I was just perusing the Homeland Security website and was looking at some profiles of radical islamic groups and their recruitment techniques and reading about the root of their issues against “the infidels” When it struck me. Could 9/11 have been an extremely lucky event, soley contingent on the state of the U.S airline system at the time? I do not think anyone worldwide would stand by ever again and let someone take over a plane without a good fight…Furthermore, if this option is lessoned - what could a terrorist organization do again, that could top bringing down two globally known skyscrapers in the most powerful nation on earth? Anything? A dirty bomb perhaps rendering NYC (or parts of it) obselete for 500 years? Mass Anthrax attack on a water supply?
What could be done to top 9-11? in spectacularity? not much, I am afraid. In effectiveness? minor explosives in random malls and Walmarts all around the country would sink the country into chaos and economic recession. And a couple of lucky hits on telecom infrastructure would also bring the country to a halt.
It doesn’t take a Hollywoodesque attack to bring the US to its knees.
We’re definitely safer now than before. Unfortunately, there’s no amount of security that will ever make us immune to attack though.
Yes, there are ways to have much more effective terrorist attacks. Most people actually made it out of the towers. Had the planes struck lower down and closer to the same time then many more people would have died. There’s lots of buildings in the world larger than the WTC’s. That’s all without even thinking about other types of attacks.
Destroying the US Capitol, or destroying a major bridge like the Golden Gate Bridge, would be at least as spectacular as destroying the World Trade Center. It probably couldn’t be done by flying a commercial airliner into them as in 9/11, but (especiially if terrorists can get their hands on significant explosives and find a suitable delivery mechanism) it could be done.
And of course the relevant authorities are aware of this, and are trying to take effective countermeasures, so it won’t be as easy to do as 9/11 was.
I am pretty certain that nobody could hijack another plane in the next 100 years. Maybe they could drive a truckload of explosives into a bridge or a tunnel and blow it up.
Yes, because this type of thing has too different sides. For every terrorist that is sitting in his cave reading the SDMB for ideas, there are probably 5 people at Homeland Security thinking how brilliant we are and are working on plans to foil such a thing. Most likely, it is just a diversion for us and an educational excercise on what could happen in the modern world.
Massive explosion at a sold-out NFL or major college stadium.
(slight hijack)
Not to critique the terrorists’ strategy, but this would’ve been an excellent follow-up to Sept 11. How come this wasn’t done… did they simply “blow their wad” with Sept 11?
A biological warfare incident could potentially be at least as spectacular. There wouldn’t even need to be that many people really sickened; the panic caused by a few people getting smallpox or any of many other nasties could cause major turmoil.
Given all the physical security these days, I’m convinced that any significant successful incident in the near future will be along those lines - once the bugs are obtained (which I realize is a major task in and of itself), they’re a lot easier to shield than explosives or radioactives.
I apologize for the ignorance of this question, but since the topic has come up, I have to ask now.
We hear about suicide bombings in other countries all the time. Nothing as spectacular as 9/11, but easily taking out 10-100 people here and there on a fairly frequent basis.
Why doesn’t this happen in the U.S.? Is it that there isn’t a strong base of insurgents here, or is it because access to the materials necessary to build those kinds of bombs is heavily restricted? Or is there some other reason I haven’t thought of?
I commute by train every day, and a lot of the folks I ride with were very concerned about suicide bombers after 9/11. They have all kinds of security at the main station here, but nothing would stop a would-be bomber from boarding at any other stop where there is almost no security. So why doesn’t this ever happen?
sigh I get the creeps even posing questions like that.
Do you think someone is going to tell Hollywood or the publishing industry not to put out techno-thrillers? Clancy would be out of work! And what would happen to poor Jack Bauer?
In terms of sheer numbers, 9/11 could be topped with a LNG tanker explosion (comparable in force to a tactical nuke) in a major port like Miami, SF, NY, etc. If they wanted to go for lingering effects how about hitting a chemical plant so you have another Bhopal?
Or if you want economic chaos all you need to do is set off EMPs using explosively pumped flux compression generators simultaneously in NY, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Why not take the e coli problem that spinach had to a new level and spray biological agents in produce processing plants. Lettuce is an obvious target to hit because more people eat lettuce than spinach.
If you want to cripple the airline industry shoot down a couple commercial jets with some of the Stinger missiles that can be found on the black market. Initially, no planes will want to take off. Security around the airports will increase with armed troops, most likely National Guard. All airlines will have to devote hundreds of millions to put in anti-missile technology on their planes or they would no longer be allowed to fly within the US.
We are the amateurs. For every scheme we come up with there are hundreds of people thinking of more extreme and dangerous ideas. Hopefully, most of the people are on our side.
I wonder the very same thing, and have thought to ask it, but never had. I’ll be interested to see what people say. Perhaps it is due to increased security, or low sleeper cell count in the US due to the heightened awarness. Perhaps the terrorists are displeased that we have stayed so hyper-vigilant for so long and are waiting for us to lay low.