Terrorists will strike America again
Americans should understand that preventing every attack is simply an unattainable goal.
By Gregory F. Treverton
LA Times
January 19, 2010
The Obama administration's mea culpa over the failure to prevent the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day is understandable but misses the point. Yes, the United States can do better at catching would-be attackers; that will always be the case. But the truth is that there is no absolute security -- short of conceding victory to the terrorists by making it impossible for foreigners to visit the U.S., hellish for Americans to fly and difficult for all to live normal lives.
America's tolerance for terrorism cannot be zero. Although we obviously aim to do as much as possible, preventing every attack is an unattainable goal. The country needs to steel itself for the near-certainty that there will at some point be another major strike on U.S. territory.
Even if the U.S. curtailed civil liberties to a degree most citizens would find intolerable, sooner or later some suicidal terrorist would find a way to manage a successful attack. The greatest threat may come from lone wolves with scanty records, as is apparently the case with the accused Ft. Hood shooter, or from someone who acts alone even if trained and equipped by one of Al Qaeda's offshoots, as the would-be Detroit bomber allegedly did.
The Christmas Day episode highlights three critical points.
(More here.)
By Gregory F. Treverton
LA Times
January 19, 2010
The Obama administration's mea culpa over the failure to prevent the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day is understandable but misses the point. Yes, the United States can do better at catching would-be attackers; that will always be the case. But the truth is that there is no absolute security -- short of conceding victory to the terrorists by making it impossible for foreigners to visit the U.S., hellish for Americans to fly and difficult for all to live normal lives.
America's tolerance for terrorism cannot be zero. Although we obviously aim to do as much as possible, preventing every attack is an unattainable goal. The country needs to steel itself for the near-certainty that there will at some point be another major strike on U.S. territory.
Even if the U.S. curtailed civil liberties to a degree most citizens would find intolerable, sooner or later some suicidal terrorist would find a way to manage a successful attack. The greatest threat may come from lone wolves with scanty records, as is apparently the case with the accused Ft. Hood shooter, or from someone who acts alone even if trained and equipped by one of Al Qaeda's offshoots, as the would-be Detroit bomber allegedly did.
The Christmas Day episode highlights three critical points.
(More here.)
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