Terrrorism and decentralizing via the Internet

TomF

I was very affected by the awful scenes broadcast from New York City and northern Virginia, and my wife even came over and gave me a hug while I was staring at the television. 8(

I also feel terrible when I hear of or see the sad things that happen in Palestine and Jerusalem, not to mention Omagh and Belfast (my wife's home town).

Seeing how many lives could be snuffed out made me think that buildings like the Pentagon or the World Trade Center should never again be built to offer such easy targets. It also made me think that maybe the USA should be decentralizing so that all those headquarters aren't crammed into tiny places like Manhattan Island on the very fringe of the country, and the same with the federal government. With the arrival of the Internet surely the time has come to spread-out.

I think this is a lesson that can be learned by the powers that be in Dublin. Some 30 percent of the population of Ireland is jammed into the city and most of the government is still there. Isn't it time that the Irish government caught on to the Internet in a big way and decentralized? Isn't this an argument for Ireland Offline to offer to Bertie & Co. to convince them that it is important for safety as well as efficiency for the Internet to be accessible and fast here?

Victor

Yes, and no.

Yes, it has become possible to decentralise individual agencies and offices. Some smaller departments even. And the internet can help in that process, through improved communications, but also other concepts like home working.

However, the most practical way to operate large organisations (e.g. Government agencies and offices) is to operate with each section in a single location. Each of these sections need to be of a viable size for transport of customers, staff and goods, distribution, communication (internal and external), core services and even "simple things" like building teams, identity and corporate image. Depending on function, the majority of sections (based on population, modified as necessary) might optimise between 100 and 1,000 people. Too small and it becomes too costly to operate and it cannot handle peak demands. Too big and it becomes bureaucratic and unwieldy.

Dublin has few points where thousands or tens of thousands of people congregate, (Croke Park, Lansdowne Road, shopping centres, the Airport, concert events). While all of these are potential locations for serious incidents, none of them is a viable target on the scale of the World Trade Centre or the Pentagon, in terms of profile, population or targetability. Of course, neither do they have the defence.

BKtje

Dont get to worried
Ireland is still neutral and there is very little point in attacking ireland (republic).
we aint done jack **** to any one