As I was driving up Interstate 5 to my TDY motel room, the local radio talk show host in Seattle was ranting about the Super Bowl. I know the Seahawk fever has seeped into the town, but the host was afraid that this would be the Super Bowl that the terrorists would attack- nuking the Seahawks into oblivion.

I don’t believe that Al Qaeda hates the Seahawks, per say, but the point is interesting to ponder. Detroit houses one of the largest Muslim communities in America. Now, with all of the required caveats, of course the majority of Muslims in Detroit are not extremists. But in the 5 years since September 11th, it is possible that networks could be built up in such neighborhoods, even if 1/10th of 1% of the population is supporting such a terror network.

We know that other sporting events like the Olympics are seen (and have been used in the past) as a great world stage on which to act out the terror play- but does the Super Bowl provide such a world stage? How many people will actually be watching the Seahawks in the target audience of the Arab world? If the target audience is Americans, will anybody notice any serious damage to Detroit? (joke, people. I don’t have to spell everything out here…)

Wrapping up, I think that a major American sporting event like the Super Bowl would be a great target of opportunity for terrorists. Yes, there may be some infrastructure in the Detroit area to facilitate some sort of direct action- but attacking the ultimate football event in this country wouldn’t weaken the United States as a whole due to the fact that the Redskins didn’t make it this year.