Assessment of U.S. Security

0
307
Assessment of U.S. Security

            The bombing of the World Trade Centre in 2001 was an opening for several terrorist attacks. Since this attack several attempts at buckling the city of New York have been made by underlying terrorists. Fortunately since the September 11 events, the city has unleashed a massive war on terrorism. However, there is the New York subway system, New York Time Square, the New Freedom Tower, and the Jamaatu ul-Fuqra left up to option for attacks. These locations and persons assorted across the great plain of New York reflect several threats and weaknesses afforded by terrorist attacks.

Discussion

            The New York subway system is governed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It has 468 stations in its network. It has over 840 miles of track that service approximately 5.1 million passengers per week. In 2007, The New York subway system was ranked number 4 amongst the worlds transit system with a massive 1.563 billion riders per year. In 2009 subways cars were reported to travel 344.5 million miles per week with 8,279 miles per day being covered by 6,380 cars (Subways, p. 1).

            The subway system is massive and very vulnerable. A transportation system of this size is evidently significant to the operation of New York City on a day to day basis. This is an unfortunate acknowledgement that is apparent in terrorist attacks. Al-Qaeda associates openly plead guilty to plotting severe attacks on the Metropolitan subway system in 2009. The MTA:

  1. Lacks special securities.
  2. It is located under the city.
  3. It has limited control of passengers.

            The  MTA has had no reason in the past to afford special conditions on behalf of terrorism. The subway stations have had no need to sanction high end security to avoid bomb attacks. This ultimately makes an attack by suicide bombers an element of surprise. A surprise attack has the quality of being able to do massive amounts of damage with little resources.

            Being located underground is not a positive outlook when dealing with bomb threats. Bombs have the capacity to cause a massive collapse of the railway structures. Dependant on the type of explosive being used and where these explosives are located in the MTA system, there can be enough collateral damage to corrupt the entire underground network.

References:
  • 9/11 Commission: The 9/11 Commission Report.(W.W. Norton 2004). Retrieved from  http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf
  • Hulnick, A.S. (2004) Keeping Us Safe Secret Intelligence and Homeland Security. Praeger.
  • Jamaata ul-Fuqra. (2001). Satp. Retrieved from  http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/terroristoutfits/jamaat-ul- fuqra.htm
  • Peterson, M.B., Morehouse, B., and Wright, D. (2001). Intelligence 2000: Revising the Basic Elements. IALEIA and LEIU.
  • Subways. (2011). New york city transit: Facts and figures. Retrieved from http://www.mta.info/nyct/facts/ffsubway.htm
  • The freedom tower. (2011). Glass steel and stone. Retrieved from  http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/439.php