Posted on 06/24/2003 7:26:33 PM PDT by FairOpinion
The FBI wants to hear from you.
That’s what Tim Flynn, supervisory special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s field office in Wilmington, said Tuesday at the Pinehurst Community Watch block captain’s meeting held in the village hall.
Citizen involvement is ultimately integral to homeland security, in these days: post-Sept. 11, 2001, he said.
“You are the ones that are going to give us the information that’s going to prevent the next terrorist attack,” Flynn said.
There’s probably not going to be an attack here, in Moore County or the rest of North Carolina, he said. But terrorists can plan and finance an attack here. And he said Fort Bragg is the top terrorist target in North Carolina.
He commended the Pinehurst Community Watch for its efforts to keep the area safe.
A lot has changed in the FBI since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The FBI still has weaknesses though.
“At the time, we had about three Arabic speakers,” he said. “That’s still a weakness of ours.”
Also, the FBI is not as diverse as it needs to be, he said. It’s made up primarily of white men. Twenty-three percent of the agents are women, and about 15 percent are black or Hispanic.
“The Asian-Middle Eastern [contingent] is miniscule,” he said.
Through his work in different parts of the world, Flynn said, one of the things that he came to realize about terrorists was that they are extremely efficient.
He told the story of a terror attack in Kenya that happened while he was working there. The terrorists set up a business to fund the attack two years in advance. The attack was to be on the U.S. Embassy. The terrorist knew exactly where to place the bomb for optimal damage.
Plus, they planned to make a distraction, to draw people to the windows, he said.
“A lot of times, in these attacks, it’s the glass that ends up killing people,” he said.
The plan was to drive a truck full of explosives into the embassy parking area and then have the two drivers blow it up, with themselves in it.
In this case, the terrorists didn’t get to execute their plan, because the Kenyan guards stopped them (which Flynn said is rare in Kenya — security there is usually very easy to bypass). Plus, the two in the truck couldn’t defuse the situation.
“They have a hard time finding intelligent people willing to blow themselves up,” Flynn said.
The passenger fled and the driver detonated the truck. The explosion killed about 200 Kenyans, Flynn said. Agents later caught the passenger. They knew it was him, because he still had shards of glass embedded in his back.
The terrorists nearly accomplished their plan and destroyed the embassy, Flynn said.
“It was a tragedy,” he said, “but it could have been worse.”
Today, the priorities of the FBI have changed, Flynn said. It spends most its time now on terrorism, counter intelligence and cyber-crime. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the top three priorities of the Fayetteville office were violent crime, drugs and white-collar crime, Flynn said.
One of the members of the audience was upset that the FBI was “neglecting” drug crimes, but Flynn said it just didn’t have the resources.
The FBI relishes citizen tips now, he said. In the past, someone could have called the FBI and given a tip, and it would get filed away and never looked at again.
“Now, we run it down,” Flynn said.
It’s important that people provide the FBI with information, he said. That’s why he supports the Pinehurst Community Watch. It can prevent terrorist attacks. Terrorists operate everywhere, he said.
“Are there terrorist cells in the United States?” he said. “I’m sure that there are. As a matter of fact, I know that there are.”
http://www.fbi.gov
The one group of passengers that fought almost succeeded.
Also, please note that, if everyone can tote guns...so can the terrorists. Firearms favor the few and coordinated over the many who don't even know each others' names.
Whereas “You are the ones that are going to give us the information that’s going to prevent the next terrorist attack,” Flynn said. is, as has been noted, fighting six wars ago: World War I - didn't work then either.
And you would be wrong. Used to be that most street cops believed in the right of citizens to keep and bear (own and carry) arms. Not for a long time has that been true and certainly not in the ranks of federal law enforcement. Remember that these bright eyed young "patriots" who wish to be the 21st century's version of "Elliot Ness" are mostly products of the public schools and their anti-freedom/anti-Bill of Rights AGENDA all the while vociferously advancing the agenda of the United Nations and the coming globalization of the world under one common government...can you guess who loses here???
Well. that's a pearl of wisdom if I ever saw one.
Let me give you one: Mutually Assured Destruction worked like a charm for several decades, and we didn't know their names either. If the terrorists know that any given person on an airplane may be armed, they are less likely to start something with a greatly diminished chance of success. Unlike the present situatiion where they knew that all of the passengers were unarmed.
As an armed passenger, I'll be happy to one of the few.
It has already happened last summer in Israel. A private citizen and her husband were shopping in a crowded grocery store in Tel Aviv when the citizen noticed a Palastinian wearing a long floor length coat walk in and position himself in a corner near a large concentration of people. She remarked on the oddity and began to draw her lawfully concealed firearm, just as the terrorist opened the coat revealing the explosives strapped to his body and his hand moving to the detonator. She (the wife) completed her draw, and smoothly put two into the forehead of the suicide bomber killing him instantly before he could set off the device.
She was a hero, and the mayors of Tel Aviv and Jurusalem both continued to encourage citizens to both be alert and carry concealed firearms. The amusing thing is that for the western (LIBERAL) press, this private citizen was magically transformed into "Israeli Forces." The thought that terrorism can be stopped by private and armed citizens is just too much for these CLYMERS to stomach; so they alter the story.
Mutually Assured Destruction worked against the national command authorities of the US and the USSR, neither of whom were under the impression that death in battle was a sure ticket to 72 virgins. Kindly recalibrate your expectations to "rational" behavior from terrorists.
If the terrorists know that any given person on an airplane may be armed, they are less likely to start something with a greatly diminished chance of success.
How so? The terrorists will have the advantages of surprise. They will know who their friends are--anyone else is an enemy.
You will not have that luxury.
Unlike the present situatiion where they knew that all of the passengers were unarmed.
It wasn't the armed/unarmed criteria that let the terrorists know that they could easily do this--it was the fact that the odds favored remaining calm. No one had used an airliner as a cruise missile before.
As an armed passenger, I'll be happy to one of the few.
You'll be one of the many--you will have NO idea who your friends are, and precious little time to figure it out.
OK, big boy, here's your first test: Two guys spring up from the front of the cabin, guns coming out.
To your left, an Arab-looking gentleman reaches inside his coat.
All you have to do is figure which, if any, of these people to shoot. And you have about two seconds to do it.
Tick...tick...
Think you should take it up with poohbah. He's the poster who says armed citizens reacting to an actual threat won't work, instead we should all inform the FBI about anyone who looks a bit Arab.
I wonder how that works in Israel?
What is the success rate vs. the failure rate for this?
Hello yourself. Just who took over for the failed raids at Waco and Ruby Ridge for the BATF and the Marshalls service at Ruby Ridge? Just who does Lon Horiuchi work for (Horiuchi is the sniper who assassinated the wife holding her infant son in her arms at Ruby Ridge). Although he was indicted for her death by an Idaho grand jury, the Clinton/Reno team moved the case to Federal Court where it was promptly thrown out. He was at Waco, too. He is a member in good standing of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT).
Don't you DARE tell me or anybody else that the war on terrorism as it relates to the FBI, BATF, or any other FEDERAL law enforcement agency has nothing to do with an orchestrated desire that is ongoing within the federal government that would love to see the citizens of this country suffering unilateral personal disarmament!
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