The threat of a major terror event taking place on U.S. soil is at a dangerously high level with big cities like New York City and Washington, D.C. most vulnerable to an attack, terror experts are warning.
It’s been over 23 years since nearly 3,000 people perished on 9/11, but even though surveillance and airport security has been beefed up, the world has changed considerably since then.
Technology has become cheaper and more advanced; the internet is lightning fast, and America’s open border means millions of unvetted people from all over the world are now living among the general population and continue to pour in at record rates.
“We are in a period where a number of factors are combining to make a terrorist attack on the homeland far more likely than it perhaps had been,” says Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector who worked in counterterrorism for nearly 15 years.
Mauro said the risk of a potential new attack should be assessed in a criminal context – who has the means, motive and opportunity to successfully execute a deadly plot.
“The world has gotten a lot smaller since 9/11. You’ve got drones, the interconnectivity of the internet is more ubiquitous into areas that maybe didn’t have that connectivity. You can get an uplink using something like an Elon Musk satellite. You can get online from the mountains of the Hindu Kush, you’ve got AI capabilities, you’ve had all that time to develop capabilities since 9/11 if you are still in the [terror] business.”
