Terror And Protection

Winston Churchill once said "Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." Today some people believe that should America just withdraw from all of its military engagements and then terrorism would just disappear. This however is not the answer. While many disagree on foreign policy I wish to discuss domestic protection. An internally strong nation will produce an equally strong outward nation. For this reason I believe many more safety precautions should be instituted to keep us safe not only in the public sector but in the private sector.

Today numerous prospective radical targets include skyscrapers, airports and nuclear power plants. Each of these is susceptible in its own manner and as such each can be defended. With added security any potential damage must become no damage. The methods in which this can be done will be outlined in the subsequent paragraphs.

Presently the first and most problematic area in security are airports. Last sunday "A Kentucky woman, carrying a handgun made it past security screeners and almost boarded a plane with the weapon. Airport police were alerted to the situation when the woman realized her mistake and reported it herself" (Kuo). "Mishaps" such as this cannot be tolerated within airport safety. How do you miss a gun within a passenger's carry-on luggage? This woman did it with ease by accident; imagine what someone who had meaningly brought a weapon on to a plane could do. Airport security emplyees should be scrupulously certified with competency tests as well as identity verification.

To keep another 9-11 from taking place FAA must rigorously curb access to planes, and other facilities in and around airports. The FAA must also meticulously perform more serious background checks. Every passenger's name should be run in legal and terrorist databases to also prevent any disasters. Every flight, domestic or non domestic should have armed air marshals on it. Initially this was done following September 11th but was phased out due to the cost. If these simple precautions are employed flying will become much safer.

Many believe that if a passenger has a through background check it will impede his rights to privacy. To put this in very simple, if anyone in the wants to fly they shouldn't have any problems with these checks. If they do, then there is the potential that they may be hiding something.

Some say things such as the patriot act promote racism and racial profiling. As unfortunate as it may seem it's not that bad. The government does not interfere in personal matters, but it does when you're funneling money into a terrorist organization. Such was the case of three brothers in Texas that had direct ties to Hamas a Palestinian terrorist organization and Mousa Abu Marzook (Sirs Knowledge Source), a U.S.-designated terrorist. Because we have the patriot act this was caught quickly and ended before the situation could have developed.(Pannell)

Another high risk area is skyscrapers. Skyscrapers are at risk to an array of disasters such as suicide bombers, and hijacked planes to bio weaponry. At the entrance of every building there should be a metal detector with an armed guard attachment. Not only does this stop a potential suicide bomber at the entrance of the building and reduce the death toll where there to be an attack but it also sends the message that the security put into action means business. In the case of hijacked planes that task lies solely as the duty of the airport. Finally when it comes to chemical weapons simply compartmentalizing each floor should be sufficent. The advantage of this that any material released will not spread. Also installing activated charcoal filters will absorb a good deal of toxins that would be released into the air. (Novello)

The most dangerous and least discussed facilities are Nuclear Power plants. "The consequences of an aircraft's slamming into a nuclear reactor would not be a nuclear explosionÐ'... The real danger of a terror attack is the release of radioactive contaminants." (Begley, Newsweek pg. 32) While nuclear power plants only use low grade uranium and initially wouldn't kill many people it would however slowly kill people through the