With the September 11 attacks, many people acted like we were facing domestic terrorism for the first time, but in fact this is not the case. Even in the United States, there have been many recent terrorist attacks in the past decade or so. There was the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center bombing, the Unabomber, and many other, less well-known examples. Although the September 11 attacks brought domestic terrorism to a new level, it didn't introduce anything new.
To understand terrorism, we need to understand the context it occurs within. A lot of people act as if the motives of terrorists are absolutely mysterious and terrifying, but this is far from the case. There are some truly crazy terrorists, but they are the minority. Most of them are people involved in a military struggle, using the means that are available for them. Domestic terrorism is a strategy used by people whose goals and political situation don't allow them to fight a conventional military war. A domestic terrorist can get a lot more accomplished with a car bomb that he can by declaring war on a country. The United States military has evolved to the point where it can win almost any domestic war it wants to, but it still can't succeed in anti terrorism prevention completely. Anyone driven enough, smart enough, lucky enough, and connected enough can stage a terrorist bombing.
The key to stopping domestic terrorist groups is to keep an eye on them before they decide to commit an act of terror. The idea of the terrorist mastermind that you see in movies is far from the truth. Domestic terrorism, like any other sort of underground conspiracy, is subject to all sorts of problems. People lose the stomach for the act, defect to authorities, run out of resources, or suffer from plain old bad luck. The authorities know this, and they also know they can keep an eye on domestic terrorists. They infiltrate organizations that they think may decide to engage in domestic terrorism in the future. They keep an eye on these groups, sometimes for years, knowing that this will let them be right where they need to be if the organization attacks.
That doesn't mean there aren't high-tech tools to help prevent domestic terrorism. Of course there are. There are bomb scanners, surveillance cameras, sophisticated security infrastructures, and other things like that. However, it all comes down to this: in a city with millions of people in it like New York, Los Angeles, or any other major American city, there is only so much you can do to watch people. The fact is, there are so many people doing so many things at once that, unless you know who to look for and where, you can easily miss something. Fighting domestic terrorism requires smart technology, but it requires smart policy even more.
