airports, the train and bus stations, the ports. In power plants and water purifying facilities. This is what we need: expert advice and training from countries who already have established counter-terrorism training and expertise. Maybe not all of Israel's programs are right for us, but maybe those that aren't can be replaced by European programs, or homegrown programs, or something else entirely. Why do we always have to go it alone? As a country, we're different from other countries... but not that different. I mean, what could it hurt? Maybe it could save the lives of more civilians.