(From the Informed Source Newsletter, published by Profiles Threat Countermeasures Group.)
This article is reprinted with permission from Informed Source Newsletter at www.profiles-threat.com.
Fellow Professionals:
* Terrorism/Counterterrorism: Gentlemen.....two subjects have come up which I intended to cover at length in Informed Source Newsletter (not the Bulletins), but we have a lot of new personnel who aren’t Newsletter subscribers yet, so I can’t wait to discuss this.
1) I’ve been asked to provide a list of potential targets for terrorist sabotage. That list would be as long as both your arms. For the moment, remember these factors as your basic principles:
These terrorist factions are not new at this; they’ve been around a long time and have developed very polished strategies and tactics.
- Is has been the historic SOP for these terrorists to first infiltrate their target country
- Then increase in numbers in the target country
- Some of them intermarry with target country women
- They maintain low profiles
- They align with other terrorist plants, cells, and anarchist groups
- They infiltrate strategic locations like hospitals, corporations, communications, etc.
- With increased, low profile numbers in the targeted country-they attempt to weaken it from within - ie covertly push hard for gun control in the target country-and weaken its citizens. The first is self explanatory - the second involves exactly what we’re all concerned about, bio warfare. It’s easier to attack an unarmed target country when it’s people are suffering from illnesses. This most likely will not involve one major outbreak all across the country, but “pockets of opportunity.”
- Many of these terrorist groups have already perfected their operation of hitting hospitals and medical clinics where the sick and injured will go for help. This is not good news, and to my knowledge, there are ONLY TWO high level CI/CT trained security professionals who are working in security in hospitals across the United States.
So, Re: targets for sabotage, please remember that ANYTHING and ANYPLACE which can cause illnesses, interruption or blocking of communications, endanger rescuers, block normal traffic patterns, create economic difficulties, and disarm citizens, are prime targets for sabotage.
And remember, we’re dealing with primarily TWO kinds of terrorists, those highly trained and skilled who follow specific orders, and the radical loose cannons, or fatwa operatives. They’re both dangerous.
2) Bio-terrorism, Explosives, weapons, etc. While everyone is concerned about terrorists “bringing in” things which can terrorize and kill Americans - this is looking with only one eye open. It is much easier for terrorists to manufacture these things from within our country, than to try to bring them in. Please read that last sentence again. It is true that some terrorists are trying to smuggle things in, but there is a far greater danger with terrorists who are already here, collecting all the materials they need from within our own borders.
Thank God we have so many good Intelligence people watching these “connect the dots” situations where materials are continually “disappearing” from all over the country. And last night during a briefing, I heard about someone checking out companies and warehouses where components for explosives and toxic materials are kept. The guy found place after place with no security, unlocked gates, and easy access to materials.
Add that to all the “connect the dots” situations so many good Intel people are finding, and it’s child play to do the analysis. All personnel must be advised of this kind of information and take whatever pro-active and countermeasures steps your individual agencies, departments, etc . can take.
Which bring me to one more item. We’ve been saying all along that reactive trained personnel must connect with pro-active/countermeasures personnel. I’ve tried to find a good analogy for anyone who still doesn’t understand this.
Let’s try this: Law enforcement officers will courageously rush into buildings which are on fire, to try to rescue all the people who are caught inside. In the process of these heroics, many officers are killed. On the other hand, when firemen courageously rush into burning buildings to try to rescue the people trapped inside - fewer firemen are killed than law enforcement officers. Why? Because firemen are highly trained and skilled in this area. The same principle now applies to the terrorist situation.
Pro-active, countermeasures, counterterrorist trained professionals are far better trained and skilled in the area of counterterrorism than are the reactive trained professionals. There absolutely must be aligning and cross-training between the reactive and proactive CT personnel. I know that many personnel understood this long ago, and have done an excellent job of getting this through to everyone else. But there are still far too many personnel who still don’t get it. This aligning and cross-training is a major part of Informed Source Newsletter, (and you fellas who are subscribers have been doing an extraordinary job of helping to cross-train the personnel in your departments to understand all this-my hat’s off to you!)
-- FC
“Informed Source”
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