RSS Feed for This PostCurrent Article

Of Car Bombs and Consequences

By John H Huey on May 6, 2010 at 11:30 AM in Current Affairs

Editor’s Note: John Huey, a security professional involved with aviation security issues for over 28 years, has now published several articles for NoQuarter. Learn more background details about John Huey and his constructive critiques in his first post published at NoQuarterUSA.net on January 5, 2010: “From An Insider: The Need for Risk-Analysis, High-Threat Screening Lanes & Checkpoints” and in all posts by Mr. Huey.

_________________________________________________

Yet another incompetent bomber, Faisal Shahzad, decided to betray his country in a most heinous way but was thwarted by inadequate training, lousy CONOPS, a failure of nerve, some sharp-eyed New Yorkers and, at the last minute, by a dash to his JFK departure gate by some belatedly alerted CBP officers. 

The details of this attempt will be debated in the coming weeks as will his ability to ditch his FBI tail and the total failure of the current pre-board watch list system. Robert Gibbs toughing it out in the White House press room won’t be enough to explain this one and Congress, in its oversight role, will be weighing in shortly.

We have been lucky (and only barely lucky) that the recent attacks have been unsuccessful due to incompetent bomb making.

Unlike 9/11, this has given us room for more debate and time to consider our options. Successful attacks put us in a box. We can now be certain that successful attacks will come and come soon.

Short of a thermonuclear strike, our radical Islamic enemy has no means of inflicting actual physical damage that will literally destroy enough of our infrastructure to bring us down. They do, however, have the means of disruption of transportation and public assembly that could, conceivably, result in an overreaction by government that could spark social strife and undermine our democratic institutions.

I am thinking of my experiences, over many years, in Israel and about the awareness they have developed of patterns of attack, disruption and mass terror as well as the institution of an effective system to interdict and mitigate threat. They have managed to do this and preserve a robust and thriving democracy at the same time.

This is fairly remarkable when you consider that they have universal conscription, tight border and transit controls (including vehicle checkpoints) in many areas of their country, an airport check-in routine that can take over three hours, police, uniforms and guns everywhere (just walk around Jerusalem sometime) and a true security state where national security is the beginning and end of all social and political debates.

This regime only works in a democratic society with a common purpose under the clear threat of extinction. There is also the force of shared history and the ever present consciousness of the Holocaust. The bottom line is that since 1948 they have been under continual mortal threat and have developed mechanisms, over 62 years, to deal with this.

The Israeli-style security state is in no way adaptable to American democracy. We just would not tolerate it, and the resulting polarization of left and right could very well lead to civil unrest as well as economic and social disruption that would make 1968 look like a proverbial walk in the park.

Given our domestic political realities, what could be done, within the Constitution, to mitigate the ever-growing threat without militarizing society as a whole and moving toward a security/police state?

Profiling is NOT illegal if not based solely on ethnic and religious factors. It is a political issue, but no aviation security regime or border control system that can truly mitigate this threat is possible without it. Not knowing that one of our citizens is wandering North Waziristan for months at a time and not finding out (definitively) what he/she is up to is no longer acceptable.

Questioning U.S. citizens upon entry to the United States after overseas travel is NOT illegal. You just need to ask the right questions of more people. I have personally been interviewed, in the past, by USG officials inquiring about my travel patterns (selling x-ray machines has never been perceived as a threat, by the way) and know, from personal experience, that the statutory authority exists to do this.

A national identity card (just look in your wallet, if you have a drivers license linked to a bar code, you already have a crude one) linked to biometric ID would speed travel for all and allow for a more efficient “sorting” process at our airports and international gateways.

As many of you know, national ID is just about universal everywhere in the world. Countries such as Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden and (as of 2012) the UK have the cards. No one can call these societies undemocratic.

 My wife’s newly-minted green card is a marvel of technology, locked down with ten fingerprint biometrics, and virtually impossible to counterfeit. She is obligated, by law, to carry it everywhere and still lives in a free country. The technology is at hand to provide secure ID for all under constitutional protections.

Personally, I would prefer some relatively mild and unobtrusive controls to the sight of black uniformed paramilitaries (I saw the black uniforms and heavy weapons come out in D.C. post-9/11 and know they are out there) patrolling our major cities and transit hubs, random vehicle checks, universal conscription to feed wars of retaliation and a culture of fear on our streets and in our airports.

It is getting to the point, once again, that events are about to overtake us. The reaction to those events (rather than the events themselves) is what our adversaries are seeking. The initiative, it seems, is ours to get back.  

Email: jhuey92@yahoo.com

  • Yttik

    I don’t want biometric ID’s. But the part about Israel’s security that I would like to see in the US is the personal touch, the common sense, the human element. We rely too heavily on technology here, on paperwork, on rules and regulations. In Israel if you’re acting suspiciously, they don’t care what your papers say, they aren’t worried about being accused of profiling, they simply go with their gut and instincts.

    Even Canadian officials seem more interested in the human element, looking you in the eye, asking you friendly questions, engaging you as a human being. In the US, nobody’s really looking at the person, instead they’re searching grandma’s lunch hamper while everybody stands there rolling their eyes. Yeah, I know, anybody could be a potential threat, but until Al Qaeda infiltrates our nursing homes, searching the elderly’s hand bags is a waste of time. The one thing I really notice in the US is that nobody working security ever really looks anybody in the eye, so people acting impersonal and furtively is almost a way of life here.

  • helenk

    http://www.maniacworld.com/Digital-Photocopiers-Identity-Theft-Risk.html

    Just think what a terrorist organization could do with these old copiers.
    Need ID to get in country, NO PROBLEM, need money to finance terrrorists, NO PROBLEM
    This something that every company and person needs to be aware of and take precautions against.

    There are so many ways to damage this country without bomb or a plane and most people do not even realise the dangers.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • Doc99

    From the Jawa Report:

    My NYPD sources have been quick to stress that Shahzad had clearly been trained. For instance, would an amateur:
    - Use a throw away phone (which he stopped using several days before the attack)
    - Purchase a car in cash and never give his name
    - Remove the visible VINS from the car
    - Use stolen plates
    - Never be identified during pre-surveillance
    - Escape Times Square without notice
    - Escape FBI surveillance
    - Have an unknown car parked near his house in case he needed to escape (which he used to drive to the airport, different than the Isuzu he used for the getaway)
    These are all standard counter-surveillance measures that show his training. Phone calls received from Pakistan on his pre-paid cell phone showing overseas coordination. Much like the underwear bomber on Christmas Day, we dodged a serious bullet here. But our national security strategy needs to be more than blind luck, t-shirt vendors and Dutch independent filmmakers.

    http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/202335.php

  • sowsear
  • helenk

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36991157/ns/us_news-security/

    Here’s another one a bomb threat on a greyhound bus.

    There will be calls like this for a while. People are upset and not thinking straight.

    There is more harm done everyday in this country by bad driving then bomb threats. I am no saying that people should not be aware just do not over react.
    In my life time I have worked for a newspaper that every time some one did not like the editorial we would get a bomb threat.
    I have worked for railroads that get threats every day and some are real but the  people in charge do know what to do and do it everyday.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • Doc99
  • helenk

    We do not need outside enemies we have backtrack.
    Cut funding for border security, freeze funding for this.
    His early training is coming forth.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • EllenD

    As many of you know, national ID is just about universal everywhere in the world. Countries such as Canada, Germany, Finland, Sweden and (as of 2012) the UK have the cards. No one can call these societies undemocratic

  • John Huey

    Agreed..He had some elements in his CONOPS that could be related to such training but the master bomb builders (who are in the area he was in) were obviously not involved and that is where we got very lucky. The real goal, for them, of REAL CONOPS is a detonation..A total failure on that score.

  • EllenD

    Sorry for making this two posts but I couldn’t add to the above box (bug?)

    Anyway, that sent me scurrying for my Canadian national ID card, except there doesn’t seem to be one.
    Canadians use these for identification:
    Birth Certificates
    Drivers Licences
    Vehicle Registration
    Health Insurance cards
    Canadian Passport
    Social Insurance Cards (like Social Security)
    Permanent Resident’s Card (like Green Card)

    They seem to have been debating the ID cards in Canada since 2003, much as they are here, with the same issues.

  • John Huey

    I think you have me on this one. I was scanning a list of countries with Identity Cards and it looks like I got something confused called (since 2002) the Canada Permanent Resident Card which is more like a Green Card than a true National Identity Card. Immigration Canada also issues a Citizenship Card but that, it seems, is mostly applied too immigrants as well. Sorry about that and thanks for the correction. Anyway, the other countries cited, as well a dozens of others, issue true National ID Documents which still supports the point.

  • EllenD

    Yes, John. I think France may also belong on your list.

    This may interest you because it seems to nullify NAFTA and adds another level of identification. (Not that I am intimating that Mexican Nationals are terrorists, simply reflecting the changes in paperwork needed now to cross borders with our neighbors.).

    Canada imposes a visa on Mexico

    Nota: esta información también está disponible en español.
    As of July 14, 2009, Mexican nationals require a visa to travel to Canada.
    This change means that nationals from Mexico who want to travel to Canada will first need to apply for a Temporary Resident Visa and meet the requirements to receive one. It is up to the applicant to satisfy the visa officer their visit to Canada is temporary, they will not overstay their approved time in Canada, they have enough money to cover their stay in Canada, they are in good health, they do not have a criminal record, and are not a security risk to Canadians. These requirements are the same for anyone who wants to visit Canada.

  • John Huey

    Right…Additionally, Italy, Portugal, Spain…The list goes on…There is a “fire sale” on the Greek ones today….

  • Hokma

    I agree. The reports are that this man was trained – he was either just a bad student or this was a test.

    Either case, an SUV with tinted windows, carrying multiple tanks of propane and gas, a gun case with fertilizer, and detonating devices was able to drive into Manhattan, into the busiest intersection of Manhattan at prime time on a Saturday night, abandoned the vehicle near the intersection and walk away.

    Had this bomb operated there would have been hundreds of deaths. Put 3-5 of these in similary intersections and transporation centers and the numbere become 9/11.

    There needs to be more police presence and technology at these high density areas because the next time an observant street vendor will be a casualty.

    In Israel there is not “fear” but there is vigilence and acceptance of the constant threat and living with it.

  • EllenD

    Not to get off-topic, but this is why Canada has imposed Visa requirements on Mexico:

    “Refugee claims from Mexico have almost tripled since 2005, making it the number one source country for claims. In 2008, more than 9,400 claims filed in Canada came from Mexican nationals, representing 25 per cent of all claims received. Of the Mexican claims reviewed and finalized in 2008 by the Immigration and Refugee Board, an independent administrative tribunal, only 11 per cent were accepted.”

    “In addition to creating significant delays and spiraling new costs in our refugee program, the sheer volume of these claims is undermining our ability to help people fleeing real persecution,” said Minister Kenney. “All too often, people who really need Canada’s protection find themselves in a long line, waiting for months and sometimes years to have their claims heard. This is unacceptable.”


  • sowsear
  • Wholesale jewelry

    This something that every company and person needs to be aware of and take precautions against. 
    Right…Additionally, Italy, Portugal, Spain…The list goes on…There is a “fire sale” on the Greek ones today….

    [URL=http://www.wholesalej.com/]Wholesale jewelry[/URL]
    [URL=http://www.wholesalej.com/cubic-zirconia-jewelry/]Cubic zirconia jewelry[/URL]
    [URL=http://www.wholesalej.com/costume-jewelry/]Costume jewelry[/URL]
    [URL=http://www.wholesalej.com/fashion-jewelry/]Fashion jewelry[/URL]

  • Steve1

    He my have flupped his mision as  did the Xmas bomber….BUT, what if our luck runs out..it only takes one for Americans to be hurt or kiled, Sept 11th was enough!  Our system appears to have been reduced to a Keystone cop’s operation…Reacting and proactive of this situation..Dangerous for us!  Maybe the CIA and the terrorist experts have been muzzzled  way too  much for political correctness and the far left lunies!   Bad day for America!

  • Steve1

    “not proactive”

  • creeper

    But, but, but…that’s racicist!.  HT/jbjd

  • creeper

    Carson:  “I’m from intelligence.” 

    No, Carson, you are strictly from hunger.

  • Pingback: Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest: The Latest Breakdown of Logic at the Checkpoint : NO QUARTER

  • Pingback: How Error Metastasizes: Europeans Take a Page Out of Our Playbook at the Checkpoint : NO QUARTER

  • Pingback: A Fire in the Belly: What Makes Sense About Air Cargo Screening? : NO QUARTER

  • Pingback: AIhmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and the Rule of Common Sense : NO QUARTER

  • Pingback: A Way Out – Thoughts on the Meltdown at the Checkpoint : NO QUARTER

  • Pingback: When This Stuff Gets Personal! A Response to the Moscow Airport Bombing : NO QUARTER