Command Decisions: Domestic Terrorism

The purpose of this book is to introduce the security officer to the elements of “Domestic Terrorism”, which is a growing threat in the United States of America. Since the terrible infliction of harm during 911, most Americans have been confronted with the reality of what terrorism means and its harm to the American way of life. We have all been changed since 911, and some of the freedoms we once had before that incident have been taken away. Government has seen fit to adopt laws to enter the privacy of the American citizens’ lives and ignore the Constitution (Patriot Act), freedom to enter buildings, airports and entertainment venues have been restricted and individuals are subjected to constant and inviolate personal searches under the disguise of safety and security. States and the Federal government have reacted to terrorist acts by taking away or restricting the individual’s right to protect themselves under the Second Amendment, which places the person in a greater position of harm. The founding fathers knew only too well the importance of a free society and its ability to protect itself from attack by outward or inward cowardly forces that would destroy the American way of life. 

Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple, opened fire at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015. Fourteen people were killed and twenty-two injured, most of them county employees. Both attackers were killed in a gun battle with police. Farook, who was born in the U.S. and worked for the county, and Malik, a Pakistan national, had an arsenal of ammunition and pipe bombs in their Redlands home. Farook and Malik began plotting a terror attack before they were engaged and before Malik moved to the U.S. last year. Investigators are trying to determine whether they had links to foreign terror organization (Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2015). 

One constant factor which is emerging in many of the terrorist attacks around the country is absence of armed private security or private persons who could have limited or stopped such attacks by terrorists and reduced the casualties. The limitation of law enforcement as post-crime responders does nothing to stop these attacks when they are being conducted on the American people as they are happening, as was clearly seen in the San Bernardino incident. In many cases, the self-serving ideals of government and law enforcement to disarm private security officers and innocent law-abiding private citizens and take way the right to protect themselves under the Second Amendment further enhances terrorist attacks and terrorism against citizens who are the primary targets of such terrorist crimes. The private security officer is the first responder in many of these cases and as such, should be recognized for their contribution.