Reflections on the NYC Car Bomb

For more that eight years, I have been stressing that vigilance and intelligence will be the most important factors in combating and winning over terrorism.

The public understanding the threats we face is extremely important as well, for not for them on Christmas Day and last night, both of these events could have had very different results.

Authorities are saying they’re not sure who and why the vehicle was placed there. As for Who? It makes no difference, be it Al-Qaida, a White Supremacist Group or a group like the Black Liberation Army or Weather Underground back in the 70s;  It is 100 % terrorism.
 
Terrorism involves the threat of, or acts of violence to a society  that are intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.

As for Why? It was clearly a weapon of mass destruction based on it’s content.

It's been said to be “amateurish,” however, so was the the attacks on September 11th... A bunch of nitwits with box cutters... and were the bombings in Madrid, or Piccadilly Circus... 


Amateurs can kill thousands of people... All they have to do is slip thru the cracks.

My fear is that eventually they will. 


We’re not going to be able to stop every event (being right 100% of the time). For our enemy’s, if they’re on only 1% of the time, it could be devastating – that’s why vigilance and intelligence are so important.

As to the response: No one has the resources that the NYPD has, and no one has the response protocols that they do, dating back to 1996 when the NYC Office of Emergency Management was created. So, as unfortunate as we are that these things happen, in some strange way, it is fortunate in happens in a place that is best prepared to deal with them.

As to suspects... there is no doubt in my mind that whoever is responsible will be arrested - and unless they were highly sophisticated in the acquisition of their of equipment including the car, it will be days and weeks vs. months or years.


Again, as fate or luck would have it, it's being handled by the greatest police department in the world, the NYPD.

 

No Jail Time for Imam Convicted in NYC Terror Plot