Or worse yet someone doing that randomly in public thinking its funny.

“This product contains a Class 2 laser. Do not power on without enclosure.”
This has the potential for causing serious bodily harm, including but not limited to permanent blindness!
- slashdot comment

I worry that they will figure us out a little more. I have plenty of nightmare scenarios (I am involved in airport security), but I would prefer to keep them to myself.

Press cards, as I understand it, are issued as a courtesy, not as a legal requirement.

Pull all NY Slimes press cards now!!!!!!

People could come up with millions of ideas about creating chaos, and they would still not have covered a tenth of the possibilities. That is the nature of this fight and that is why we have to go after them (far more than a couple of little romps in Afghanistan and Iraq).

The “terrorist thought experiment” is a useless pursuit, since it is the sheer number of possibilities of attack that must be addressed – a number far beyond any “wisdom of crowds” utility. Otherwise, such experiments would lead us to bleed ourselves dry defending against every possibility.

The answer is simple, though most just refuse to entertain it for reasons of weak personalities.

I’m sure they would all enjoy it.

I immediately sent an email to Nightline questioning their mental abilities. I.e., I called them morons for giving terrorists not only the idea, but a blueprint on how to commit mass murder of Americans in America’s most populous city.

About a year and a half later, they ran a follow up piece. Koppel paid homage to me (not by name) by referring to a letter writer who equated them with being morons for giving potential terrorists ideas. But, he noted, the story was newsworthy, and that was more important.

In other words, public safety be damned.

Just like it was more “important” for the New York Times to expose *2* highly secret, highly effective, terrorist tracking and surveillance programs in order to try to bring down the Bush administration. Public safety be damned.

THAT is what is involved here, at best, and public safety be damned. At worst, Levitt is inviting terrorists to strike, and telling them how best to do it.

I firmly believe that we, as a nation, should NOT be telling the enemy HOW to strike us. We should NOT be telling the enemy WHAT would hurt us the most. It is never wise to directly communicate to our enemies our battle plans, our contingency plans, and our vulnerabilities. In fact, that’s called Treason. It’s exactly what Benedict Arnold did during the Revolution.

Guy talked way too fast in that video.

That would be pretty effective, I would think.

Key here is that we gave our list, done by a group of profesional bad a$$e$, straight to the people who were PROTECTING us, not those who wish to harm us. Really interesting to see what happens when you get the Retired Spec Ops guys, from different dispiplines, together…

This writer needs to shut the Hell up! This is called Aiding and abetting, as no one knows the vulnerabilities as well as someone who lives and works there.

Is the NYT owned by that saudi banker who likes to burn books by any chance?

P.S. I’m sure many readers have far better ideas about what to do with Mr Levitt. I would love to hear them. Consider that posting them could be a form of public service.

Niko on August 9, 2007 at 1:54 PM

I suggest we hold an abortion ceremony for his column. After all, he did argue abortion reduces crime (and was thoroughly debunked), and I’d say that column was a crime against humanity.

A little slow, a little obvious, and a little didactic, but it is, well, a propaganda film, and it is Disney. Nuance isn’t especially crucial here. Skip to around 4:50 to get to the part about WWII and how Hitler……

Niko on August 9, 2007 at 1:54 PM

Not helpful.

…is the fact that AQ seems more interested in potency than efficiency[...]Osama’s thinking up ways to maximize his own prestige. The former is aimed at Americans, the latter is aimed at Arabs…

I agree with assessment, it’s right on the money. I hope it stays this way too, because the margin of error is smaller for them – in my opinion, largely why we’ve been able to thwart those on the mainland and/or they have had trouble executing their plans.

“Today, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, delivered a roll out address at the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute.

…Another step I have taken to assure that oversight is done properly is to realign the Committee’s subcommittees. Each subcommittee needs focus and the ability to dig down into the issues that plague the Department. The revised structure, along with some outstanding chairs, should make sure that happens. The six subcommittees are as follows:

Border, Maritime & Global Counterterrorism, led by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez;
…
Transportation Security & Infrastructure Protection led by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee;

From
http://homeland.house.gov/about/subcommittees.asp?ID=157&SubSection=0&Issue=0&DocumentType=0&PublishDate=2007&subcommittee=13