Guest Post: This Is Not A CSI Television Show

This Is Not A CSI Television Show

Colonel Donald J. Myers USMC (Ret)

Grace and I left early Sunday morning on a bus trip and returned Wednesday evening. As a result, we did not read any newspapers or magazines and saw very little television during those days. We went specifically to relax and have some fun. What little TV that I did view continued to speculate on the Boston bombing. I appreciate the fact that we now have 24 hour news cycles and something must be said to fill all of those hours, but----. WHEW!!!

This was the first successful terrorist attack in this country since the World Trade Center and pentagon bombings in 2001. Prior to 2001, it was illegal for the FBI and the CIA to exchange intelligence information. Following the attack in 2001, the Homeland Security Administration (HSA) was established and the barriers for exchanging intelligence information between the agencies such as the CIA, FBI, and HSA were eliminated. We now learn that key intelligence between these agencies was not shared and exchanged. Written reports and presentations by various personnel in these agencies make this obvious. The Secretary of State and the director of HSA were two of those. What needs to be done is to insure that corrective actions are implemented and this does not continue.

Our society is more open than any other in the world and that makes us susceptible to these types of attacks. I for one am not willing to give up any of our freedoms for the possibility of a little more security. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is talking about reducing our freedoms as outlined in the Constitution so that we can increase our security. I do not agree. Bob Beckel, a FOX co host on "The Five" stated that we have seventy five thousand students from the middle east here on student visas. Fifteen thousand of them have not reported for school. Perhaps we should stop accepting new students from this area until we double check those who are already here. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Our government continues to soft pedal the fact that we are at war and continues to look at terrorism as a crime that can be dealt with through our criminal justice system. They just do not have the expertise or training except after the fact of an attack. These are not criminal actions that can be handled by the police and criminal justice system except as first responders and in that capacity they do a fantastic job. Tom Brokaw seemed to imply a relevance between our drone attacks on known terrorists and terrorist attacks on innocent civilians. There is no doubt that innocent civilians are killed when we attack known terrorists, but the greatest care is exercised to preclude that from happening. Placing bombs at a totally innocent civilian gathering is done specifically to terrorize that population and create the most casualties. Attempting to equate that to drone attacks or other military actions does a disservice to our country.

Unlike many of our television shows, all of the details about this attack and the picture behind the planning will take a little time, but it will be found. Speculating and second guessing will only confuse the issue. As I have stated in the past, "Nothing is as good or as bad as initially reported." We just never seem to remember that fact.