The Challenge
Many years back I worked for Kroll, Inc. It was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, so terrorism was on everybody’s radar. As a result, we purchased a training facility in Fredericksburg, VA called “The Crucible.” It was manned by a bunch of tough and no-nonsense former special forces guys. They trained people in firearms, vehicle operations, self-defense, situational awareness, etc. Many of their clients were contractors going overseas as peacekeepers working for the UN or the State Department.
I visited the facility along with several of my colleagues from Kroll. We wanted to see the operation up close and personal so we took part in their training exercises. One such exercise had us break up into four groups of four people each. We used our own personal vehicles (4 teams, 4 in each car). In my car with me were a retired Captain from the NYPD, a retired Detective from the LAPD, and a retired Sergeant from Scotland Yard.
The assignment given to us by the Instructors was this: we were tasked (hypothetically of course) with the job of assassinating a high-ranking member of the military. We were told (again, hypothetically) that he visited a certain Bagel store every morning. We were then told that the equipment we would have (hypothetically) was two cars, a bus, two radios, two cell phones, handguns and automatic weapons (AR15’s).
So off we went to this Bagel store to do pre-planning and reconnaissance work. After we looked around and devised our plan we all went back to the classroom to reveal our attack plans. My team said we would have one car stationed near the road he traveled once he left his house and headed to the Bagel store. The other car would be at the Bagel store, along with the bus. We would get word when he was approaching by radio and/or cell phone. We would then wait until he entered the Bagel store and would then move the bus into position to block his car and driver in. When he exited the store we would assassinate him with the automatic weapons and leave to meet up with our other guy at a prearranged location.
The Result
So here was the lesson to be had. Except for very minor variations, all four teams devised the exact same plan. The only variation was that we said we would place a call to 911 right before the hit and say that an officer needed assistance at some distant point in the city to draw patrol officers away from the Bagel store. Other than that, we all thought alike. It wasn’t rocket science after all. Nobody came up with anything that the others didn’t come up with too.
So the Instructor said, “the plan you guys came up with would probably be the same plan the terrorists would come up with. So think like a terrorist and you’ll prevent a lot of these attacks.”