New York City
The city that could be attractive and vulnerable to a terrorist attack is New York City. The Census Bureau estimates that the city had a population of about 8,336,697 people as of July 2012. This in itself is attractive for any terrorist mind out there. Terrorists target places that have large populations so as to achieve the greatest effect. For a terrorist, the greatest effect is causing harm to or killing scores of people. At the same time, ensuring security for such a huge population is quite demanding and strenuous and at times many people might become vulnerable. Therefore, the highly populated New York City provides a very attractive target for terrorists.
New York City’s infrastructure also makes the city attractive and vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The city has 3 airports which include the JFK, LaGuardia and Newark International Airport. With these airports handling numerous of domestic and international flights everyday, there are bound to be vulnerabilities that terrorists can exploit. The New York City subway system is also vulnerable. It is estimated that about 4.3 million people use the subway system each day that passes. This is quite attractive for any terrorist. Other vulnerable areas include the water supply system, the busy ports, the many high profile buildings and recreational centers such as the Times Square. For example, Cruz (2008) observed that hotels in New York were vulnerable to terror attacks such as those witnessed in Mumbai. Another consolation for the terrorist would be that the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists in 1993 and 2001. Therefore, if the same place was bitten twice, then the terrorist would not be shy to bite it for the third time. Therefore, I chose New York City.
References
Cruz, W. (2008, December 5) NYPD: Hotels in New York Prone to Mumbai-Type Terror Attacks. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-new-york-hotels- ulnerable-mumbai-type-terror-attack-article-1.354139
