Terrorism in America: A Reality Check on the Surreal



 

Sunday, the 12^th of June, was surreal.  I was outdoors in the fresh air and morning sunshine reading Holy War on the Home Front: The Secret Islamic Terror Network in the United States in preparation for my interview with its author, Dr. Harvey Wolf Kushner, Director of the Homeland Security and Terrorism Institute at LIU Post.  When I left for work early that morning I had heard about "a shooting" in Orlando.  By lunchtime, I learned that the attack was at an LGBTQ nightclub, had been declared an act of terrorism and the death toll was climbing. News outlets reported that the terrorist declared his allegiance to ISIS at the outset of his rampage.  My heart was racing as I tried frantically to recall where my gay family members said they would be over the weekend.  There were more ironies than I could process, including that I left this book for last in my reading of Dr. Kushner’s publications.  Why?  Because, I reasoned, it was published in 2004 and now it is 2016, and surely things have “changed.”  I would read it – but last and leisurely on the Sunday before the interview.  By the time I got home to hear President Obama’s address to the nation, it was all too clear that Harvey Kushner’s book is still pertinent in 2016.  Words from his Introduction were haunting me, “I chair a department at a university, but I quickly learned that when dealing with terrorists that death is not academic.  Terrorists kill people.  They pull triggers, plant bombs, and blast holes in the NYC skyline.”  

Like so many Americans, I am forlorn and on Tuesday, June 14^th, when I walked into Harvey Kushner’s office, I couldn’t hold back.  “These terrorists are playing ‘soft-target roulette’ with us,” I proffered.  “That’s what’s got us feeling anxious.  The Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, and now Orlando …. We get it.  While we are exercising, recreating, and socializing – precisely to blow off stress – we are actually most vulnerable to opportunistic terrorists.  We don’t need to be flying or on the high seas.  That is what is now so unnerving.”  A genial host and gracious respondent, Harvey Wolf Kushner immediately delivered the perspective available only from one with the breadth and depth of counter-terrorism experience his forty-plus years of service provides.  From the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre, through the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 at Lockerbie, to the mass shooting in Orlando, Harvey Kushner embodies his book, Encyclopedia of Terrorism.  The walls of his office are alive with commendations and warm letters of appreciation for his service from elected officials, representatives of allied governments, those in law enforcement at all levels, as well as branches of the U.S. military and federal agencies. I couldn’t help but note how fortunate his graduate students are to study with him and the notable faculty he has assembled from among the best professionals actively engaged in counter-terrorism. Congress declared his institute a National Security Center of Excellence. 

I asked for twenty minutes but Harvey Kushner gave me a full afternoon of his time as he responded to my questions and the concerns of my followers at Security Briefs.  I left the interview wiser, more insightful and crystal clear on one thing:  Dr. Harvey Wolf Kushner is, and has been, unabashedly devoted to one goal: keeping civilians safe from terrorists. Here are some excerpts. 

BERNARD:  I read in your 2004 book that "[m]ost say even three years after 9/11, the FBI and related federal intelligence and law-enforcement agencies still don't 'download' real-time-information to local agencies."  I am hearing that very same thing in the analyses of the Orlando Massacre in 2016. Is this so and why?

 



BERNARD:  We heard it with the Tsarnaev brothers, Nidal Hasan and now again with Omar Mateen - they "fell off" the FBI's watch list.  How does such a thing happen in the post 9/11 era and what does this portend for "lone wolf" attacks?



 

BERNARD:  My followers at Security Briefs are educators, retail executives, medical professionals, practitioners in law and accounting, clergy, and other concerned citizens who are responsible for other people - their students, clients, customers, congregants and families.  What steps can they take to make their workplaces and social spaces are more secure?
 

 

BERNARD:  In a Q&A Session with former Newtown Chief of Police, Michael Kehoe, I heard him underscore the importance for local law enforcement to maintain "informal" communication with first responders and emergency management professionals at all levels - county, state and federal.  In short, you need your crisis management allies to be just a cell-phone call away.  Your reaction?

 

BERNARD:  Many of my followers at Security Briefs are professionals in human resources, law, the military, financial services, IT, etc., who are considering applying their expertise in a different capacity in the next phases of their careers.  Others are parents of college-bound kids considering their first-career options.  What are the job and career prospects for those interested in counter-terrorism?





 

BERNARD:  In seven months, we Americans will inaugurate a new President and Commander-in-Chief.  What guidelines would you offer her or him?



 

 

BERNARD:  Harvey Kushner, it is good to know you. Thank you for your service and for your thoughts and candor this afternoon.

 

Lisa Bernard is Founder and President of Lisa Bernard's SecuritySpeak, LLC, a speakers bureau devoted to educating people from all walks of life on matters of national, global and cyber-security.  To discuss your need for a guest speaker, contact her at LisaBernard@SecuritySpeak.net or via phone at (203) 293-4741.

 



 

 

Scott N. Schober's HACKED AGAIN Earns its Place on the Permanent Bookshelf

HACKED AGAIN:  It Can Happen to Anyone Even a Cybersecurity Expert, ISBN 978-0-9969022-1-2, by Scott N. Schober, 2016.  Available on Amazon for $14.95 in paperback.

HACKED AGAIN makes a welcome contribution to our cyber-security literacy.  This easy-to-read, Tiger’s Eye of a book, is a must-have and must-keep-handy tool for becoming and staying conversant on cyber-safety matters.  If you head a firm or family, but feel too busy, anxious or uncomfortable to learn about your cyber-security, let Scott N. Schober make your foray manageable.  A software engineer, inventor and CEO of a wireless security tech firm, he writes in personal voice and reveals his own frustrations, curiosity and reflections on the risks of contemporary cyber-spatial life.  He chronicles his own learning curve, from his original vulnerabilities stemming from being human, to the victimization of his firm via the exploitation of technologies by cyber-thieves.   Investigating hacks against himself and cyber-crimes against his firm, Mr. Schober is a modern day Sherlock Holmes working the clues, tools, evidence and psychologies of all the players – hackers, institutions and victims.  He is a clever and humble private eye with the public’s interest at heart.  For each of us with a cyber-spatial footprint, from simple social media profiles to email accounts to complex e-commerce platforms, HACKED AGAIN is more than a primer.  It’s a mentor for learning the lingo and the ropes and replacing the generalized anxiety we have about cyber-security with basic competence.  In less than 200 pages, we non-techies can feel more confident about managing our digital footprints as sensibly and routinely as we protect our brick and mortar offices and homes.   

My recommendation is to start at the end with Mr. Schober’s carefully composed glossary which removes the first obstacle to individual cyber-vigilance – the language barrier.  If you feel that the lexicon of cyber-security is as confounding as the topic itself, rest assured that this glossary demystifies terms from the “bot” to the “TOR.”  A handle on the acronyms and jargon will immediately improve the ease with which you process news, instructions and information on cyber-security matters.  Then I suggest going back to Part I to piggy-back Mr. Schober on his journey.  He grows from ignorance through denial and into reality and reconciliation with what is now, for all of us, the “new normal” of personal, professional and civic life in our cyber-spatial world.  In Part 2, he prescribes behaviors and protocols to minimize one’s vulnerabilities and risks.  He concludes each chapter with useful mini-summaries, one paragraph “Quick-Tips” that you can apply or adopt immediately.   Particularly helpful are those that are counter-intuitive and thereby especially eye-opening and cyber-protective.   One such tip is “Do not click on the bottom of a spam e-mail and ask to be removed from the ‘Do Not E-mail’ list.  You will likely receive more spam because hackers now know you are a real person and will then sell your name for more money to other spammers.”  A reasonable person might think that eliminating their name from such a list is wise and lessens their unintentional digital footprint when, in fact, it expands it and their vulnerability.  They become more likely to be cyber-stalked and have their social media accounts mined for data and clues to their passwords. 

In his latter chapters, Mr. Schober expands his probe to our challenges as a society that shops with credit cards, banks online and works in cyberspace.  In an apolitical and non-judgmental manner, he assesses the dynamics of headline breaches and hacks like those that bedeviled so many at Target, JP Morgan Chase and Sony before moving on to threats we face as a cyber-warrior nation starting with the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel  Management.   Perhaps most meaningful for us laypeople, is that at no time does Mr. Schober lose sight of the human factors or toll as he explains the technological components of these violations and the news coverage of them.  This is among Scott Schober’s most valuable and consistent contributions to this field – he puts a human face on the subject of cyber-security in all its facets.   And it is an accessible and welcome one.  

HACKED AGAIN leaves room for a future edition as Scott Schober nimbly wrestles the next generation of cyber-technologies, schemes and malicious hackers.  Going forward, I hope he adds an index to the book to expedite the many references I see in my copy’s future.   HACKED AGAIN is a hard-copy keeper and will be dog-eared on my bookshelf until its sequel comes along.