Posted on 11/16/2012 8:55:22 AM PST by Theoria
It's interesting (or maybe just kind of sad) that various government agencies see possible terrorists everywhere but rarely, if ever, catch one. Despite the large number of personnel being thrown at the problem (along with lots of money), actual terrorists seem to be in limited supply.
But these agencies haven't let their lack of success temper their vision of a nation under constant imminent attack. Public Intelligence recently posted a Powerpoint presentation from the NYC fire department (FDNY) discussing the unique safety issues mobile food trucks present. Along with some actual concerns (many food trucks use propane and/or gasoline-powered generators to cook; some *gasp* aren't properly licensed food vendors), the presenter decided to toss in some DHS speculation on yet another way terrorists might be killing us in the near future.
That's right. Instead of serving up a quick hot meal, these food trucks will be serving up death, and lots of it! Under the heading "Terrorist Implications," the FDNY lists the exact reasons we should be concerned, most of which begin with the word "high."
Prepared by Lt. Timothy CarrollThe priorities are all screwed up. Terrorism is the first concern. Everything else is secondary. Considering this is an FDNY presentation, you'd think that "Disaster Preparedness" would be the priority. After all, they are the first response. But instead that honor goes to the vague menace of terrorism, a constant battle with no winners and, for the most part, no combatants. Every day without a terrorist act is a "win" that perpetuates the "need" for more counter-terrorist "efforts."
FDNY Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness
Full title : 'If You Eat Something, Say Something: DHS Sounds The Alarm On The 'Terrorist Implications' Of Food Trucks'
Bloomberg knows, those 16 ounce sodas and salt will kill us, it must be a plot!
/ sarc.
What idiocy.
I am so ready to abolish the TSA.
How about we only screen suspicious people on international arrivals? Would that be so hard?
Many years ago, (more than 20) my friends and I, while playing our weekly game of Risk started talking about if we were terrorists, how would we maximize damage to our intended targets. This was before food trucks became all the rage.
One of my friends suggested that posioning the water for dirty water hot dogs would be the way to go. Most carts are run by Arabs, and thousands of people eat at them every day. If you had a biological agent, think of all the people getting on Mass transit on a Friday afternoon.
On the other hand, someone suggested dropping a bio agent in a Gaza open air market the afternoon of their sabbath. Then when the ensuing panic hits Gaza, Israel prevents anyone from entering the country until the problem is resolved.
We figured if we could think of this, others would also. Never ate a dirty water dog in NYC after that.
Thought for the day. The Department of Homeland Security with its creepy Nazi sounding name, has about the same number of personnel as the USMC, and twice their budget. But unlike the USMC, they are aimed squarely at us.
This is a pretty ignorant article and the FDNY is right.
The guys running these trucks are overwhelmingly Muslim Middle Easterners, and we know there are both such guys who get ‘radicalized’, usually within their mosques, over time, as well as sleeper cells just waiting for the proper time to act.
They are right there in the busiest intersections in the middle of Manhattan with big tanks of fuel in use daily. It would be very easy to outfit such a truck with extra fuel and not have it be detected until too late.
Agreed. I would much rather these guys think creatively and realize what potential vectors are open to attack than to ignore possibilities just because no one has used them before.
Never ate hotdogs from vendors in the city either.
We have lost huge amouts of freedom in the last 10 years. We are under unprecedented surveillance. It literally exceeds what the Stasi ever succeeded in gathering. They capture almost everything you do electronically.
They passed NDAA saying that the military has the right to arrest an American, in America, and hold them without any legal recourse as long as they want if they think they “aid terror”. (such as writing something pro constitution)
TSA is now in the testing and planning stage of using VIPR team checkpoints randomly on the highways.
All of this is done in the name of “terrorism”. The hallmark of every totalitarian is convincing the population that enemies lurk in every direction. This justifies their measures to watch and control the people. Looking for enemies.
Preventing the next 9/11 you say? Then ill ask you if that is a concern, why in the middle of protecting us from terror, we have opened the floodgates for moslems from Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, all over Africa, etc?
The closest terrorists we have are the Mexican cartels. So why are we plying them with thousands of assault rifles and throwing the borders wide open? In the decade where we have been looking for terror in every food cart, we let 15 million 3rd worlders cross the southern border.
Thats quite a disconnect there.
Not to mention we are giving billions of dollars and weapons to the Muslim Brotherhood. They are only the largest ideological home base to terror on earth.
Yes, it is time to start ridiculing the constant search for terrorists. The answer to terror is not to tighten the screws on Americans, it’s to B-52 the snot out of anybody remotely involved with an attack on us (including the Saudis) Let them be terrorized and police themselves.
And as this “wheres the terrorist” mentality continues, how long will it take them to decide, “only terrorists need assault rifles”?
I hear you on lots of freedom issues, but I tell you these trucks aren’t the place to take a stand.
Most of the guys operating them aren’t Americans anyway.
I’m fine with permitting the trucks as long as there’s security checks on them and, as this document suggests, the right authorities are considering the possibilities with them. Probably turn up some useful terrorism links just researching the background on these guys.
And you’re confounding federal policies with the City of NY looking out for itself.
How about that baker terrorist group of 5,000 unionists at Hostess that destroyed a company employing 18,500 Americans?
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