Terrorism and its Prevention

Terrorism and Its Prevention
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Terrorism in Kansas City
Two decades after the 9/11 deadly terrorist attack carried out by foreign Jihadist terrorists, the threat of terrorism in the United States has rapidly grown, particularly from domestic terrorist actors. Like the rest of the country, Kansas City has experienced a host of domestic terror threats such as the Garden City, Kansas, apartment complex attack, the planned car bombs incident outside hospital caring for Covid-19 patients by Timothy Wilson, and terror plots from political and religious extremists. Such incidents have informed the city in coming up with sufficient mitigation, recovery, and response mechanisms.
Mitigation, recovery, and response efforts toward terrorism in Kansas City
(Night Hawk Monitoring, 2017)
In mitigating cases of terrorism, according to Kansas City Regional Fusion Center (2022), the local and state federal officials come together to identify and deter any form of terrorist threats in the city. The city utilizes passive and active surveillance and search procedures. These include using sensor technologies to screen all people, mails, baggage, and cargo getting into the city through various forms of transportation. Physical searches are also conducted on every person entering private or public institutions. Additionally, real-time surveillance is adopted by using security cameras in homes, businesses, on the streets of the city, and government buildings to ensure every occurrence is recorded and documented in real-time. Moreover, the city residents are trained to identify and detect possible terror threats (Homeland Security, 2016, pp. 18-19).
Response to a terrorist attack involves planning on the different resources that will be dispersed depending on the type of terrorist attack meted on the city. Such resources include finances, human resources, medical facilities, and protective equipment. Next is assessing the situation and collecting as much information as possible to inform the response plan. The emergency responders stationed in the city respond to the incidents, stop the attack, protect the residents, and help end the disaster. The Kansas City government disseminates information about the attack through TVs, radios, and social media, advising all the residents to stay vigilant and be on the lookout for the suspects. Additionally, massive care for the injured and affected and transportation to various health facilities are offered (GUIDE, 2002, pp. 21-30).
Recovery efforts after a terrorist attack involve containing the terrorist incident to prevent further harm to the public, offering support and assistance to the victims according to the Kansas City victim assistance law, and offering psychological counseling to the victims of the attack and their families. Clearing and decontamination of the incident area depending on the agent used for the attack. Also, search and rescue is organized to save more victims trapped or hidden during the attack and offer them medical care and recovery of fatalities (GUIDE, 2002, pp. 30-33).
Personnel conducting the response efforts and the risks they experience
(Benner, 2019)
In mitigating the effects of the domestic terrorist attack in Kansas City, the Fusion Center, comprising of the police, fire department, emergency responders, public health officials, the city government, community, and business representatives, and the local FBI office collected information and monitored the different potential terror threats (Kansas City Regional Fusion Center, 2022). In collaboration with the police, the city government instituted surveillance and search procedures all over the city. The police, FBI, and city council educated the public on what terror threats look like and what to look out for every day.
In response to a terrorist attack, the city council planned and organized the different resources necessary to deal with the incident. The police and the FBI were dispersed to respond to the incident and deal with the mass shooter threat actors. The fire department and the emergency responders offered support to clear structural damages, put off fires, and rescue and offer first aid to the bombing and mass shooting victims. The city council kept the residents informed of the rescue operation. The police and the FBI contained the terror incident during recovery, and the fire department and emergency medical personnel, according to the GUIDE (2002), searched and rescued the remaining victims, offered them support, and cleared the incident site.
Responding to the mass shooting and bomb terrorist attack exposes these first responders to various vulnerabilities. If still ongoing, the first responders are likely to become victims of terrorist attacks, such as mass shootings. Additionally, since they do not know where secondary explosives are, they are likely to be injured or killed in the process of arresting the situation. Emergency medical responders are exposed to hazards that may have been utilized in the terror incident, such as biological or chemical hazards (Thompson et al., 2014, pp. 6-11). Airborne particles and polluted air from a collapsed building, falling objects, and fire can also cause harm or death to t...