Al Qaeda Analysts Must be Watching Transportation Trends

The 2 January WSJ article entitled, "Public-Transit Passengers Face Rough Ride," states "Public transportation will be more crowded and costlier this year as big-city transit systems respond to severe budget pressures." We analysts can rightly assume that AQ analysts are monitoring this trend when conducting our own assessments, especially TSA-natured briefings. Maintaining a steady ebb and flow in our transportation protects our social, economic, and political infrastructure which produces goods and services of value.

In light of President Obama's investigative review of TSA - i.e. airline travel - it is important to comprehensively analyze the holistic picture due to the "promise" of Abdulmutallah: "There will be more like me..." A report of this type is needed not to criticize the intelligence community as a whole but to pursue the opportunity available at this time: to streamline a system of binding communication that is timely, accurate, and useful across the matrix of intelligence.

The scientific perspective known as systems theory can help. The economic pressure of budget cuts and restraints is related directly to security pressures, i.e. crowded areas. More attacks like Detroit will continually target transit systems throughout city-areas and/or between urban areas, i.e. NY to D.C. Being aware of the highly probable fact that AQ analysts are monitoring and projecting our measurable increase in numbers in situated urban locations enables us - in certain ways and to varying degrees - to prevent and to protect.

The article ends by saying, "The people that are being hurt are the teenagers and the high school students." Though we analysts cannot help much economically, we will continue our duty so that no teenager or high schooler - and all others - is physically harmed. AQAP's Detroit attack, as I stated here, warns us that all cities and not only major cities are vulnerable.