1993 World Trade Center Bombing Analysis

While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one, centralized agency, securing the homeland involves the cooperation and collaboration of many, different agencies and organizations ranging from local law enforcement to national agencies such as the NSA, CIA, and FBI. Each of these agencies contributes to the development of homeland security intelligence. By carefully analyzing and commenting on the objectives, tasks, strengths, weaknesses, and roles of each agency, a larger picture emerges regarding the capabilities and limitation of intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts.

On February 26, 1993 at 12:18 pm in New York City, the first call was received at the Central Office from a street alarm box at the corner of West and Liberty Streets. The call was reporting a possible transformer vault (or manhole) explosion on West Street near the World Trade Center. As manhole explosions are common in wet whether, there was no hint of a major catastrophe until the phones never ceased to ring after aid had arrived to the site. Numerous phone calls continued, now reporting smoke in the towers of the Trade Center as far up as the 33rd floor within the first three minutes of the explosion (http://members.aol.com/fd347/wtc.htm). The ceiling then collapsed in the train station, which

On April 19th 1995 the worst terrorist attack on US soil took place in the heartland of America. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was targeted and almost completely blown to pieces by one enormous homemade bomb. The unthinkable had happened at the beginning of an average day at the office. This day would be remembered for the rest of America's history, unlike any other day, as a blatant attack on the United States government.

On April 19, 1995, a terrorist set off a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. The explosion killed 168 people and injured 842 more. The bomb went off at 9:02 a.m., and it “destroying a third of the building and left a thirty-foot-wide crater” (Casey 2).

February 26, 1993. The World Trade Center bombing left six people dead, with extensive structure damage. The original plot was to drop one building into the next building and cause massive damage to both. A second plot was discovered to bomb; the U.N. building, Holland and Lincoln tunnels and the Federal Plaza. This is how a modern world attack would occur. Several attacks by independent cells, one taking over where the other failed until the mission is complete.

The formation of fusion centers is a step in the right direction to countering terrorist threats. By working efficiently and appropriately, information leading to arrests can be shared across county lines, state lines, and all around the world in a timely manner. Fusion centers can make law enforcement agencies more competent and effective in stopping crimes (to include terrorist attacks) before they take place. As long as the centers follow the laws they are governed by, they will remain ethical and can be a helpful addition in protecting the United States. Fusion centers in the United States perform a valuable role in countering terrorist threats, their positive influence far

The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center spawned the formation of different tactics and strategy on countering terrorism. One of the plans is to create a Fusion Center. There were plans and trainings in place prior to the attacks in 2001, however the information gathered were not shared or utilized properly. Fusion Centers were established across the country between 2003 to 2007 by local, state and federal law enforcement.

Fusion Center was established as the bridge between federal, state and local law enforcement. The need for information sharing among federal, state and local enforcement was established after September 11 attack. Fusion Centers " primary goals are maintaining situational awareness with the state and region, identifying and anticipating both criminal and non criminal threats, and facilitating interagency communication and coordination activities based on these assessment. The analysis and use of the information and intelligence lies at the heart of their activities or should enabling the organization to better define and achieve their varied goals"(Joyal, 2012). Fusion center plays a vital role in enabling effective communication of locally

Many American citizens say that terrorism started in the United States with the home grown incident known as the Oklahoma City bombing. This terrorist bomb was an attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in down town Oklahoma City. The blast from the bomb destroyed and damaged 324 buildings within a 16 block radius. This attack killed 168 people and injured more then 680 others. Timothy McVeigh and coconspirator Terry Nichols were motivated by their hatred for the federal government.Another example of terrorist attacks on the United States is February 26, 1993, A bomb exploded in the basement garage of the World Trade Center, killing six and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine others were convicted of conspiracy charges. The government also

Fusion centers receive information from a variety of sources, including SAR from stakeholders within their jurisdictions, as well as federal information and intelligence. They analyze the information and develop relevant products to disseminate to their customers. These products assist homeland security partners at all levels of government to identify and address immediate and emerging threats. “The National Strategy for Information Sharing considers fusion centers to be “vital assets” that provide the federal government with critical information about state and local governments, while the state and local governments obtain information about terrorist-related threats” (White House

On a personal level, I had only been with the FBI a little less than a year, and the bombings were my first experience in an international terrorism matter. It was also served as a harbinger of the new direction the FBI would be taking. One of by squad mates, Bill, who was formerly a Marine Corp officer, had previously worked at one of the embassies. He was immediately deployed to the region in a supporting investigative role. The needs of the Bureau far outweighed his obligation to our drug squad in Miami or the FBI Miami Division for that matter.

September 11th terrorist attack the U.S., and we were forced to watch as they used airplanes to crash into the World Trade Centers in New York City. First responders and other rescue organizations were thrust into immediate action, and were very confused because they did not know how bad the situation was with the communications and disorganization of some of our government agencies. The horror of watching the WTC crashing down was shocking. We suffered a massive loss of life, so within this paper we will try to understand all the things that interfered with public safety’s responding to the crisis that day. This report will examine the types of programs that were carried out to help these organizations with communication and cooperation issues that could create a problem within these agencies across the board internally and externally, and discuss the different types of programs that were carried out after 9/11 to help LEOs and other organizations. These issues need to be discussed because without cooperation the leaders of these organizations are thrust into the limelight and deem as self-serving. Therefore, it is beneficial for everyone to find ways to deter terrorism, but that cannot happen if they do not cooperate. The FBI and the CIA are the main agencies that need to fix this issue, and make organizational changes, and it would behoove us to move past 9/11, and examine all the things that went wrong and fix them for the greater good of society.

On September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda operatives executed a violent and lethal terrorist attack against the United States. The attacks against the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, United Airlines flight 93, and the Pentagon, have collectively been deemed the deadliest terrorist attack to take place on American soil in the history of the United States. The appalling attacks against New York City and the nation’s capital triggered an immediate assessment of the intelligence community, existing anti-terrorism policies and methodologies, and the overall structure of the United States intelligence community. More specifically, the federal government began to assess its existing capabilities to ensure domestic homeland security and enhance the security posture of the United States. An array of after-action reports indicated that communication and collaboration between varying government agencies was limited and very difficult to navigate. More specifically, intelligence agencies were extremely restricted and compartmentalized and as a result of such lapses, Al Qaeda was successful in their attack planning and execution. Although there has been a recognizable improvement in communication throughout the intelligence community, the United States must evolve and

After the horrific attacks on September 11th, 2001, The United States had a new mission at hand. They needed to repair their procedures of responding to natural disasters or massive attacks. They needed to create a system that would ensure that everyone, from local law enforcement to the top guy in the federal government, were in sync and on the same page for training purposes and during actual national incidents. The American government did a review of the 2001 attacks and discussed what caused the issue, what steps or procedures were carried out, and what could have been done in order to correct any faults that might of taken place. One of the main issues discovered, was all the different agencies, departments, and private sectors

On February 26th 1993, Al Qaeda members Ramzi Yousef, and accomplice Mohammad Salameh drove a rented van, loaded with explosives into the basement parking lot of the World Trade Center in New York City. The van exploded, killing 6 innocent civilians and