Eric Haney on Schools as Targets
 

He was on TV a couple of days ago, on Fox I think, commenting on Beslan and the general topic of terrorists attacking schools. He said he is very concerned that terrorists are targeting schools (taking hostages or just killing kids or whatever) in the US, particularly Jewish schools. He said it is critical for local LEOs to get their SWAT teams trained ASAP to deal with this type of threat because federal units like HRT and Delta cannot be deployed quickly enough to respond if the terrorists start killing early.

While I am sure that there are limitations on what some of you can say in a public forum, I am interested in any comments on what SGM Haney had to say.

:munchin

I am afraid that no SWAT team in America can handle a well co-ordinated terrorist attack on a school especially if they have explosives. If the terrorists are hell bent on blowing themselves up I don't see how you can stop them after they have gained control of the school. Any assault is likely to lead to the detonation of the explosives and the loss of life. As a nation our only hope is to keep them out in the first place.

You have to lock down the facility, delay the bad guys, and keep them out till the cavalry arrives.

To do this you need good SA/intel, a good response plan, an SRT on a short leash, and most of all, dedicated SROs with the right weapons and training to fight a delaying action.

The SRO at Columbine exchanged a few rounds and ran. If you do that with the current threat, you can write off your kids.

I think ALL officers need better training, and a minimum of a patrol carbine and gas in every car.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR

This is true.

It took the local LEO's HOURS to enter Columbine high school and the teenage gunmen were already dead.

The solution is not an LEO SWAT team, the solution lies with the US military.

What about letting Qualified Teachers Carry? Maybe just have a carbine in a Locker in their Classroom. Of course you would have to train the hell out of them else a determined student would just pick up and use their weapon after they got shot

Haven't done much Counter-Terror work have you Air.....
Push away from the keyboard, now move out and draw fire!

TS

Sorry TS, Was intended as a reply to TR's statement about a delaying action. Not an alternate course of action all together. I agree that the best folks for the task should be used, but they may not always be available immediately.

The problem as I see it is that if this ever does happen here the terrorists aren't going to take a school as leverage for gaining some unspecified demands. More likely than not their one and only goal will be mass murder. By the time local authorities are alerted and on the scene the terrorists will have consolidated control of the school and it will be all over.

Even worse is that cities like NYC, Chicago and DC have made firearm ownership so difficult, if not illegal, that you can can count out an armed civilian response in the mean time.

If I was in charge of Homeland Security, I'd make sure that we were putting detailed intel on all U.S. schools into some sort of database or file so that HRT or whoever knows what they need to know about the school for planning purposes. Blueprints or whatever, you know?

Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests).

Ramifications of the Posse Comitatus law regarding the Team Sergeant's suggestion? :munchin
Specifically, in a rapid developing school seige where the motives, backgrounds, and national origins of the attackers is unknown. Is this the scenario for the military's action or just FBI HRT?

I agree with TS the answer lies within.

Not with LEO's, there are too much politics in Law Enforcement for us to appropriately and adequately tackle this problem in a dynamic situation. Agencies have revamped there policies to address a Columbine type shooting, the policies and training we have received seems adequate, but we don’t train enough in it to be extremely effective. Also the trainings we have received deals with a few “Active Shooters” not well trained, organized, motivated, Terrorists. These IMHO are two totally separate scenarios.

I would be suprised if even the FBI HRT could handle something on the scale of what Russia recently saw.

Just my .02 cents

The answer is.

Executive Order lifting Posse Comitatus! And let the 1st string players do what they are trained to do.

Yes, I am aware of how the law can be worked around for National Security concerns.

I hate posting in these type threads, as I know the ones that actually have the most important opinions on the matter are least likely to post.

I think I will just :munchin

If there were an incident on US soil a tenth of the scale of what just happened Russia, pray the FBI HRT or any other (civilian) Federal law enforcement does not try to resolve the situation.

The twenty years I stood watch over this great nation there was always one aspect I understood concerning my mission as a soldier in the United States Army, that I was prepared to give my life in the defense of this nation and to order soldiers to their death if the mission called for such an action. (I don’t think the LEO’s take the same oath we do in the military.)

We will accomplish the mission, no matter the odds, we ask no quarter, and we will give none.
Never compare the US military with the civilian law enforcement. They have their job, we have ours.

Team Sergeant

Clarification ?
 

TS,

I am not sure I understand your comment.

Do you mean a military solution as a response to a terrorist takeover of a school on US soil or do you mean a military solution to the GWOT worldwide, before it can threaten our children in schools here at home ?

RC201