Political Correctness Has No Place in Fighting Terrorism

Kevin Reagan

Security, Europe

Sensitivity must take a backseat to realistic training.

There is no question that there is an inherent need for nuance in counterterrorism efforts in this second decade of the twenty-first century. The nature of terror threats are often rapidly evolving and may run counter to popular media narratives. For example, while the media in the United States may focus gratuitously on the threat of ISIS operatives returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Syria to conduct attacks on domestic soil, it may end up being radicalized individuals without international travel and training experience (like San Bernardino) who end up doing the most damage.

Western European countries face similar terror threats to the United States, imminent there, given certain cultural and geographic factors, the threats are often more imminent. The recent attacks in Paris and Brussels by locally-raised but ISIS-directed individuals started difficult but necessary dialogues on radicalization among disaffected youths, and the de facto segregation of Muslim community experiences in Europe. These dialogues will no doubt play an integral role in shaping counterterrorism efforts there in the years to come.

Yet this new dialogue must go hand-in-hand with practical counterterrorism measures, which do not always enjoy the luxury of pre-implementation debate. It is incumbent upon specialized counterterrorism teams to do their best with the information they have available to them regarding the current nature of threats. Highly realistic training exercises, carefully planned and coordinated down to very minute details, are essential to their preparation in responding to the next potential attack, bringing us to this maddeningly frustrating headline from the United Kingdom. According to the BBC article, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were “forced to apologize” for racial stereotyping in a counterterrorism exercise which simulated a Paris-style suicide attack on a shopping mall.