A Reflection Upon Domestic Terrorism Policy

If terrorists hijacked an airliner and demanded the release of a select few convicted criminals, I would elect not to comply with their demands. The nation's stance is that we do not negotiate with terrorists. This comes from several beliefs, the first of which being that they will simply demand more once their first demand is met. Another common belief is that once we give in to one terroristic incident, many terrorists will flock here, sensing a weakness that they may take advantage of. After all, if we fold once, why wouldn't we give in every other time? There is also the fear that once the demands are met, the hostages will be killed anyway and the plane flown into a building. These are the main factors many people take into consideration when they contemplate dealing with terrorism.

If I were in charge and this sort of situation occurred, I would call in the best hostage negotiation team the country has to offer. I would attempt to talk the terrorists into some sort of reasonable agreement, which I have absolutely no intentions of honoring. My goal would be to get them to land the plane and release all of the hostages. Part of the hostages would be a plus, but all of them is the overall goal. I would then proceed to apprehend all of them for interrogation and imprisonment. Odds are that the negotiations would not work. I would then have the airliner tailed by fighter jets. If deception would absolutely not work, I would be forced to take more drastic measures. The terrorists would most likely be willing to give their lives for this, so threats would not work, though I would attempt anyway. This would be a second to last option, due to the fact that a threatened terrorist would probably get trigger-happy. As a last option, I would debilitate the plane over a clear and flat tract of land. This would force the pilot to either crash or land. This would be the last option because the entire point would be to save the hostages. This would put them in a severe risk. In the event of the plane actually landing, I would have the best SWAT and sniper teams at my disposal to resolve this situation. I would attempt to reason with them once more, then appear to buckle and give in. This should buy some amount of time. I would then have the SWAT and sniper teams take over from there.

The main problem with any strategy in this situation is that the terrorists are willing to die to get what they want. When faced with that sort of a situation and knowing the consequences of giving them what they want, the only concrete option would be to blow them out of the sky. This is a grim concept, but it is the only way to minimize the number of innocent lives ended. A man that is willing to die for what he believes is right is a dangerous person. Unfortunately, the only foreseeable outcome of a terrorist hijacking is the airliner being shot down in order to minimize casualties.