TT: Not ready for terrorist prime time

At least in part, Friday’s flashback to July 27, 1990, was prompted by the discovery, some days before in St James, of terrorist-linked arms and ammunition.

Moreover, the history of how the 1990 events really unfolded remains murky. That the perpetrators have remained defiantly and unrepentantly free fosters a troubling sense, 14 years later, of unfinished terrorist business still to be accomplished.

Are the security forces in 2004 more ready and alert than they were in 1990? Do they have better intelligence and better planning for effective responses?

Without second-guessing officials such as the Police Commissioner, it is necessary to ask if resources adequate in quality and quantity have been devoted to such national security threats.

In this respect, National Security Minister Martin Joseph was less than fully reassuring in letting slip that the authorities may lack the rudimentary capacity effectively to trace the origin of bomb-threat telephone calls.

The public would be disappointed to find that a higher level of technological and intelligence competence is not yet at the service of the security authorities.