Why would the Government hire a security consultant and then not listen to him?

I received an interesting piece from one of my friends in Homeland Security. It concerns Juval Aviv, the Bodyguard for Golda Meir and the person she sent out to track down those responsible for killing the Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympic games.



Apparently Mr. Aviv delivered a lecture in New York City a couple of weeks ago. He made some startling predictions. One of these is the fact that he believes the next attack(s)on the U.S. will occur in the next few months and it will involve suicide and non-suicide bombers where large numbers of people congregate. This will not come as any surprise to those of us who have seen the Al Qaida training types showing training scenarios aimed at football stadiums, shopping malls, golf tournaments, etc.


Interestingly, Aviv claims that these threats are well known by the U.S. Govt. but they do not want to "alarm citizens" with the facts. Aviv just might know what he's talking about there since he currently serves as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress and other policy makers. There is no doubt that he knows what he is talking about when he describes what is needed at U.S. airports.

I have long known that U.S. airports are not as safe as people would like to think. Apart from all of the "mistakes" and the prohibited items that make it past the security check points, there is the procedure whereby bags remain unchecked in any form until people have gained access to ticket desks and the internal front area of the airport. The people themselves are not screened until they head for the gates. What would happen if a terrorist self-detonated in the middle of a crowded airport without ever trying or expecting to make it on a plane? Scary thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless about which someone should be thinking and being concerned enough to address it.

Should Aviv be taken serious? Well, he predicted the London bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed and said that in a week, he wanted him back on the show. Unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack occurred.

It would be nice to know that the Government was doing all it could for us, but reading and hearing things like this does not exactly instill confidence. Then again, there were probably those who felt safe seeing Army reservists with rifles in our airports in the days following 9-11. That is, if you didn't think about it for more than a minute.

Like charity, security starts at home. Now more than ever, it may be a case of; "the Lord helping those who help themselves."