Terrorist Threats Against Pedestrians and Public Transportation Systems

Abstract

ISIS and Al-Qaida have shifted their focus from attacking the aviation industry to planning to conduct conspiracies against public venues, especially pedestrians on urban roads and public transportation commuters.

Al-Qaida and ISIS leaderships have both issued directives and provided training to their operatives and sympathizers to attack soft targets such as subway and train stations, buses, and crowds in public areas.

This paper sheds light on the use of vehicle ramming tactics by terrorists in the United States and around the world. Moreover, the article provides details on the terrorist incidents on buses and the way these attacks were carried out. And finally, attacks and foiled plots against the Subway system and railroads are discussed.

The paper also briefly discusses the lack of a holistic federal policy to address the emerging challenges facing the public transportation system and pedestrians’ in urban roads as well as public venues. Finally, this paper provides recommendations and ideas aiming for effective and comprehensive preparedness and response strategies. 

Keywords: Terrorists, public transportation, vehicle ramming tactics

Introduction

While many experts and pundits are celebrating the rapid collapse of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), This terrorist organization is still a source of inspiration to thousands of desperate young Muslims around the globe and especially in western cities and towns. Thus, the threat of ISIS is still significant despite the collapse of its so-called physical caliphate and the substantial loss in its territory in Iraq and Syria.

           In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on June 8, 2017, Daniel Byman warned lawmakers that the United States and its allies in Europe should expect some level of Islamic terrorism against their cities and town in the years to come. He further stated that ISIS's loss of territory, resources, and ability to recruit foreign fighters would increase its desire for international terrorism and would ultimately resort to high profile attacks to stay relevant (Byman, 2017). It is also noteworthy that there is a correlation between the increased military pressures posed by the International Coalition and its partners on the ground against ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria and its deadly lone wolves attacks in the west. This correlation could be explained according to Watkins (2016) by two factors: "The first is a top-down decision by Islamic State leaders to prioritize international attack plotting as a strategy to safeguard their self-declared caliphate. The second is a bottom-up dynamic in which foreign fighters and satellite groups are retaliating on their initiative on behalf of the caliphate, a function of the group's fluid command and control structures". Consequently, intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the United States must double their efforts to prepare, counter, and respond to possible increased lone wolves' attacks against domestic targets.

ISIS operatives have demonstrated that they could strike anytime anywhere in the United States despite all the countermeasures put in place by local, state, and federal authorities. The relevant example showing ISIS's determination to strike after losing territory in its areas of control in Iraq and Syria came to light on Tuesday, October 31, 2017. Sayfullo Saipov drove a pickup truck "down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring eleven before being shot by a police officer" (Mueller, Rashbum, & Baker, 2017). This attack demonstrated that ISIS operatives are still focusing on targeting public spaces and transport to create public exposure as they have done in various attacks in Europe. Therefore, it is essential to shedding light on ISIS operatives' tactics (and potentially other Islamic terrorist groups) in creating the maximum mayhem by using trucks on public roads with a significant pedestrians' activity, activating the improvised explosive device (I.E.D) in busy subway stations and placing I.E.D on public buses. Subsequently, it is worth exploring what policies are put in place to counter any possible acts of terrorism targeting pedestrians, the subway system, and public buses. 

Motor vehicles as weapons of terrorism

           October 31, 2017, terrorist attacks in New York City must be taken seriously and ring an alarm bell for local law enforcement agencies and federal authorities. It is a part of the new pattern followed by ISIS operatives to cause mayhem and gain public attention, and it is not unique to the streets of the United States. ISIS-inspired attackers and white supremacist sympathizers have resorted to this dangerous tactic on many occasions. For instance, in 2006, a suspected Islamic attacker drove his car into a crowd of students in a North Carolina University campus, in 2016 an ISIS-inspired student drove his car into a group at Ohio State University, and in September 2017, a suspected white nationalist used his vehicle to attack protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia (Erickson, 2017). Consequently, the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) have recognized the threat posed by this tactic. In 2010, both federal agencies issued a guideline to police and fire departments defining the vehicle-ramming tactic as "using modified or unmodified vehicles—against crowds, buildings, and other vehicles. Such attacks could be used to target locations where large numbers of people congregate, including sporting events, entertainment venues, or shopping centers" (Department of Homeland Security & Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011).

It is also important to note that vehicle ramming is becoming an ISIS operatives weapon of choice in the streets of many European countries. According to the Counter Extremism Project (2016), ISIS, in its November 2016 issues of Rumiyah Magazine, "had instructed followers to carry out vehicular attacks that would target large outdoor conventions and celebrations, pedestrian-congested streets, outdoor markets, festivals, parades, and political rallies.". Consequently, Europe witnessed many deadly attacks using vehicles ramming tactics. For instance, on July 14, 2016, ISIS claimed reasonability after one of its inspired members drove "19-ton refrigerated truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 84 people and wounding over 300 more "(Counter Extremism Project, 2016). Moreover, another ISIS-inspired attack occurred in December of the same year in Berlin, Germany. The attacker drove his truck into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48 (Counter Extremism Project, 2016).

2017 is the year with the highest and deadliest number of terrorist attacks with the use of vehicle ramming tactics. From March to August 2017, London, Stockholm, and Barcelona have been the victims of ISIS's new deadly weapon: vehicle ramming. According to Moore (2017), on March 22, a car rammed into civilians on Westminster Bridge in London, killing five people. On April 7, an attacker drove into pedestrians in central Stockholm, killing at least three people. In less than three months, London witnessed again a vehicle ramming attack, "three-man cell inspired by ISIS plowed into pedestrians with a van on London Bridge, before exiting and stabbing passersby in the popular Borough Market area, killing eight people" (Moore, 2017). In response to the Borough Market attack in London, a far-right sympathizer drove his car into a crowd around a mosque in north London, killing at least one Muslim worshiper (Bilefsky, 2017).

Finally, the attack on Las Ramblas, Barcelona, on August 17, is the latest demonstration of ISIS resolve to continue using the vehicles' ramming tactic. Las Ramblas attack resulted in 13 deaths and dozens injured when a "car sped along the pedestrian area that is popular with tourists, mowing down people and sending others fleeing for cover "(B.B.C, 2017).

Terrorist attacks against buses

The majority of the attacks against public buses occurred outside of the United States. However, this is not the case with many of America’s allies and partners. Israel, for instance, experienced a deadly trend of attacks against its public transportation system, buses were the preferred target. A report by The Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies revealed that since 1970, 251 attacks had targeted buses in Israel, killing 588 people and injuring 2,706 (Butterworth, Dolev, & Jenkins, 2012). The United Kingdom has also experienced the bus attacks. On July 7, 2005, al-Qaeda operatives “targeted civilians on three subways and one bus in an attack that left 52 people dead “(Counter Extremism Project, 2016). Most recently, On May 26, 2017, terrorists have targeted a bus in Egypt.

According to Mahfouz (2017), masked terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in the region of Minya in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and injuring more than 25. Despite the scarcity of terrorist attacks targeting buses in the United States, it is crucial to shed light on the 2001 Greyhound bus attack in Tennessee. On October 3, 2001, a passenger "on a Greyhound bus slashed the neck of the driver early this morning, and as the two men struggled for control of the steering wheel, the bus careened across two lanes of oncoming traffic on an Interstate highway and flipped over, killing the assailant and five other passengers" (Rimer & Sack, 2001). Consequently, the Greyhound bus company decided to implement security measures, which included searching the carry-on bags (CNN, 2001).

Attacks against the Subway System

Terrorist organizations have always sought to attack the Subway system. They view it as a soft target with easy access, and when it attacked, it could achieve the most significant degree of destruction as well as publicity. While no terrorist attacks have targeted the Subway system and the railroads in the United States for the past decade, it is essential to shedding light on some significant attempts and plots.

On October 9, 1995, unidentified saboteurs were behind a deadly derailment of a train in Arizona. According to Labaton (1995), the attack resulted in “passenger cars of Amtrak's Sunset Limited tumbled off a Southern Pacific trestle, killing a crewman and injuring dozens of people.”  Surprisingly, the circumstances surrounding this attack are still under investigation, in 2015 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) announced a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons or parties behind the attack (D'Angelo, 2015).

While the Arizona attack remains the only deadly incident that has targeted the railroads and the subway systems in recent decades, terrorist sympathizers have never ceased trying to find ways to mount a successful attack. In 2004, authorities in New York City arrested two suspected terrorists who wanted to attack Herald Square subway station to revenge the abuses of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (CBS & AP, 2007). A few years later, federal authorities uncovered a plot in October 2009 to bomb three New York City subway lines, which was ordered and planned for by Al-Qaida senior members and carried out by three legal residents in the United States (Rashbaum & Zraick, 2010).

Recently, authorities arrested in the summer of 2016, a Washington D.C. metro transit police officer on charges of assisting ISIS, becoming the first U.S. law enforcement officer accused of helping and trying to provide material support to an Islamic terrorist organization (Burke, 2016).

Recommendations

Most terrorism experts agree on the fact that Islamic terrorist organizations are still obsessed with attacking airplanes and airline infrastructure. The prove is the bombing of a Russian airliner in October 2016 and the mysterious disappearance of an Egyptian plane en route from Paris to Cairo in May 2016. Additionally, ISIS operatives had successfully attacked two busy airports in Europe last year. They attacked Brussels airport in March 2016, followed by an attack on Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 2016. However, there is a huge trend in the tactics used by the Islamic terrorist organization, which become more focused on soft targets are known for their apparent vulnerabilities. Thus, more funding and security programs are warranted to ensure the implementation of the appropriate countermeasures to secure the urban roads networks and the public transportation system.

Unfortunately, the government has not yet developed a coherent and comprehensive strategy to deal with these sets of new threats, and most of its resources are directed toward aviation security operations. In testimony in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration (T.S.A.) administrator David Pekoske dedicated most of his argument to highlight strategies to improve aviation security. However, he only talked vaguely in on paragraph about the threats on surface transportation venues. T.S.A. administrator argued that "while there is no specific, credible terrorist threat to U.S. surface transportation systems, the recent incidents in Europe underscore the need to continue to build upon our surface transportation security successes through stakeholder communication, coordination, and collaboration to protect these open-by-nature systems" (Transportation Security Administration, 2017).

Thus, State and local authorities must take a leadership role and develop strategies and countermeasures capable of guarantying safety and security for pedestrians as well as bus and subway system commuters. Many examples are demonstrating the importance of local leadership. In Clark County, authorities are installing 700 bollards along the Las Vegas Boulevard, designed to deter the impact of a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling at 50 miles per hour (Corbin, 2017). It is also essential to include countermeasures able to prevent possible acts of terrorism against pedestrians and public transportation systems in state homeland security strategies. For instance, it is unfortunate to notice that New York State Homeland Strategy 2017-2020 does not recognize the specific challenges related to public transportation and the use of vehicle ramming tactics. Instead, the State's strategy focuses mainly on strengthen intelligence and information sharing capabilities, protect critical infrastructure and critical resources, enhance Cybersecurity capabilities and strengthen CBRNE preparedness and response capabilities (New York State, 2017).

Finally, the Government and Congress must implement the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office (G.A.O) in its 2017 high-risk report. G.A.O recommends the full funding to the Highway Trust Fund, continuing the D.O.T implementation of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act and improving the effectiveness of surface transportation programs (G.A.O, 2016). Additionally, including a holistic security strategy with an emphasis on securing urban road networks and public transportation systems to G.A.O funding recommendations, would add an extra useful layer of security, which would result in efficiently deter terrorist threats and security challenges.

References

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