Nightrunner
06-20-2005, 04:53 PM
There are two examples of what I term "the hidden enemy". The point I'm making though, is that they are not hidden. If the store manager who had hired Bob had been using his head, Bob wouldn't have been put on the schedule or payroll until after he'd proven his background. If the Acting Chief of Police who hired that officer candidate had been using his head, he wouldn't have hired the man at all.
We, as Americans, cannot forget that the terrorists who hate us and wish to destroy our country - physically, emotionally or economically - are constantly studying us, looking for weaknesses. They are constantly learning what supplies we already have that they can use against us. They are constantly probing our security levels. They are gathering intelligence and looking for the tidbits of info that they can build into attack plans.
That one store, in the first example, has literally thousands of patrons going in and out each day. A terrorist on the night crew could easily build an improvised explosive device with a timer to go off during peak shopping hours. That officer, in the second example, works within a convenient driving distance of our Nation's Capital and has access to every bit of controlled information normally disseminated to police agencies. Mistakes like this cannot be made. We are literally inviting the terrorists in to attack us. We're openly telling them how prepared (or not) we are and in what ways we will respond.
Be mindful in your daily lives. Pay attention. If something looks suspicious, say something. Call someone's attention to the issue at hand. What's the worst that's going to happen? You're going to look paranoid? So be it. But if your information is acted on and it prevents a terrorist attack (or several) then the price paid for saving an unknown number of lives was a little humiliation. I'll take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
We, as Americans, cannot forget that the terrorists who hate us and wish to destroy our country - physically, emotionally or economically - are constantly studying us, looking for weaknesses. They are constantly learning what supplies we already have that they can use against us. They are constantly probing our security levels. They are gathering intelligence and looking for the tidbits of info that they can build into attack plans.
That one store, in the first example, has literally thousands of patrons going in and out each day. A terrorist on the night crew could easily build an improvised explosive device with a timer to go off during peak shopping hours. That officer, in the second example, works within a convenient driving distance of our Nation's Capital and has access to every bit of controlled information normally disseminated to police agencies. Mistakes like this cannot be made. We are literally inviting the terrorists in to attack us. We're openly telling them how prepared (or not) we are and in what ways we will respond.
Be mindful in your daily lives. Pay attention. If something looks suspicious, say something. Call someone's attention to the issue at hand. What's the worst that's going to happen? You're going to look paranoid? So be it. But if your information is acted on and it prevents a terrorist attack (or several) then the price paid for saving an unknown number of lives was a little humiliation. I'll take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.