Are We Safe From Terror Attacks?

For once, I agree with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, when in a press conference last week he said: “The investments we’ve made in counterterrorism operations, technology, and intelligence help reduce the possibility of a successful terrorist strike, but they certainly do not eliminate it. Nothing can do that. We don’t know if we would have been able to stop the terrorists, had they arrived here from Boston, we’re just thankful we didn’t have to find out that answer.” The news conference that Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner, Kelley were holding was to inform the people of New York they had been notified by the FBI that the two men involved in the bombings in Boston also planned to place bombs in New York City.

Our nation, once again, discovered (because of the Boston bombings) the cold reality that we can do everything we know to do to stop enemy attacks from within our nation and yet fail. Just as other countries have known (as they remain under almost constant terror assault), our nation is a target for terrorists who would like nothing more than to destroy us. The purpose of a terror attack seems to be to inflict as much damage as possible as quickly as can happen. The secondary purpose is to raise the level of fear in the hearts of people allowing the terrorists to force and carry out their demands.

In our metro area, we know the embarrassment and harm that was inflicted upon the Atlanta region when a bomb was deployed at the Olympics. It is always disturbing when lives are lost and harm is caused upon innocent people. Anywhere there is a crowd of people enjoying a place of recreation seems to be a favorite site for those who hate us to seek to bring the greater damage. We are now being assured by security agencies that everything possible is being done in order to assure the safety of people attending any recreation event.

During the evaluation process, many questions are being asked about who knew what, and when they knew about the people charged with the Boston terror attack. It is easy to begin to point fingers and act as a Monday morning quarterback. We do know there seems to be weaknesses that are being used against us by the terrorists. More needs to be done to assure our safety. There are those who would use this time to further erode our personal freedoms of movement and speech. We need not rush to think that by curtailing our freedoms we will somehow stop another attack. The international thug is no different than the domestic thug. Lawbreakers, either from another country or from our homeland, are both lawbreakers.

From where I stand Mayor Bloomberg was correct when he said, “The investments we’ve made in counterterrorism operations, technology, and intelligence help reduce the possibility of a successful terrorist strike, but they certainly do not eliminate it. Nothing can do that.”

Follow Ray Newman on Twitter @RayNewmanSr

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