Is America Ready for the Fourth Generation Soldier?

Law enforcement officials looks for suspects in the wake of the Boston Bombing.
Photo Credit: G.N. Miller

In the days following the Boston bombing, men like the one pictured above anxiously searched for the culprit or culprits.

For the record, the suspects are 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in gun fire fight with Boston police the Thursday after the Boston bombing. These two men are White, Russian Muslims.They do not fit the usual profile of Arab and/or Muslim extremist.

So I started thinking: “How can America stay safe if we don’t even know where the enemy is or how the enemy looks?”

All of these factors prompted me to go to Google and search the terms “Racial Profiling and Terrorism” to see what kind of results I got. During my research I came across an organization called “Protecting the Homeland Innovations” or PHI.

Ironically PHI co-founder and President Todd McGhee is a retired, 24-year veteran of the Massachusetts State Police.  He talks extensively on the topic of racial profiling and terrorism to the media. I decided to call the organization and ask Mr. McGhee for an interview. Thankfully, he responded.

Here is an excerpt of the interview where he talks about America’s real threat— the Fourth Generation soldier— as well as the need for civilian and community based security training and the fallacy of racial profiling.

Todd McGhee, Co-founder and President of Protecting the Homeland Innovations
Photo Credit: http://www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com

MzCEO: As a New Yorker, I wonder if the Tsarnaev brothers reached Times Square with bombs in their backpack ready to detonate, would they have raised a red flag since they do not fit the usual description of a terrorist?

McGhee: One of the things we teach in our training currently is that there is no set profile. We also teach that no race, no religion, or culture has a monopoly on terrorism. And one of the unfortunate issues we’re coming to understand in the world of terrorism is that we’re fighting a fourth generation of warfare. Right now the United States is dealing with… a new kind of soldier that has no national affiliation. A new soldier that does not wear a uniform. A new soldier that uses unconventional tactics.

MzCEO: This sounds scary when you break it down like that. How do we prepare for that type of warfare?

McGhee: Unfortunately, we’re not prepared. One of the dynamics that my company brings out is that there needs to be a paradigm shift. Law enforcement in of itself is not the only answer in responding to this type of threat. We need our civilian population working in unison with law enforcement. So we’ll have millions of eyes and ears enhancing the security protocol. The training that my company provides will bring a level of security awareness to average citizens as well as law enforcement.

Then the civilian population  can be of service to law enforcement so that when they articulate what is wrong to a police officer, that officer is propelled to say ‘if this person took the time to give this much detail about [a potential suspect], we have to respond to that.

Boston bombing suspects Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19 and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.
 Photo Credit: nbcbayarea.com

If more people had this training do you think the Boston attack could have been prevented?

It takes a lot of focus and attention to identify this level of threat. However we believe that our training absolutely could have minimized the attack. As the Tsarnaev brothers traversed through the crowds if … if someone had realized them dropping the back packs, which at that point were already in position, someone could have alerted the event staff workers and law enforcement…and move everyone away from the backpacks. Then the bomb squad could have quickly responded.

So we certainly believe the training could have minimized that attacks as far as prevention…Once an attack is underway, it’s very difficult to stop it. Unfortunately we don’t have that answer yet but certainly we can mitigate and minimize potential crime or loss.

Final Comments about racial profiling and terrorism:

Focusing on race and religion as a factor of suspicion will fail in keeping us safe from criminal behavior and terrorism. Secondly, I believe there needs to be a better balance in training versus technology. Our technology is training the human senses in addition to training civilian, frontline employees on a community level to work in unison with law enforcement.  My company has been around since 2003 and we’ve been very successful working in a niche market and training a greater level of awareness.