Question:

Review and reflect on the Scope of Homeland Security Discussion Board. Based on your review and reflection of new learnings in this course, write at least 300-400 words on the following:

What have you learned from others responses?
What were the most compelling points from the interaction with your fellow students?
How did participating in this discussion help in your understanding of the Discussion Board task?
What approaches could have yielded additional valuable information in the students networking?
What is still unclear after the discussion with your classmates that needs to be clarified? Use the below response for the above questions.

"The Mumbai, India terrorist attacks happened on November 26th-29th of 2008. The attack involved ten Pakistani men that were associated with the terror group "Lashkar-e-Tayyiba". They stormed into several different locations and nine of the ten men died. According to CNN.com (n.d) "these locations targeted were Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Leopold Cafe, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Metro Cinema, Cama and Albless Hospital and Nariman House." During these attacks, the men only used automatic weapons and grenades. The total amount of people that were killed are 164.

1. Could the Indian government have done anything to prevent the Mumbai attacks? Explain
2. Is there anything any government (including the United States) could do to prevent the use of readily available technology to conduct such attacks? Why or why not?

With this being said, yes I believe that the Mumbai attacks could have been prevented. Maybe not the very first attack, but I do believe that the rest could have been taken care of. Once you have any type of terrorist attack, that should of put up a red flag for Indian government to start taking precautions. Shutting down streets, putting out a alert for everyone to stay in the their homes, getting the military involved faster than how it happened, and looking for any type of suspicious suspects. May not sound as easy as it sounds, but it could have been done and at least prevented the rest of these attacks. As for if any other government including the United States government could have done anything, I also think yes. Maybe not as much as the India government but I do believe that others could have helped. Could have had the military that we had their at the time of this attack, stand out and start helping these people and trying to stop these terrorist. I know that the terrorist had this planned out which makes it harder, but they were only ten crazy men. The technology that we have could have come into place and been useful to stop these men. For example, the video footage should of immediately been seen to identify the suspects and stop them from killing and ruining other landmarks.

3. What countermeasures to terrorists'' use of handheld devices and the Internet, if any, could be taken by the government? Explain.

Like stated above, security camera''s should of been a priority to some to find out who these men are at past places they attacked so they could have prevented it from happening any further. With the government I believe that soldiers should of been involved much faster, and news should of happened as well after the first attack. The news didn''t start warning till after the third landmark was attacked. At this point, it should have been on television already and radioing back and forth should of been done a lot sooner.

4. Do you feel it would be difficult to attempt to regulate the use of personal devices? Why or why not?

I also believe that it would be difficult to attempt to regulate the use of personal devices. If directions are followed it can be done though. This is when intelligence is very important, because these devices are not easy to always handle if you are under stress and pressure to get the job done in a timely manner. For example, finding the terrorist and marking them, but not mistakenly marking a civilian, or using radios; computers, or other devices. Overall, I believe that this could have been prevented in a better time frame and people could of been saved from this tragic attack.

References:

Mumbai Terror Attacks Fast Facts - CNN.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/world/asia/mumbai-terror-attacks/