How exactly did the system fail?
The tee vee has been talking at me over the past few days about how Faisal Shahzad’s botched attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square shows that the US system to fight terrorism is failing. Excuse me for being dense, but how exactly did the system fail?
Consider the chain of events. On Saturday evening, Shahzad parked the SUV in Times Square. Soon after, a nearby vendor saw smoke coming from the SUV. He contacted the police. The police swiftly cleared the area and defused the bomb. Subsequently, they traced the SUV to its previous owner and got Shazad’s cell phone number from her. Even though they did not have Shazad’s name, he previously gave the number to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent who had questioned him the last time he returned to the US from Pakistan. The CBP then gave the information to the FBI. Thus, when the police traced the number, they got the name from a FBI database. Because the FBI feared he would leave the country, they put his name on the no fly list and alerted the CBP. The CBP found out he had bought a plane ticket to Dubai. Even if Shazad’s flight had left before the CBP caught up with him, they knew where he was going and thus could have arrested him when he got to Dubai. The entire process from the bomb attempt to Shazad’s arrest took a little over two days.
I am no fan of US anti-terrorism strategies and have mocked them mercilessly on my rants about security theater. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed with how quickly the police/FBI/CBP arrested Shazad. The New York City Police Department also handled the situation extremely well – Times Square was functioning normally by Sunday morning.
In short, the system seemed to function very well – almost seamlessly, in fact. Yet the tee vee keeps telling me the system failed. Am I missing something here?
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I agree. It’s probably just a better news story to emphasize how things might have gone better. In addition, the entire episode doesn’t reflect well on the competence of whatever terrorist training program Mr. Shahzad may or may not have attended in Pakistan.
I agree with your first point. As to your second point, if the best the Taliban can throw at us is an absent-minded incompetent terrorist, it suggests that the US is doing a pretty good job of fighting terrorism overseas as well.
I think that what you’re missing is the fact that it was through no skill or action of the FBI/CBP/Police/anyone in the Federal Government that the bomb didn’t explode. As Jon Stewart says in his recent clip, “What is the U.S. going to do when they attack us with people who aren’t like the Home Alone robbers.” Basically, the system of PREVENTION failed while the system of APPREHENSION worked…and those are two different systems.
Also, to claim that because this guy was an idiot that we’ve done a good job is probably a bit non-sensical. The Taliban/al Qaeda will throw whatever at us since it’s not really a loss for them in this instance…at worst the idiot gets caught and at best he blows up Times Square…
The system of prevention failed? I am not sure I know what to make of that. How do we prevent terrorism without massive intrusions on civil liberties (and I doubt that would even work). A free society needs to make tradeoffs and live with uncertainty, something few politicians have the courage to say.
On your other point, you are correct, it could be that we are just lucky. However, I think one of the under-reported stories on the war on terror is how good of a job the USG is doing keeping potentially dangerous people out of the country.
What system of prevention failed that would stop a guy from buying a car, three canisters of propane, a pack of fireworks 1/13th the power of a quarter stick of dynamite, bags of fertilizer that don’t even contain ammonium nitrate, and driving it into Times Square? That “bomb” wasn’t nearly as dangerous as the _legally purchased_ Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm firearm he left in his car at the airport. What system failed that would stop a naturalized American citizen with no prior criminal history from purchasing a firearm?
I agree fully. A strong policy of terrorism prevention cannot exist in a democracy. A society that is 100% free of terrorism (if that could exist) would also be 100% free of civil liberties.