NATIONAL SECURITY ROUNDTABLE: WHO IS ON THE RUN? SCOTT D. WOLLER

http://nsroundtable.org/as-we-see-it/who-s-on-the-run/

MEMBERS’ CORNER: The recent closings of U.S. embassies and consulates in response to a “specific” and “serious” threat of an al Qaeda terrorist attack (see below), reveal two things about our national security apparatus and war against Islamic terrorism: neither of them are good.

First, it was reported that the recent threat potentially involved terrorists armed with surgically-implanted bombs in order to evade U.S. security checks. This highlights a fundamental flaw in our security methods, i.e., our security, particularly in airports, is focused on the bomb, rather than the bomber. In other words, because of our political correctness, security screeners cannot profile for potential terrorists. They are relegated instead to conducting intrusive searches of grandmas and babies, as they look for explosive devices. Aside from the ridiculousness of these measures, they are ineffectual, since terrorists are always finding new ways around them, e.g., surgically-implanted bombs, undetectable liquid explosives, etc.

The Israelis know this, which is why Israel’s security personnel are trained to know and look for the enemy, and use discretion and common sense, making for an effective yet trauma-free experience for flyers.

Second, these new threats demonstrate that far from being defeated or “on the run,” as President Obama has continually claimed, Al Qaeda et al see they can cause much panic and shut down government facilities simply by making threats (which presumably they know is being heard by our intelligence and the NSA), and putting us on the run.

This is frightening and clearly shows that Mr. Obama’s appeasement policies and politically-correct efforts such as eliminating references to Islam from terror training materials or banning the term “war on terror” from the national-security lexicon, have NOT made us safer or more liked, in fact quite the opposite.

Scott D. Woller is an attorney practicing in New York, and a member of The National Security Roundtable.

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