Times Square Bombing: Are better security measures needed?

Timon Singh

With the United States spending over US$700 billion per year on national defence, it's always a bit worrying when an attempted terrorist attack, in the heart of one of the busiest cities in the world, is foiled by a street-vendor noticing smoke coming from a car bomb. The attempted Times Square bombing has led many people to question US intelligence when it comes to terrorist attacks and whether better terror prevention and detection technologies are needed.

Like the attempted Christmas Day Bombing before it, the attempted Times Square bombing has led to the tightening of flying restrictions with many airlines being told to check no-fly lists within two hours of being told of updates to watch-lists. However tightening airport security is one thing, but does this incident mean that the US should invest in increased video surveillance and/or that Homeland Security should receive greater power when it comes to terrorist attack prevention?

Watching the terrorists

Video surveillance has often had a mixed response in the US, with some saying it is successful in reducing and preventing crimes and is helpful in prosecuting individuals caught in the act of committing a crime. However, critics argue that public video surveillance conflicts with the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In the case of the Times Square Bombing however, video cameras were numerous in the tourist-heavy, populated area and yet someone was still able to park a car-bomb and leave, putting the sole reason to the bomb being discovered down to luck and human intelligence. In fact, one of the main reasons that no one was killed was due to the 'amateurish' attempt at construction of the bomb, according to New York Mayor Bloomberg.

The bomb itself was made from fertiliser, fireworks, petrol and propane gas tanks, items all commonly available and not likely to be red-flagged.

However it was the bomber himself that should raise alerts. 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born US citizen, has allegedly told courts he was taught to make the bomb in Pakistan and that he acted alone after conceiving the plot last December.

While Shahzad was arrested at the airport minutes before he was about to leave the country, police are lucky to have a plethora of video footage and photos to sift through to see if there were other people involved in the incident.

Currently the New York 2010-2011 budget has nearly US$5 billion in order to effectively fight crime, supervise criminal offenders both in prison and in the community, patrol the highways, protect critical State assets, and respond to natural disasters and terrorist threats.

This includes nearly 40,000 staff, many of whom serve within the State's 68 correctional institutions, public safety agencies comprise 18 percent of the overall State workforce. However as this weekend proved, you can never have too much luck.

Relevant articles:

Making mass transit safe with technology | Is real-time information too dangerous? | The Purpose of Homeland Security