Threat displacement instead of threat eradication: Some concluding caveats

Abstract

In this brief concluding chapter of the book’s second part, I will offer a couple of warnings or ‘caveats’ before moving on to the more fundamental discussion of the merits and demerits of using technology as a sliver bullet against terrorism in the third part. First of all, I argue that the introduction of available technologies, especially off-the-shelf solutions, has been a rather slow and tedious one. Secondly, I argue that all the security measures discussed do not completely eradicate the threat posed by terrorists: they rather displace it to areas just outside the defence perimeters. And thirdly, I point out that some attacks simply cannot be prevented as long as we are not prepared to deploy plenty of sniffers, scanners and other detection devices all over the city.