Capitol Police Trained to Thwart Suicide Bombers

Capitol Police and Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) officials had organized a trip to Israel in November 2002 in order to learn about how to deal with suicide attacks. The Capitol Police, which received information and support from an Israeli police force experienced in dealing with the threat of suicide bombers, trained some of its personnel to specifically deal with such scenarios. Demolition experts from the Israeli police also came to Washington last month and met with the Capitol Police for a second time. Israel instructed several members of the US Capitol Police in various aspects of counter terrorism; in particular, the art of shooting a suspected suicide bomber in the head.

The most recent "Orange Alert" has drawn its fair share of criticism however. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was very outspoken about the increased costs that his city must bear every time the terror alert is raised. Bloomberg demanded that the federal administration support them on this issue.

In addition, increasing the security level in states like New Jersey, which had not been specifically targeted before, caused these places to be caught unprepared.