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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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