HARMLESS
HOBBYISTS PROVIDE
TERRORISTS
WITH INTELLIGENCE
TERRORISTS
TAKE NOTE OF RECENT
EPISODE
ABOVE GWB.
RADIO
CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT HOBBYISTS
UNINTENTIONALLY GIVE A DEMONSTRATION
ABOUT
SECURITY OF AIRSPACE ABOVE NYC
TAGS:
NYPD AVIATION DIVISION, RADIO CONTROLLED
AIRCRAFT,
“NEAR MISS” NEAR GWB?,
NYPD
INTELLIGENCE DIVISION, NYC METRO AREA
THREE MAJOR AIRPORTS IN NYC METRO AREA
(Tuesday July 8, 2014, Upper
Manhattan, NYC) Minutes after midnight yesterday an NYPD Aviation Unit
helicopter encountered a pair of “drones” while conducting regular aerial patrol
operations near the George Washington Bridge (GWB). According to the NYPD pilots report they were
forced to make an evasive maneuver to avoid the small unmanned crafts. The NYPD helicopter crew was able to provide
Patrol Officers on the ground as to where the devices had landed. Two men were arrested here in Inwood on the
uppermost tip of Manhattan after they were discovered with the pilotless
aircrafts and radio control devices in their possession.
AGAIN
Time
and again
we have here reported on security breaches occurring at high-value
terrorist targets in New York City and beyond. Just as such lapses in
security procedures and policies have been duly noted by the appropriate authorities,
there should be no doubt that these
events have been as scrutinized by those bent on bringing asymmetrical terrorist
tactics to their war against the United States itself and our overseas
interests.
Just days before this early
morning drone incident near the GBW, new heightened security measures had been
announced. Intelligence officials here
and abroad were cautioning that bombs undetectable by current technology and
screening practices may be concealed in small digital devices including
laptops, tablets and cell phones. Our
adversaries in this fight against terrorist have proven their abilities to
adapt and be nimble enough to counter some of our most sophisticated technology, armament,
and tactics. Terrorists have been honing
their ruthlessly brutal tactics on the killing fields of Afghanistan and Iraq
and many have become particularly adept in constructing Improvised Explosive
Devices (IED’s) and in urban warfare. As
their sphere of influence has broadened significantly since September 11, 2001
there has been an alarming proliferation of terrorist groups and alliances and
none of them have trouble recruiting new members. In a perverse twist the Laws of Unintended
Consequences has seen the ranks of terrorist groups swell even as our high
powered military engaged them in fierce, unforgiving guerilla warfare that
required some serious realignment of our military’s doctrine over the course of
our protracted engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq.
ONE TRUE STRATEGY
We have also widely reported
on the importance and value of the lowest common denominator, that being
vigilance. Constant rigorous vigilance
enlists virtually every citizen to be on the alert when something or someone
looks “out of place” near our jobs sites, during our daily commutes and in
proximity to the locations we are most intimately familiar with such as our
blocks and neighborhoods. NYPD’s “See
Something, Say Something” campaign has proven effective and people riding the
MTA buses and subways are much more likely to report an unattended item such as
a case, knapsack or shopping bag than they were prior to the rollout of this campaign
in 2011.
FROM A HOBBY TO A WEAPON OF WAR
Flying small radio controlled
aircraft has long been a staple of the hobbyist community. With the advent of smaller, lighter
electronics and more sophisticated high resolution digital cameras, radio controlled
aircrafts are being flown by a greater number of people than ever before. In a real sense the pilotless aircraft
currently employed by the United States Military and Intelligence communities
known as drones, are products of the evolutionary process of pilotless flight.
They are the next leap forward in technology and the use of highly advanced air power
during military engagements. This generation of drones can be outfitted with a
wide range of armament and surveillance platforms. The military drones can fire rockets and
missiles, can fly and hover at impressive altitudes while providing “real time”
actual intelligence. More
controversially, the use of drones is not always as precise as it is touted to
be. Drones deployed over combat areas
remove the pilot from harm’s way and there have been reported instances when
drone attacks have been widely off target and, in reports, claim to have been
responsible for the loss of innocent civilians.
In many ways the sophistication of the drones and their weaponry as well
as having the “pilot” safely ensconced at a computer station half a world away,
have seen the overall incidents of “collateral damage” drastically decreased
when compared to conventional air tactics.
RADIO CONTROLLED CONCERNS
There have been several
reported security breaches at the three major New York City Metropolitan Area
airports since 9/11/01. Investigative
reporters have been able to gain entry to the fuel storage area at JKF
approaching the airport via a small watercraft.
Others have gone unchallenged as they sought and gained entry into
restricted areas at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey. The most valuable and dangerous airspace for
any aircraft is in the “transition zones”
from approximately 2,500 feet above the tarmac when the planes are approaching
to land or gearing up for takeoff. With
the volume of air traffic in the NYC Metro airspace, a radio controlled
aircraft, even if unequipped with any explosive device could still cause
havoc. A large flock of seagulls brought
down US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009 forcing veteran Pilot Sully
Sullenberger to make an emergency landing of the Airbus A320-200 in the middle
of the Hudson River. A single radio
controlled craft could be deliberately aimed at an engine during takeoff or
landing potentially resulting in mass casualties and fatalities. We have even seen the airspace over the White
House and central area of Washington, DC compromised on several occasions in
the last decade. These incidences expose
faults and flaws to our national security and have certainly not gone unnoticed
by our adversaries. Given the magnitude of the ineptitude of the Federal
Aviation Administration (F.A.A.), and North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) on the morning of September 11, 2001, one would think that the
airspace over such vital locations would be far more robust and responsive than
it has been at times recently.
As radio control flight
enthusiasts defend their activities as a simple hobby, akin to flying a kite,
others beg to differ. Typically, radio
controlled aircraft had a top ceiling between 250 and 300 feet. Now there are models constructed of alloys,
carbon-fiber and PCV that are capable of attaining altitudes over 5000 feet. Some
of the more advanced and dedicated enthusiasts report their crafts reaching
altitudes above 10,000 feet. Granted, the overwhelming majority of radio
control flight operators are in fact just hobbyists using this latest
generation of materials and electronics for benign purposes. But an event such as that which occurred at
low altitude in close proximity to one of New York City’s most iconic bridges could
inspire more malevolent types to undertake different kind of “missions”.
Since the attacks on 9/11/01
were airborne with fully fuelled passenger jets used as guided missiles one
would think that the NYC Metro airports would be the most cognizant of the
security of the airspace they control. True,
a small radio controlled device that that used yesterday is too small and
typically flies far too low to have a radar “signature”, it is disconcerting to
imagine the possibilities that commercial jets may encounter at low altitude on
the final approach or on the liftoff.
These two phases are the most vulnerable for any aircraft but one need spend
too much energy realizing what a bomb or explosive-laden radio controlled craft
could do to such a low flying large aircraft.
IRONY
This morning’s edition of the
New York Daily News on-line featured a long piece titled,
“Beyond the Smoking Guns: Inside NYPD’s 21st
Century Arsenal”, detailing some of the
ultrahigh tech hardware and software currently in use by the NYPD assisting in
their historical mission as the City’s Law Enforcement Agency and in its far
more shadowy mission regarding Anti - and Counter Terrorism as well as in
Intelligence. NYPD’s efforts and
innovation now serve as models for cities around the world. Everything from top shelf surveillance
cameras, facial recognition software, advanced ballistics and other innovative
technologies some that were developed under former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly
who early on identified our City’s needs as far as Intelligence gathering,
analysis and threat assessments are concerned.
While NYC, all our waterways,
bridges, transportation networks, infrastructure and harbors are under the
jurisdiction of NYPD, the United States Coast Guard, the Port Authority of
NY/NJ, and MTA Police work in cooperation with each other in an array of
unified operations that provide the level of safety and security our City
demands and circumstances dictate. That
is why it is so ironic that two men from Inwood were able to navigate their
radio controlled airplanes so close to the GWB and NYPD Aviation Unit’s
copter. An historical hallmark of
terrorists tactically is the use of sometimes simple, crude almost primitive
devices. Those who manufacture IED’s and bombs have gotten increasingly more
capable over the last 12 years. The
complexity, efficacy and lethality of the bomb making skills of the insurgency in
Iraq increased over the years we were engaged there and much of that bomb
making knowledge and technical acumen has been shared between different
terrorist factions throughout the world.
Iraq provided a convenient proving ground for IED manufacturers. Terrorists intent to do us harm continue to
refine their devices to better conceal them and construct them with elements
that standard screening technology and processes at airports are unable to
detect.
UNDERESTIMATING AT OUR PERIL
We have learned a great deal
about our threats over the last 13 years but all of that learning has been
reactive. Our Military, Intelligence,
Counter Terrorism and Law Enforcement communities have each had to “adapt on
the fly” as one retired Department of Defense Intelligence analyst recently
noted. “They (terrorists) are always forward
thinking, always looking for new ways to create the type of destruction and
havoc they seek”, he continued. His
sentiments have been echoed by others in the corridors of power in the CIA,
DOD, FBI as well as in many foreign countries intelligence services including
Interpol and Scotland Yard, that partner with us in our broader national
security efforts. Still, despite all our
combined resources and efforts terrorists will always have something of an
advantage. As it has been said since the
earliest days of our “War on Terror”, the terrorists only need to be right one
time; we, on the other hand, have to be right 100% of the time. It is such a lopsided equation that it has
steered some to promote policies and procedures that take the path of least
resistance. A new measure of “stovepipe
thinking”, that narrow focus that came to light after 9/11/01 when we were made
aware of the inertia, ineptitude, and inefficiency among our sprawling federal
intelligence apparatus seems to be
creeping in to some areas of the vast bureaucracy. Such return to the pre – 9/11 mindset should
not be tolerated and it ought to be countered at every turn.
While we here in New York City
can remain confident that NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and his Deputy
Commissioner of Intelligence John Miller have largely left the outstanding
handiwork of former Commissioner Ray Kelly’s Intelligence and Counter Terrorism
Divisions intact, we are ever mindful of what our City represents to
terrorists. Conducting another
successful attack in NYC is their Holy Grail; their ultimate goal, their preeminent
target.
Copyright
The Brooding Cynyx 2014 © All Rights Reserved
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