Massive sporting events are a focal point in the world today. News media swarms to the site to bombard the world with coverage and commentary about the simplest of games and sports, that somehow draws all of the world in as spectators.

Super Bowl XLVIII was declared a level one national security event. Part of that security was to examine every item being brought in with the endless flow of people that the game drew.
The 2012 Presidential Inauguration, and the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in D.C. are recent instances of other National Security events. The Secret Service is at full capacity, scrambling to organize the safety of the foreign dignitaries, and the safety of the entirety of the event.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents worked around the clock to X-ray every delivery truck and any other vehicle authorized to enter MetLife Stadium Complex.

America is a country with scars, and the largest national even of the year just took place in the very city in which those wounds originated, almost 13 years ago. Regardless of why it happened – September 11^th 2001 changed everything. That was the intended outcome for those who planned and perpetrated the attacks.

When we peel back the surface, and see past the crowds of jerseys and flashing lights, the American football mega-event was enough for the government to declare it a level one National Security event. Based on its magnitude alone the game qualifies, thus allowing the government to suspend normal procedure, giving them full control over the city where all the attention is focused.

The word terror not only defines itself, but brings about feelings of the worlds’ fear and pain that have been associated with the act. Sporting events have long been potential targets, and security has been at a higher presence in the past decade. The Boston Marathon last year served to show the potential danger that terrorists want us to feel when going about our every day lives. The life lost at the bombing signified yet another blow to the security of the home soil.
The attack in Massachusetts happened in a secured area. The Tsarnaev brothers who perpetrated these attacks were tied to a Chechen rebel group. The group continues to fight Russian troops and execute terrorist attacks across the country of Russia, and in this one case, the US.

The Chechen rebels are in an ongoing conflict with the Russian military, and waging a civil war that has been tearing apart many aspects of the country for years. The Chechen Rebel groups’ tradition includes a terrifying ritual that has recently been brought to the worlds’ attention. When a Chechen Rebel soldier is killed in battle, his widowed wife is then expected to become her husbands’ redemption. A widow of a Chechen soldier becomes a Black Widow – voluntarily committing a suicide bombing.

Now the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi have presented the Russian military with a haunting task. There are names and faces of women who are known Black Widows all over Russia. They have been for some time, but the ultimate fear came true just days before the opening ceremony of the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Rebel groups claim that their Black Widows infiltrated the walls of security around Sochi, and that they were already in; ready and waiting to detonate. Depictions and photographs of these women in their black hijab or burqa headdresses have frightened the world.

Luckily, the Soviet-style security at the games has so far been successful in avoiding any panic. Maybe the ghosts shrouded in black aren’t there at all. They could be unable to act; or they may be waiting. Attack at some point may be inevitable, and the haunting truth is the unknown element of where and when they may occur.