JFK Terrorist Plot

This news caught my attention not just because of its general importance, but because of the involvement of people from Guyana. I lived in Georgetown, Guyana as a teenager and have some fond memories of the country. When they mention that Abdul Kadir is a former Member of the Guyanese parliament, I’m betting most readers have to go look up where Guyana is. But when they mention he was once mayor of Linden, Guyana, I know where that is. My youth group sang and played in the town square once, oh so long ago.

None of that is terribly relevant to the story. The important thing here is good police work, and down to earth human intelligence combining to thwart a dangerous terrorist attack. This is one of the aspects of the war on terror that I think is being terribly neglected at this point. No matter what we do militarily in other countries we will still have to have substantial security here at home. Notice that the people involved here are from Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, two countries that are not high on the list of terrorist sources. This points out the difficulties of completely blanketing the world in the type of security we want.

One blog I read regularly has already commented on the importance of law enforcement, and treating terrorism as a law enforcement problem rather than a military one. There is a good point here, but not a sufficient one. Treating terrorism purely as a law enforcement problem is not going to be sufficient either.

The problem with the war in Iraq is not that it treats terrorism as a war, but rather that it stretches strategic resources without adequate return. I do think we are unbalanced in the way our resources are used, with too much going to military action and too little to intelligence and law enforcement, but that is because we are trying to occupy a country long term. Law enforcement will be much more difficult when there are countries to which terrorists can run with impunity. The key is to carefully analyze each set of actions as to cost and benefit, with the goal being security here at home, not revenge or a desire to appear to be doing something.

This plot certainly illustrates the remaining dangers. It’s frightening to me on one point. Though they got caught by good old human intelligence (an informant), they showed a better strategic grasp than many middle eastern terrorists. The Al Qaeda attacks thus far have been aimed to create fear more than economic disruption. These guys seem to understand the value of economic disruption to their cause. We need to be on guard for attacks on this type of target.

Of course, law enforcement at all levels involved is to be congratulated on a job well-done in foiling this plot.