The newest challenge facing the law enforcement profession is unlike any other it has seen before. Incident planning and event intelligence in conventional times were straightforward. The local criminal element had a face and in many cases a known, predictable method of operation that could be detected or omitted from the event. Terrorism has no face and, more importantly, no predictable method of attack on an objective or target. When and who will be next? How will the law enforcement community prepare for and prevent these acts before they injure and kill many innocent citizens?

Communities not only expect their local agencies to meet this challenge; they demand that agencies take all possible measures of prevention as the number of terrorism-related events increase around the globe. Thus, the profession’s evolving mission will require a thorough understanding not only of its new role in this process but also of how it will integrate new and emerging antiterrorism plans as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) detection technologies into its standard operating plans.