The Billiken's Bluff

An article in today's NY Times warned that Al Qaeda is considering using tourist helicopters in NYC as a possible means of attack.



This does not come as a shock considering Al Qaeda's last attack on US soil involved four airplanes. But what did surprise me is that they are also looking into using scuba divers to attack NYC with underwater bombs-

"Counterterrorism officials have been concerned that terrorists might seek to use a wide range of vehicles and other instruments for attacks, from crop-duster planes and hazardous-material trucks to underwater bombs carried by scuba divers because people who work in those industries are generally subjected to less rigorous security measures."

The NYPD is preparing for this potentiality. The NYPD has a Scuba Team and last month they joined with the U.S. Park Police in a training exercise on Liberty Island in which divers practiced hauling bags of machine guns underwater, in case they have to take back the Statue of Liberty from terrorists.

The team also has practiced taking back the Staten Island Ferry, pulling alongside a ferry steaming across Upper New York Bay and leaping aboard in a surprise attack on mock terrorists.

Those scenarios sound like something out of a Tom Clancy clancy novel. I hope they're paying this Scuba Division of the NYPD better than they are their regular officers, if for no other reason, then because they have to swim in the Hudson River.

I don't want to make light of this potential avenue of attack. I'm sure a scuba diver with a bomb attacking The Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship would be just as deadly as a truck filled with gasoline driving into the lobby of the Prudential Building. But if something as seemingly innocuous as a scuba suit can be used to wreak havoc on our cities what's next?

But I pose this question... Can you really be scared of a terrorist in scuba gear?