When is the next 9/11 going to happen ?

[Banquo's Ghost]

The latter scenario I referred to would be a 9/11 style spectacular. Who ever thought a dozen guys with knives could bring down the Twin Towers? Imagine what a few handguns a a gallon of gas could lead too.

It was the stunning surprise and the scale of destruction achieved with so little equipment that made 9/11 so surreal. The next 9/11 could be be just as surprising and destructive, and could still be achieved with "minimum requirements".

Honestly, in terms of organisation the 9-11 attacks was extremely complex. It was not a couple of dozen guys with knives that happened to jump on some planes. Investigations have shown that the preparations took so long and involved so many threads, that if we had the level of intelligence awareness we have now, it would have been detected.

As Lemur pointed out, the likelihood of hijacking planes for suicide bombs is remote now. We have a much better idea of the modus operandi of our enemies. Not having aerial bombs reduces the targets available dramatically.

This does not mean however, that a bunch of nutters can't get fertiliser bombs onto a train and blow several hundred souls to glory. It does mean that if they are directed at all, and involve more than two or three close relatives, we are likely to rumble them first.