May 16, 2016
Although foreign and domestic terrorist organizations have long targeted the private sector, Al-Qaeda’s call for jihadists and lone wolves to target specific US business leaders and entrepreneurs is troubling – but not unexpected. 9/11 was, in essence, an attack against one of the single most important US business centers. Our economy has long been a target of various terror groups and, with the difficulties and complexities involved in planning another 9/11 style attack, our adversaries appear to be adopting a more cost and time efficient attack plan.
As we have stated previously, this new MO will make it extremely difficult for law enforcement and security officials to identify and stop these kinds of attacks against a target set spread across the entire country. Personal situational awareness will be key in protecting our business communities. For instance, the new Inspire article goes as far as discussing the pros and cons of targeting business leaders at their workplace versus their home. Furthermore, a significant portion of the article is devoted to information collection and planning before the attack. As such, timely reporting of possible surveillance events, social media threats, or other suspicious activities will greatly assist law enforcement in stopping, rather than reacting to, an attack. Personal Situational Awareness is a corner-stone of our Surveillance and Threat Detection training program available to law enforcement, private security, military personnel and private citizens.
