The business of terror

This is about the 5th or 6th time this year that terrorists are striking on Indian soil - Bangalore , Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad and now Mumbai. The latest attack on Mumbai leaves the earlier ones in a shadow as far as audacity is concerned. When 20 terrorists can get down on Gateway of India waterfront with machine guns and grenades and start occupying hotels and cafes, it makes you wonder if this is for real or just scenes from Die-Hard series.

Emotions are running high right now. And they ought to be. The biggest learning from this terror attack is clear : India is completely ill-equipped in its Anti Terrorism effort. Forget about stricter laws like POTA or Guantanamo like facilities, the most important missing element is MONEY.
US set up Department of Homeland Security after 9/11 and created an entire eco-system including government agencies, businesses and intelligence think-tanks. India must do the same. The government must start working on a sophisticated survelliance network using the latest technologies.

There is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to create businesses which can help incubate this network. A simple example is jammers. On getting the first indication of trouble, the security agencies should be able to switch to a dedicated security spectrum and rest of the spectrum should be jammed ( preferably in a restricted area) . Ditto for Wi-fi , cable and any other connectivity. Similarly, one could create robots which can tackle this kind of hostage situation or employ them for survelliance. The possibilities are endless. But who will take the lead?