The book begins with comments on the focusing of the terrorist attack along the lines of authority and organization between military and police operation and includes an examination of the United States counterterrorist ability to make and use them, the legal limitations of police response operations in the United States, and defensive response to this form of attack. It concludes with commentary on actions that may be needed if this threat continues to develop in the United States. Relying on both experience and research, the author synthesizes the varied military, law enforcement, and private security approaches into a detailed analysis of the threat posed by terrorist use of homicide bombs and the necessary internal response. The book attempts to provide the local police, security, and emergency officials with the basic considerations in the areas of police operations, policy and legal review, terrorist group assessment, explosive weapons of mass destruction assessment, vulnerability assessment, tactical assessment, and prevention, defensive, and response actions against the homicide bomber. If the threat of homicide bombs continues to develop, the police and military agencies of the United States will be confronted with the necessity for clear and decisive speech and clear and decisive actions. The task remaining is to prevent, defend, or respond to the use of homicide bombs. The intent of this book is to demonstrate the nature of the threat more clearly and both the complexity and nature of effective response to the threat. Figures, appendixes A-C and references