Terrorist attack while the US President is watching a basketball game
US president Barack Obama is known to be an avid basketball fan. He likes to attend NCAA basketball games live and this may cause security concerns because basketball arenas can be packed with other people.
This can be a security concern because this may develop into a habit in his presidency and planning for a terrorist attack against the most powerful man of the world can be scheduled with the next high profile basketball game where the US president is likely to attend.
Barack Obama’s college basketball team is in the NCAA finals and the terrorist group Al-Qaeda is planning to take out the president of the United States as he is watching his basketball team fight for the NCAA championship.
An assassination attempt on the life of the US president can also be the terrorist group’s message to the rest of the world that they can kill anyone they wish to, in live television. (Posner R. pp, 23) This attack will send shockwaves to the thousands in attendance in the arena and to the millions watching the game on television.
Steps to be taken by Al-Qaeda for their terrorist plot
In order to succeed in the terrorist plot the terrorist must know the schedule of the NCAA finals. They already know Obama’s fondness for collegiate basketball, they must now determine which game the president will attend. Since Obama’s collegiate basketball teams will be part of the championship game and it will be known a day after the NCAA Final Four, Al-Qaeda will have a day to set into motion all the things they have planned for their attack.
After the events of 9/11, the Secret Service will be expecting bombs and crashing planes. Guns and suicide bombers are are also expected since every person in the arena will be subjected to a full body inspection. (El-Ayouty T.,Galgan G.,Greene F.,Wesley E. pp. 100) Terrorist will have to use a biological weapon since basketball arenas are enclosed. Al-Qaeda will have to be very creative in pumping toxic gases in the exhaust or air conditioner units inside to arena to be successful in their plot.
Al-Qaeda will have to:
- Get the schematics of the arena where the championship game will be held
- Determine where to put the gases that will be used in their attack
- Create the devices to be used and formulate a plan to put them without being detected
- Activate the release of the gas either remotely or by a fanatic near the site
The hard part in doing this plan by the terrorist is the monitoring of the Secret Service of the arena. It may be suspicious to see Middle Eastern people going through the exhaust or air conditioning units inside the building. As much as racial profiling is a sensitive issue, one cannot help but extra cautious when it comes to the protection of the president.
This is a huge obstacle that the terrorist will have to overcome in order to be successful in their attack. The Secret Service has the duty to secure the president of the United States everywhere he goes. In turn they should check every possible scenario to that would endanger the life of the president. The protocol is to sweep the place for any bombs in the building.
After that, they to set up a control room where every person that would go in and out of the arena is checked. They would also subject every person to a full body inspection and check for any possible arms or device that can be used for a terrorist attack.
The threat of a biological weapon attack in a basketball game may sound like a plot of a movie but everyone should have learned by now that when a group of extremists are determined to spread terror none the methods employed should be taken for granted. (Swain A. pp. 1) No one imagined that you can attack a country by ramming two planes in a building. Everyone should be vigilant to what, where and how the next terrorist attacks will be like.
Works Cited
El-Ayouty T., Galgan G., Greene F., Wesley E., Perspectives on 9/11, Westport, CT, Praeger, 2004
Posner R., Catastrophe: Risk and Response, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004
Swain A. “Outrage Factors and Explanations in News Coverage of the Anthrax Attacks”, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 2007, Volume 84