“The Fort Hood shooter made several disturbing statements before his attack, but the increasingly politically correct army dissuaded his fellow officers from reporting him.”
The news broke late Monday night that terrorists struck in Manchester, England. After an Ariana Grande concert ended a bomber exploded a shrapnel device that killed 22 and wounded over 60. This was a tragic event that is sadly all too familiar to us today, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. The rhetoric from political and cultural leaders across the world is strong, but their actions should be as well. The bombing continues to illustrate the drawbacks of what many call security theatre, and it shows the need for more vigorous and proactive anti-extremism efforts.
The location of the bombing is particularly insightful when considering the drawbacks of security theatre. It didn’t happen inside the concert arena, but rather in the small area between the entrance to the venue and the busy train station. Outlets report that the security at the venue was adequate if a bit light. But secure entrances and exits, as well as security personnel and checkpoints, create bottlenecks immediately outside of the secure zones.
As I’ve waited in these bottlenecks for what seemed like an eternity at airports, stadiums, and theme parks, my strategic mind couldn’t help but marvel at how the efforts of security simply create new and juicy targets. By attacking the bottleneck the potential terrorist doesn’t face security, and they can attack a mass of people that often aren’t looking at them very easily.
This is one reason why excessive and unbearable security is often called security “theatre”. They give the appearance of keeping people safe, but all they really do is shift the location of potential targets and often make those new targets easier to strike. The Manchester concert venue itself was relatively safe, but the massive exodus of people into a narrow area towards the train station just outside of it created a new and easier target for terrorists.
A better solution would be for law enforcement and citizens to be more active in identifying extremist behavior. The neighbors of the San Bernardino shooter, for example, noticed suspicious behavior but refrained from calling authorities out of fear they would be labelled Islamophobic. The Fort Hood shooter made several disturbing statements before his attack, but the increasingly politically correct army dissuaded his fellow officers from reporting him. After the shooting, General Casey said that the death of diversity would be the most tragic outcome. As more news comes out it will not surprise me to learn that the Manchester attacker(s) were known to be acting suspiciously by authorities and neighbors.
On top of “see something say something” efforts, the government could take more proactive steps. There are numerous examples, but one of the most commonly experienced is the excessive security theatre at airports. The current method used in airports consists of everybody passing by an over-worked and under-trained bureaucrat who verifies and stamps the official travel documents (which many of the 9/11 hijackers held), and walking through imperfect machines with obtrusive pat downs.
Somebody who is about to commit an attack would most likely be acting jittery and sweating profusely, be unable to maintain eye contact with security personnel, and be unable to maintain normal friendly conversation with fellow travelers. Using these cues security personnel could identify and focus on specific threats instead of creating obtrusive one-size-fits-all security checkpoints that simply shift the areas of opportunity for terrorists.
The Manchester attack is a tragedy. Even more sadly, I’m surprised it took so long for a terrorist to attack the new targets created by security theatre. The long lines at airports, stadiums, concerts, and theme parks don’t have to exist. More proactive measures by the government and citizens that identify disturbing behavior would eliminate the need for long lines and better identify potential security threats. This method isn’t perfect, but anybody who has been stripped half naked and groped going through airport security already knows the current methods are worse in so many ways for so many people. Now we can add the tragically young and innocent victims of Manchester to the failure of security theatre.
