I was recently published in “Progressive Railroading” and “Rail Professional” magazines about open source intelligence. The reason I am writing this is the day before the attacks in Paris I contacted the editor of Rail Professional (a U.K. magazine) because there was an article about MI-5 (U.K Intelligence) concerned about terrorism on their transportation system. When I asked if there was any feedback to my article, the editor said “no” but a week after your article rail transportation security passed out flyers to the public on what to do in a terrorist situation. The editor said there was pushback from the public that this was “fear mongering.” I got the same comments on “train orders” after my article on open source intelligence made it in “Progressive Railroading.” Well, folks the reality is that the bad guys understand the value of intelligence and will use every bit of information that is available to help fulfill their mission. If their mission is to attack the rail infrastructure then guess what, they are pulling as much “intel” as possible from open sources. And, we have a lot out there for them. Now, that I vented, how can rail enthusiasts help. As I understand it, some do. If you see something, hear something, read a blog post that doesn’t seem right, report it. Your tip to a law enforcement agency may be the one clue that could stop something bad from happening. Don’t let me cite this post after an attack on the rails and say the public thought it was “fear mongering.”