Terrorism
Recently Europe has been awash is bloodshed. From Manchester to London Bridge, from French promenades to German markets, terrorism is on the loose. Counter Intelligence services have their hands full trying as hard as they can to prevent attacks.
As hard as they try though, they can not prevent them all. Their failures are also glaringly obvious. One of the terrorists in the London bridge attack had been flagged as a potential radical and had even undergone questioning before. Still, he was allowed to go free and went on to perpetuate the massacre.
The Boston Marathon Bombing
Lest you think that only happens in Europe, that is not the case. US counter intelligence services had their eyes on the Tsarniev brothers- Chechen refugees who committed the Boston marathon bombing. Despite their being on the government’s radar they managed to buy the components for their bombs, build them, and kill Americans.
Threat Prevention
The Europeans, however, are pretty unique. British police have some of the most lax laws in the Western world regarding how they can collect intelligence and spy on citizens. While the American intelligence services must obtain a warrant signed by a judge, the British need only a warrant signed by any MK in their parliament. This means, essentially, that the executive branch of the government is signing off on itself. Still, the British are wary of using their immense powers. And while that is probably a good thing in general, when it come to threat prevention in the terrorist sense this is a huge handicap.
Private Security Guards
In many public places in Texas, the owners must hire private security guards for the entrances of their buildings. This is due to the constant threat of violence against businesses and people posed by criminals. Will this become common practice in the rest of the Western world? While that is hard to say, it is not hard to imagine security increasing to help combat the vast and unpredictable threat the civilized world faces.
