A decade ago, as the US prepared to host the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, an American terrorist was in the planning stages of the first of four bombings. On July 27, 1996 at 12:58am local time, Eric Robert Rudolph called 911 from a payphone and stated: “There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes.” Rudolph’s 30-minute warning was designed so that first responders would still be in the kill zone. At 1:20am local time, Rudolph’s bomb detonated and killed Alice Hawthorne and injured 112 individuals . Rudolph’s written statements have been posted to the www.armyofgod.com web site, a site that is supportive of his actions. The web site provides insight into Rudolph’s motivations. He stated that “the purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.”
Too often, the law enforcement response to a terrorism incident has been inadequate to deal with the tactics and techniques used by terrorists. Until Rudolph’s bombing of the Sandy Springs Professional Office Building (see photos above) , most law enforcement officers were not trained to search for secondary devices. Not only must we apply the lessons learned from terrorists like Eric Rudolph, but we must also try to anticipate what the evolution of terrorist tactics and techniques will be.
The tactics and techniques that Rudolph used evolved with each attack. Not able to kill law enforcement and first responders with the Centennial Park attack, Rudolph changed tactics with the Sandy Springs attack. He placed the first device at the back of the Sandy Springs building near a clinic window. He placed a secondary device on the side of a hill close to a telephone pole and camouflaged it with pine needles. The first bomb detonated and drew the first responders to the scene; the second device then exploded. An employee moved her car after the first explosion, surreptitiously blocking the force of the secondary device. Rudolph could not have anticipated that his bomb would be defeated by a vehicle, but he would take that into consideration in next attack. Beside the secondary device lesson, law enforcement learned that Rudolph conducted extensive casing and surveillance of this target; Rudolph knew the timeline for the movement of people in and around the building.
On February 21, 1997, two bombs were placed at the Otherside Lounge . The first bomb was designed, again, to lure first responders to the scene. The second bomb, positioned to explode downward, was placed in bushes atop a wall. After the first device detonated, officers anticipated secondary devices. The secondary bomb exploded when a robot attempted to remove the device. Rudolph statement provides insight into his targeting of the Otherside Lounge: “The next attack in February was at The Otherside Lounge. Like the assault at the abortion mill, two devices were used. The first device was designed not necessarily to target the patrons of this homosexual bar, but rather to set the stage for the next device, which was again targeted at Washington’s agents” (source).
The evolution of tactics used by Rudolph continued. He decided that the next device would be command detonated to ensure success, and his next target was the New Woman All Women’s Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama . His statement again provides insights to targeting: “Three abortion mills were looked at in Birmingham, none of which I truly liked for a target. New Woman All Women was tactically the least objectionable” (source). On January 29, 1998, Rudolph placed a device concealed in a locked toolbox near the front door. Rudolph detonated the bomb at 7:32am local time, killing Birmingham Police Officer Robert Sanderson and gravely injuring head nurse Emily Lyons.
By 1998, Rudolph was listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. From 1998 until his arrest on May 31, 2003, Rudolph was in hiding, evading one of the largest manhunts in the United States. But, Rudolph was targeting the FBI as they attempted to locate him in North Carolina. Again, from his statement: “The new plan called for an attack in the fall of 2000?The equipment was located many miles away on the border of Tennessee. After some effort I managed to cobble together an effective device and move it to the ridge overlooking the FBI headquarters in Murphy” (source).
On April 5, 2005, law enforcement officers assembled at the National Guard Armory in Murphy, North Carolina to search for Rudolph’s hidden cache of explosives. Not far from the Armory that served as a command post for the FBI, law enforcement recovered a bomb with 25 lbs of dynamite.
As we look toward the future, we must not forget the past, for terrorist incidents of the past hold the key to anticipating the evolution of terrorist tactics, techniques, and threats that we must be prepared to face. Not only must we address where we think terrorist organizations are going, but we must train those who face these challenges so that they are able to identify terrorists’ intentions so attack can be interdicted.
