Re: Border Security System Left Open

[Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu]

On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 12:00:41 CDT, StyleWar said:
> I guess I don't get it James.
>
> My point was that until 9/11 HAPPENED, that anything on the order of what
> happened would have been considered a 'movie plot' threat as described by
> Valdis.

Coincidentally, in this month's Cryptogram, Bruce Schneier writes:

      Movie-Plot Threat Contest

For a while now, I have been writing about our penchant for "movie-plot 
threats": terrorist fears based on very specific attack 
scenarios.  Terrorists with crop dusters, terrorists exploding baby 
carriages in subways, terrorists filling school buses with explosives 
-- these are all movie-plot threats.  They're good for scaring people, 
but it's just silly to build national security policy around them.

But if we're going to worry about unlikely attacks, why can't they be 
exciting and innovative ones?  If Americans are going to be scared, 
shouldn't they be scared of things that are really scary?  "Blowing up 
the Super Bowl" is a movie plot to be sure, but it's not a very good 
movie.  Let's kick this up a notch.

It is in this spirit I announce the (possibly First) Movie-Plot Threat 
Contest.  Entrants are invited to submit the most unlikely, yet still 
plausible, terrorist attack scenarios they can come up with.

Your goal: cause terror.  Make the American people notice.  Inflict 
lasting damage on the U.S. economy.  Change the political landscape, or 
the culture.  The more grandiose the goal, the better.

Assume an attacker profile on the order of 9/11: 20 to 30 unskilled 
people, and about $500,000 with which to buy skills, equipment, etc.

Post your movie plots here on this blog.

Judging will be by me, swayed by popular acclaim in the blog comments 
section.  The prize will be an autographed copy of Beyond Fear.  And if 
I can swing it, a phone call with a real live movie producer.

Entries close at the end of the month -- April 30.

This is not an April Fool's joke, although it's in the spirit of the 
season.  The purpose of this contest is absurd humor, but I hope it 
also makes a point.  Terrorism is a real threat, but we're not any 
safer through security measures that require us to correctly guess what 
the terrorists are going to do next.

Good luck.

Post your entries, and read the others, here:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/04/announcing_movi.html

Movie-plot threats:
http://www.schneier.com/essay-087.html

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,175951,00.html
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/10/exploding_baby.html
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/02/school_bus_driv.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765

There are hundreds of ideas here:
http://cockeyed.com/citizen/terror/plans/terrorwatch.html

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