Though I now reside in the Rockies, I grew up in New Jersey and get back to the area as often as possible to both visit relatives and indulge in one of my major passions; going to see musicals and plays on Broadway in neighboring New York City. A couple of years ago I had a few minutes before my play started and was killing time wandering around Times Square trying to decide what vendor to buy a hot dog from. All of a sudden dozens of police swarmed the area. Some were dressed in riot gear, some were on horse back. I was puzzled because once the police blanketed the square they just stayed in place and didn’t seem to want Times Square evacuated. I had heard no explosions nor did I see any suspicious activity going on that would account for the presence of the police. I wandered over to one of the vendors and asked if something was wrong. He replied: “Ma’am, don’t be concerned. Ever since 9/11 they sometimes conduct unannounced security exercises for practice in case one day they have to respond to a real terrorist incident.”
I remembered this incident this past weekend as I watched events unfold in the aftermath of the failed Times Square bombing incident. Many of the Times Square vendors are Veterans. One of the news reports indicated the state of New York gives priority in granting vending licenses for the area to Disabled Vets. As most know, it was two of these vendors Duane Jackson and Lance Orton who alerted police that something was off about the Nissan Pathfinder used in the failed attempt. I loved the quote Lance gave the media as much to his obvious annoyance as the press badgered him for a statement. His reply is now classic anti-terrorism advice: “See something, say something”.
Only four words, but showed as with most military Vets, he’s more aware than the average citizen of what it means to live in a country at war; on any given day an attack can occur. I’m not advocating that we all go out and buy guns and turn our homes into fortresses, simply saying we must stay vigilant and not hesitate to report suspicious activity.
In a conventional war the adversarial militaries face off against each other on a field of battle. It could be aircraft or land based or ship borne air defenses trying to shoot down attacking enemy aircraft or armies facing off on a battle field or any number of scenarios. The terrorists know they cannot defeat us in that traditional warfare environment so they come at us in unconventional ways; hence the use of IEDs, suicide bombers, etc.
In February of this year, Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence presented his Annual Threat Assessment to Congress. I’ve mentioned this in earlier blogs, but it bears repeating that he mentioned that it was more difficult to “identify and track small numbers of terrorists recently recruited and trained and short-term plots than to find and follow terrorist cells engaged in plots that have been ongoing for years.”
I’ll conclude by saluting the New York City Police Force, the FBI and Homeland Security. It only took them 53 hours and 20 minutes to get their guy. This is a concrete example of how well the system can work. Is it perfect, no and no one is saying it is. Just yesterday while testifying before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committtee on “Terrorist and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms”, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked lawmakers to close what he called the “Terror Gap”. According to a New York Times Report he was referring to “a hole in the law that prevents the federal government from blocking the sale of firearms or explosives to people on the terrorist watch list”. During his talk Mayor Blomberg stated: “Today the Government Accountability Office has released new data showing that suspects on the terrorism watch lists were able to buy guns and explosives from licensed U.S. dealers 1,119 times between 2004 and 2010.”
I can only speak for myself but that fact does not give me a warm and fuzzy. I’m all for the rights to bear arms but it makes no sense to me that a suspected terrorist should be allowed to purchase weapons. This is just one of many issues we need to address if we are to win this war against terrorism. As always, my thoughts are my own. I’m now going to hoist a glass of wine in salute to the Vets of Times Square. Guys, WELL DONE!