Part of the problem the Coast Guard or any port police force faces is discerning a terrorist needle in a mammoth haystack of legitimate recreational boaters. The US has no national registry or national system of operator licensing for the 18 million recreational boats in the United States. The only way to anticipate whether a boater may pose a threat is by observing the vessel and its operator’s behavior. The Coast Guard does not usually provide an escort for tankers carrying crude oil, so there often is not even anyone available to make this call. For LNG, the Coast Guard has established a half-mile exclusion zone on either side of a tanker — essentially a regulatory no-man’s land that boaters are supposed to steer clear of. But a small boat traveling at 50 knots can enter that zone and be alongside a ship in just over 30 seconds. Once the LNG tanker is inside the harbor, the channel may be only a few hundred yards wide, a distance that can be traveled in the blink of an eye. This leaves virtually no time for the Coast Guard escort vessels to determine that they are facing an imminent attack as opposed to a reckless or ignorant everyday boater. Firing on the attacking boat is very problematical. Even if there were not all the risks associated with using automatic firearms near a waterfront where people live, work, and play, it is extremely hard to hit a small vessel moving at a high speed from another moving vessel.
As for securing a small boat to carry out an attack, Khalid, Nabih, and their compatriots learned that purchasing a Zodiac boat with a powerful outboard motor in the US was about as easy as buying a plasma television. It could then be outfitted with an improvised shape charge constructed with explosive materials and technology readily available within the US. The best way to gain access to the water without drawing too much attention to themselves would be to transport their Zodiacs on a trailer puller behind an SUV to an open public boat ramp. Once inside the harbor, two Zodiacs traveling at the speed of 40-plus knots could pull out of a nearby marina, penetrate the Coast Guard’s security perimeter, and be alongside a lumbering vessel with little risk of being intercepted. It would be a suicide mission, but Allah would surely reward them for carrying out such a bold strike on the infidels.
Confident that their plan was a viable one, the group met with their imam, who commended them for their unwavering commitment to defeating the crusaders. He provided them with contacts at mosques in the Los Angeles and Boston areas. The five men decided they would leave within a month on different flights to Logan and LAX.
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