Many remember the truck attack in 2017, where a terrorist rented a van, killed 8, and injured 11 in Manhattan. My colleague at the Chertoff Group, General Michael Hayden, referred to it at the time as an “attack of limits.”
Given the sophistication of tools available to law enforcement, aggressors and terrorists have difficulty planning large, complex attacks and are limited to more primitive tactics. Similarly, law enforcement and security professionals are limited in their ability to detect, disrupt, or defeat such unsophisticated attacks.
Last weekend, the murder of innocent civilians attending a holiday parade in Waukesha City, Wisconsin was a sobering reminder that, even as our country suffers through the devastation of a pandemic, “attacks of limits” continue to test law enforcement and security professionals.
The suspect in Wisconsin appears to have been fleeing a domestic dispute, instead of carrying out a pre-meditated terrorist attack. Early reports indicate that he drove through police barricades, and, though there may be room to improve bollard placement and deploy high-speed vehicle barriers, everyday activities, devices, and vehicles can and will be used as weapons.
As if the sinewave of infections that continues to test our public health officials and claim lives wasn’t enough, security and safety tragedies likely only will increase as people begin to travel, gather, and resume some semblance of normal life.
It begs the question: Is there anything we can do? The answer is a resounding “maybe.”
I remember finishing my service as a United States Air Force anti-terrorism and security officer in Europe in 2016, just as an eerily similar truck attack occurred in Nice. We taught military members and their families then to fight complacency, keep their heads out of their phones, stay attuned to their surroundings, and contemplate escape routes when gathering in public.
Planning for contingencies and constantly thinking through attack scenarios are techniques the military reinforces with our soldiers who are traveling or entering high-threat environments. Unfortunately, extremists exist here at home, and weaponizing everyday objects and targeting civilians means the threat of violence is just as unpredictable and increasingly prevalent on our own soil.
I am not suggesting that the victims in Wisconsin could have avoided a high-speed SUV through “situational awareness” alone, or by leaving their smartphones at home. This is a complex situation that will go through an extensive after-action review process.
I do believe, however, that collectively, we have been so focused on the pandemic that we need to remember that we live in a polarized, dynamic, and often violent world.
Organizations, families, law enforcement, security planners and defenders, and even individuals need to fight complacency, dust-off physical and mental playbooks, be aware, and remember how to detect, disrupt, and respond to the crudest of security threats. This is also the time for organizations and first responders to conduct table-top and live exercises to identify and close the gaps and reinforce the functional seams that expose vulnerabilities, as well as to reverse the pandemic-related atrophy that may now exist.
If we, collectively, think as creatively – and as morbidly – as our adversaries, it may be possible to minimize the effects, or even prevent the next Waukesha-style attack of limits.
One thing we know for sure – complacency doesn’t work.
Ben Joelson is a Managing Director at The Chertoff Group, a global risk advisory firm based in Washington D.C.
