The November, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks were highly coordinated and sophisticated, and they were executed with the assistance of technology that was easily available to the public.
Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:
- Could the Indian government have done anything to prevent the Mumbai attacks? Explain.
- 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?
- What countermeasures to terrorists’ use of handheld devices and the Internet, if any, could be taken by the government? Explain.
- Do you feel it would be difficult to attempt to regulate the use of personal devices? Why or why not?
https://class.coloradotech.edu/CbFileShareCommon/ctu/HLS210/Assignment_Assets/NIMS_Recommended_Standards_List.pdf
Overview
This opinion piece began with three theories regarding the Mumbai terrorist assault in 2008. The first, which is widely accepted by Indian analysts both inside and outside of the government, claims that the attack was a component of an ongoing covert warfare campaign carried out by the ISI using “non-state” proxies.
Such a claim is supported by an important earlier occurrence in Mumbai’s history. More than 15 years before to the 26/11 incident, on March 12, 1993, a series of coordinated explosions decimated the city, leaving 257 people dead. Police investigators found that the local drug trafficking gang, whose bosses were Indian crime lords residing in Dubai, had put the devices. The Dubai authorities forced the gang leaders to leave after New Delhi demanded their extradition.
One of the fugitives was apprehended while passing through Nepal more than a year later. He said in a television interview after being turned over to Indian authorities that the 1993 bombings’ surviving masterminds were residing in Karachi under the ISI’s protection. Although his claim could have been discounted as having been pushed, it was supported by “proof” that was captured on camera, on film, and in audio.
New Delhi launched a diplomatic push after the bombings to persuade the US to label Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. A detonator that had been retrieved from a device that had failed to detonate in Mumbai was sent to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by India’s external intelligence service as part of this attempt. The detonator was made in America, and the serial number could be linked to military stockpiles in Pakistan that the US had accumulated during the Soviet-Afghan War.
