Signs Of The Times: The Boston Marathon Bombing

The Boston Marathon Bombing is the beginning of a continual campaign by terrorists to disrupt the lives of all Americans.  ProQuest/UMI published my doctoral dissertation in October 2012.  The title of the dissertation is Exploring Factors Contributing to Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Terror Campaigns in the United States Homeland.  The following paragraphs show the conclusion of that study (Uda, 2012).  It is interesting to note that one of the three people killed in the blasts was an eight-year-old boy.  Congressman Bill Keating of Massachusetts and a member of the House Homeland Security Committee called the bombing a “sophisticated, coordinated, planned attack” (Levs & Plott, 2013, p. 2). 

Terrorists are currently planning to initiate the next big IED attack.  Terrorists are presently allocating sufficient resources, selecting the right targets, and waiting for the right moment to attack.  A general terror attack would create economic disruption, which would have grave consequences to our economy as a whole.  Lack of vigilance produces such large-scale events.  Such an attack would literally cripple the economy. 

United States citizens must be vigilant.  Future terrorist attacks are planned specifically against our children.  Most IED attacks may come from domestic or homegrown terrorists and lone wolves.  Lone wolf bombings are projected to increase in the ensuing years.  Knickerbocker (2011) reported that lone-wolf perpetrators currently present the greatest threat to the United States. 

Islamist terrorists are fascinated with New York City targets of opportunity.  Attempted attacks on the U.S. homeland have not stopped but have continued incessantly.  Attempted attacks on the U.S. homeland have actually increased.  Islamists desire world domination.  Islam seeks to become a one-religion world.  Followers dedicate their lives to the cause.  Hence, attacks will continue to occur.  It is not a matter of if but when they will occur.  Respondent #12 wrote, “They know that one [attack], in the whole country, is enough to get the whole country scared…, so it’s not IF, it’s WHEN/WHERE/WHOM.” 

The ground-emplaced IED has not yet come to the Continental United States (CONUS).  In addition, the suicide-vest IED has yet to come to the CONUS but is probably the next attack method terrorists will use.  Terrorists want Americans dead.  Terrorists have announced that their current prime targets are soft targets, which are the most likely targets of opportunity. 

Strategy and tactics go hand in hand.  Strategy drives tactics, and successfully accomplished tactics accomplish the overall strategy.  Strategy is akin to an overall goal, while tactics are akin to a set of objectives.  Successfully accomplishing all objectives, in turn, successfully accomplishes the overall goal.  The overall terrorist goal is to destroy the United States by causing maximum civilian casualties, crippling the national economy, and creating fear and panic throughout the population.  A successful widespread, coordinated IED terror campaign would be to attack soft targets simultaneously while employing targeted assassinations, suicide bombers, vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIEDs), and ground-emplaced IEDs. 

The overall strategy is to conduct high-profile attacks by simultaneously hitting multiple CONUS locations to generate breaking news and maximum media coverage.  Better than being reactive and defensive after the attack event occurs is to be proactive and offensive before the attack event occurs.  An even better approach is to train the force, attack the network, and defeat the IED device (in that order) before the boom (explosion) occurs.  It is better to foil plots before the boom than to be compelled to respond to and mop-up after the boom. 

Terror attacks using IEDs cannot be 100% preventable because the cost to the nation would be unbearable and prohibitive.  However, the U.S. defenders must succeed 100% of the time, but the terrorists only need to succeed once.  Therein is the dilemma.  Key to terrorism deterrence is a knowledgeable and vigilant citizenry.  When citizens see something suspicious, they should say something about it to authorities.  It is only a matter of time before al-Qaeda will conduct another major attack.

References

Knickerbocker, B. (2011, September 28). Plot to bomb Capitol with explosive-laden model planes foiled, FBI says. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0928/Plot-to-bomb-Capitol-with-explosive-laden-model-planes-foiled-FBI-says

Levs, J., & Plott, M. (2013, April 16). Boy, 8, one of 3 killed in bombings at Boston Marathon; scores wounded. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/boston-marathon-explosions

Uda, R. T. (2012). Exploring factors contributing to improvised explosive device (IED) terror campaigns in the United States homeland (Doctoral dissertation). (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI/ProQuest), 318 pp. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3530099)

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