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Terrorists are changing their tactics once again. As military and government facilities around the world have stepped up their security measures, terrorists have switched their focus to what are referred to as “soft targets.” These targets are things like hotels, stores, and other civilian facilities.
From an operational standpoint this makes sense. While security can be tightened at major nexus points, such as an airport or a train station, It would be virtually impossible to tighten security at every hotel, supermarket, or shopping mall without significantly impacting their ability to do business. For example, while there are only three major airports in the New York City area, there are literally hundreds of hotels in the city. There are also at least twelve colleges or universities in the city, any of which could potentially be a target for terrorist activity.
These soft targets simply cannot be effectively protected from terrorist attacks because they do not have the security infrastructure to handle such security needs. In some cases the infrastructure would be completely contrary to the purpose of such an establishment. The college shootings of the past few years have illustrated that a lone individual can not only gain access to educational establishments, but can easily evade detection by law enforcement. Not only that, but the typical response in such a situation is to lock down the campus and confine students to building and dormitories. This would be devastating should a campus shooting similar to what occurred a few years ago at Virginia Tech simply be the prelude to a multistage terrorist action. The Mumbai terror attacks showed that territories groups are skilled enough to pull of such a multistage operation.
There are no easy answers to dealing with this shift in terrorist activity. Prior to this change it tactics it made it relatively easy to rank potential targets. However, now it is much more difficult because nearly every establishment in the United States is a potential target. It becomes even more imperative then ever that terrorists are intercepted and dealt with before they arrive in the target area. For example, if we knew that there was a terrorist plot to blow up the Waldorf Astoria, if the cell involved actually makes it into New York City then we have lost. We can put all the security in the world on the Waldorf, but the terrorists can simply shift their target to the Times and Seasons, or Rockefeller Plaza, or Central Park, or any of a hundred other targets that would be just as good in their minds.
Simply put, terrorists cannot be allowed to make it to American soil. It is in the best interest of the United States to allot every resource to stopping them before they get here. With the shift in terrorist tactics, it is the only way to stop attacks from happening.
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