# If you were a terrorist in the US where and how would you strike? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899 "2003-02-13T19:54:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/41 "2003-02-15T00:20:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bup \* > A bunch of snipers? Nah on two fronts - it’s small compared to what was done before, and, as the culprits were rounded up/killed one by one over several weeks, their nationalities could give the U.S. nations to blame. Really? It’s all low-tech, using locally obtained materials and no need to make the deliberate mistakes the October snipers did. In three weeks, two individuals shot 13 people, paralyzed another 10 million(!), and had the rest of the country on edge. (Not counting any pre- and post-sniper activities.) They only got caught because they taunted the police and left deliberate clues. Now take two dozen highly-trained sniper teams (48 people). Shoot five people a day M-F, yields 120 shootings a day, then move on to another location. That’s 600 people a week in 120 locations for each week. It doesn’t matter if it’s “small” – 600 people shot in a week is not small. They could bring the entire country to a standstill, tie up massive police investigations nation-wide, close schools, office and retail. The economy would stop dead in its tracks. Would they be caught? In time, yes. But if highly trained and disciplined, problably not until a few thousand had been shot. By then, Americans would be clamoring their government to violate every civil right know. And that’s the point. The impact is deliberate political, economic and social chaos from sea to sea. The actual impact is long-term, psychological, and very personal with thousands of people all across America. After all, 19 people hijacked four aircraft, killed 3,000 people and caused billions of dollars in actual losses, and many times that amount in indirect losses. The country has been on edge every since. ---
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/42 "2003-02-15T00:57:01Z")
**BURNER’s** idea came closest to mine, but then I heard the other day (on NPR? maybe I read it on these boards) that most biological/chemical weapons wouldn’t work in the sub-freezing temperatures that some (most?) of the country is experiencing right now. I must say, these are very well thought out ideas, most of them very do-able. I’m glad you are on my side! ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/43 "2003-02-15T02:27:09Z")
I agree with **2Trew.** A second strike in NY or any other major metro area would only rattle New Yorkers and other big city denizens. A strike in the nation’s breadbasket would do some serious damage to the national psyche and probably send the economy into a real tailspin. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/44 "2003-02-15T02:59:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BURNER \* > \*\*If I were a terrorist I would release a virus of some sort into the rail system of a major city. A subway is the perfect place for it for a few reasons, > #1 is that it is cool and dark down there. Sunlight can destroy fragile viruses. > > #2 the subway tunnels stretch for miles. Virus cells clinging to the outside of the train could be carried through the tunnels and distributed at every stop a long the rout. > > #3 Hundreds of thousands of people use the train every day. That means that ALL of them could potentaly be infected. > > #4 Rats can be infected with the virus and transmit it to other rats. The other rats can spread it out away from the train tunnels and into every part of the city. > > #5 One person can distibute the virus to almost all of the tunnels in a few hours by just changeing trains at major hubs. > > After the people start to become sick the hospital staff and rescue workers that come in contact with them can also become sick. If enough medical workers become ill the hospitals will not work as well. Eventualy people will be unable to receive care and start to die in droves. Panic will set in after the first large groups of people start to die. As people who might be infected start to leave the city , they take the virus into new locations and start to spread it there. > > Something like this would be more mentaly taxing that a bombing because there is no way to tell where it came from. A terrorist with a large supply of a virus could start in Boston, then go to NYC, then Phily, then, Chicago and so on accross the countie all by train. That terrorist could spread the virus to the people on each and every train at each and every stop. Within a 2 week time period a terrorist could make it accross the countrie and leave such a swatch of devestation in their wake. With so many sick and dieing there is no way enough medicine could be made available quickly enough. > > If I was a terrorist, that is what I would do. \*\* Wow, that’s very similar to the plot of a story I started writing before they announced that they’d offer smallpox vaccine to the general public. The way I saw it though, is that they’d release the virus in as many major airports as possible the day before Thanksgiving, since it’s reputed to be the most traveled day of the year. Smallpox is supposed to be able to be released as an airiosol, so it could spread all over the airports and infect a huge precentage of people. Since the travellers would likely be going to every state in the country, there would probably be out-breaks two weeks later at so many different hospitals that it would spread so quickly that people would be dying before they could do make up enough of the vaccine to protect people. Since the most vunerable would be those under 35, since we haven’t been vacinated at all, the greatest death tolls would be of children and young people in the work force, which would affect the country for decades, especially once the boomers hit retirement age. But they’re making the vaccine now, so I guess I won’t be writing the story. But as for the OP’s question of damaging morale, the answer is simple. I’d blow up all the beer production plants. All of them. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bindrah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Bindrah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bindrah)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/45 "2003-02-15T03:14:43Z")
great ideas, but why not keep it simple? Suicide or homicide bombers at our local malls would absolutley devastate some areas. the cat itself would keep people inside, small attacks like that in any city or small town would have a sweet affect on the us. Also owning a store could help one infect the populationas well. They could poison any of the food in paper wrapppings and what not…thats how they’ll get us, through snickers… ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/46 "2003-02-15T03:17:40Z")
Airports are a good venue to spread a bioweapon, but they’re chancy because there is a list of all the passengers and they’re all going to the same (at least interim) destinations. If you don’t get your incubation time right, you’re looking at a far smaller amount of damage. A bus station, on the other hand, gives you anonymous passengers (can’t be contacted later from a list), people going from Chicago to New York, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Seattle but also people going only 50 miles down the road. This makes them much harder to trace. The security is a lot looser, and more of your targets are going to be travelling to avoid a warrant or process servers or what have you and thus unlikely to report if the Powers That Be ask for people to come in so that the CDC and USAMRIID can complete the picture of what they’re going to have to deal with. All told, it’s a better bet for a human vector, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Hrdygrdymn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/77aa72/32.png) [@Hrdygrdymn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrdygrdymn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/47 "2003-02-15T04:21:50Z")
Private homes. One at a time, every few days by car bomb. People can dodge malls and airports, but to attack a private home is to attack us in our safest place (mentally). We’re not generally good with numbers so it doesn’t matter if only 50 out of 100 000 000 private residences are hit. No one would be safe, plus it would be hard to predict or stop. A relatively small force could achieve this to maximum effect. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/48 "2003-02-15T04:48:13Z")
I would have a toxin or biochemical agent that could stay dormant and/or survive homogenization then plant it in baby food factories, so thousands of babies die of poisoning. That would incite terror. Also, bomb random homes in neighborhoods. The more sporadic, irregular, and random, the harder it is to trace. If its happening all over the country, nobody would feel safe. Probably make the real estate business go into a tailspin ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/49 "2003-02-15T04:59:41Z")
Ditto on the sniper and forest fire ideas. A band of slaughtering men roving the countryside is what caused the “Great Fear”, a beginning event of the French Revolution as well as Nat Turner’s famous walk before the Civil War. Pretty scary stuff. I’m just a punk kid who watches a lot of movies (I especially enjoy crime dramas, go figure), so my contribution is something simple but destructive (oh, the sum of my being) : arson. In residential sectors terrorists could go on a drive one night and set a couple houses on fire per block, over an eight block radius or so. It is a plan I myself have the technical ability to accomplish tonight _ **were I so inclined to** _. But **I won’t**. All you need is a car, couple dozen home-made pipebombs and some fellow terrorists to drive/throw. In the end it will result in massive property damage form the initial fires and the wall of _freakin unstoppable fiery death_ as it spreads to nearby areas and its lack of a quick putting out due to the difficulties of putting out a series of fires of that nature. Ever play Sim City and play the firestorm disaster? That kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/50 "2003-02-15T05:01:58Z")
Oh, and I forgot: take inspiration from the Tylenol murders. That sure was scary, wasn’t it guys? ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/51 "2003-02-15T06:13:42Z")
How about a college football game. Hit a Big 10 or Big 12 school, most of which are in the nation’s breadbasket where the states identify strongly with their teams. While not as dire as some of the other scenarios, it’s hard to contemplate a larger body count in less than a square mile. Imagine how history would look back on 50-100,000 killed in one fell swoop. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Fescue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@Hank\_Fescue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Fescue)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/52 "2003-02-15T06:22:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > \*\*Oh, and I forgot: take inspiration from the Tylenol murders. That sure was scary, wasn’t it guys? \*\* Lots of consumables manufactures have lttle to no security. As I mentioned in another thread, almost anyone can don a hairnet and walk into, say, the largest supplier of cheese puffs in the nation. A bit of toxin in the seasoning and the rest of the distribution is taken care of by the company. Nation wide dispersement of deadly toxins. Easy. Cheap. Effective. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/53 "2003-02-15T06:24:32Z")
Hell, if a terrorist wants ideas, just read a Tom Clancy book. He’s already done the crash-a-plane-into-an-important building. He’s done the blow-up-a-sporting-event. He’s done the widespread-bio-attack (5,000 dead from putting the Ebola virus at trade shows). Forget George Bush’s America, I’d be pissing my pants if I lived in Jack Ryan’s America (although at least JR has working missile defense!). BTW, I hope the boys at Fort Meade are having a good laugh reading over this thread. Hi, guys! Please don’t declare anyone in here an enemy combatant! ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/54 "2003-02-15T07:14:32Z")
I am somewhat surprised that 2 Christmases have gone by since 9-11 with no suicide bombings in malls. I was fullly expecting to hear of a least a couple in 2001. Maximum terror, large economic hit at the same time. Very easy and cheap to do also. The fact that it hasn’t happened makes me wonder if the terrorist’s abilities to pull of attacks of any kind are not really what they’re cracked up to be. Not saying we should get complacent, but neither should we stay up nights worrying. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/55 "2003-02-15T08:10:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > BTW, I hope the boys at Fort Meade are having a good laugh reading over this thread. Hi, guys! Please don’t declare anyone in here an enemy combatant! Well, the government did approach Hollywood for ideas and scenarios. Wearing fedoras and trench coats is not very imaginative. At least Hollywood thinks outside the Beltway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/56 "2003-02-15T11:36:40Z")
You people read too many Tom Clancy novels or watched too many Hollywood movies. Bombs are extremely tricky. They are a constant danger even to experts, and you want some terrorists without much training and expertise to make lots of bombs and coordinate their explosion? Amusing. ---
**Author:** ![dave316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/57 "2003-02-15T16:29:51Z")
since bush likes baseball so much i would blow up a couple of teams (Texas Rangers and New York Yankees ) buses with the players in them ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/58 "2003-02-15T17:29:49Z")
The loss of the Texas Rangers would be tragic, but we could move on. The loss of the Astros, however, would only be perpetrated by truly soulless monsters. ---
**Author:** ![PublicBlast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/779978/32.png) [@PublicBlast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PublicBlast)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/59 "2003-02-15T18:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jk1245 \* > \*\* > The fact that it hasn’t happened makes me wonder if the terrorist’s abilities to pull of attacks of any kind are not really what they’re cracked up to be. Not saying we should get complacent, but neither should we stay up nights worrying. \*\* My thoughts too. [hijack] Since our scary ideas in this thread don’t all seem that difficult to pull off, nor do they require a whole bunch of manpower, should we assume that the terrorists are done for because nothing has happened? [/hijack] Back to topic, I’d place my vote on a college assault, some big name place with a small undergrad population like the Ivy League. College security is laughable, even in hostile/dangerous towns like Providence RI and New Haven CT. Get a team of six gunmen to enter a dining hall, large lecture class, sporting event, or dorm–or even main campus between classes, when 60-70% of a student body may be walking through a central location–and shoot every college kid in sight. Best if done on 2+ campuses across the nation. Extra bonus for hitting a flagship school like Harvard. Instant terror and hundreds of people going on leave from college indefinitely. Could seriously impact recruiting/hiring in certain sectors for a couple years after the incidents. ---
**Author:** ![Anaxagoras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Anaxagoras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaxagoras)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899/60 "2003-02-15T20:11:49Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by AcidKid_ > \*\*Transmitter in 135.7 - 137.8 kHz range to wreck havoc on PLC. > PLC(s) are Power-Line Carrier systems used by electric utilities to contol signals, data, and voice over electric lines. > > … > > Blow a couple of Interstate Road bridges and tunnels to bottleneck trucks coming out of major ports like Boston, Norfolk, Miami, LA, San Fran., etc. Supplies would dry up fast. Especially after everyone hears about the trouble and clears all the supermarket shelves.\*\* You’re on the right track here. We tend to forget here in America that the whole country is divided in half by a _huge_ river in the middle. Most of the food is produced on the western side of the river; most of the industry is on the eastern side of the river. Blow the bridges on the Mississippi … all of 'em. We also tend to forget just how dependent Americans are on electricity, and just what started the power crisis in California a couple of years ago. Here’s a mini-tutorial: 1. Most of our electricity comes from nuclear power plants. This is the base load, roughly equivalent to our night-time load, even though it goes on 24/7. Why, you ask? Because it is insanely expensive to stop and restart a nuclear power plant. 2. Most of the rest of our electricity comes from coal- and oil-fired power plants. This is roughly equivalent to our day-time load. Why? Because you can easily vary the amount of power generated by these plants by using less fuel, without actually stopping the furnace. 3. And the rest of our electricity comes from hydroelectric and gas-fired power plants. This is to handle our peak loads. This is the expensive stuff, that got all the press a couple of years ago. They tap it when it’s needed, only for as long as its needed, and it can get extremely expensive. Well, security at the nuclear power plants is _very_ good, because everyone understands the danger. And security at the other power plants is _pretty_ good, because some people understand _that_ danger. But power transmission lines cannot, by definition, be secured. And as you cut one set of lines, a cascade effect takes place, causing the other lines to fail … And, as long as you’re blowing the bridges across the Mississippi, you might as well blow the power transmission lines and the natural gas pipelines and the telephone lines … \ Anyone notice the horrible natural gas prices a couple of years ago? Anyone figure out what caused them? It wasn’t deregulation, exactly. The power companies have been phasing in gas-fired generators over the past few years, and when certain states deregulated natural gas delivery, the power companies were first in line to get the best prices because gas-fired generators are far cheaper and more reliable that hydroelectric power. Here in Georgia, natural gas prices went up an average of 40% – and electricity prices went down 8%. Becuase when you’re burning lots of natural gas to make electricity, there’s isn’t as much natural gas left over to heat homes, and, well, supply and demand can be a mother. \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-terrorist-in-the-us-where-and-how-would-you-strike/154899.md?page=4)