Duck and cover

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

In October of 1962, when I was in the seventh grade, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred.

At school, we practiced "duck and cover," whereby we got on the floor and put our hands over our heads. Our teachers were issued radios which were continuously kept on, at low volume, on a station that apparently was set to broadcast an emergency warning if a missile strike came.

Living in the southwest quadrant of Ohio, an important military target due to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, still today the largest United States Air Force Base, it is very likely any of us within a 100 miles of it would have been turned into glowing radioactive toast in the event of nuclear war.

But "duck and cover" was probably designed to placate our parents and give all of us a sense of control over matters we could not control. Fortunately, we never were forced to test it.

Today, we face a threat perhaps just as ominous. Today, we have the Department of Homeland Security.

Today's threat could use some advanced guidance and training from Homeland Security. No such training seems to be forthcoming.

I speak of a threat mentioned before in this column, RPAs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft), or, in the common vernacular, drones. There is already some misplaced panic concerning these in the general populace – just recently, it was reported that the infamous alleged murderer in southern California was being tracked by a drone and people immediately jumped to the conclusion that the drone was armed. Not so. Due process is not quite dead, yet.

The real threat from RPAs comes from the terrorists.

But first, a little background. RPAs today come in over 1,300 different designs developed and manufactured around the world. There are 10 categories of sizes in the tactical subgroup (there are also subgroups labeled strategic and special).

The tiniest and the largest are very expensive. In the middle, are models that are very inexpensive but of great capabilities – able to fly to an exact set of coordinates and hover at a specific altitude carrying a payload of several pounds.

The terrorists (name your favorite group, from the Taliban to al-Qaeda) hate the U.S. drone program. They no doubt want to strike back at it. RPAs provide them with this opportunity in kind.

Imagine a pleasant summer evening in the U.S. Ten professional baseball games are being played across the country. Even half full, the stadiums collectively hold at least 200,000 people. What could be a greater symbol of America? It is dark. Four or five blocks from each stadium, a car stops and places something in the middle of the street. It drives off.

That "something" is an RPA (from which all serial numbers have been removed) which is programmed to fly to the coordinates of the local stadium's home plate, hovering exactly 50 feet above it. It arrives at its location and spins around for a couple of minutes, just to get everyone's attention.

The gun on board begins to randomly shoot into the crowd. It stops shooting for a minute, waiting for the screams to start. Then the whole thing blows up, simultaneously obliterating the evidence and causing panic among the crowd.

Hundreds are trampled to death as in panic they try to leave the stadium. The cost of all the equipment to do this is less than $3,000 per target.

The next day, life as we know it comes to a virtual standstill. The mood of the public is more wretched than after 9/11.

We have been attacked by an invisible enemy and, worse, we don't know where he is going to attack us again. Just fly an unarmed RPA down the middle of Broadway in Manhattan and panic will ensue.

Suddenly, worrying about who has a gun and whether it is registered or not seems so old-fashioned and quaint as an idea.

Now, I work full time and love my country. My mind is fully occupied and I am cherishing life in the United States. If I can think up the above scenario without even trying, I'll wager the terrorists are cooking up a similar or worse scenario.

They have the motive. The means are accessible anywhere. Such a plan could be executed as soon as targets are chosen by them. We are not in control.

Why isn't Homeland Security preparing us for this?

Preparation, even the old "duck and cover," could save many lives. More importantly, it could help us all deal with the day after, for it would be something for which we are then mentally prepared.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga., following decades of wandering the world, and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.