The ProblemThe war on the homefront requires America to combat individual terrorists and their organizations that seek to operate within our own borders. Until 9/11, we generally adopted a conventional policing approach to this threat - prosecuting terrorists as criminals, usually after they had attacked.
This approach actually endangers the public:
- Armed enemies who would be recognized as a deadly threat on the battlefield are by definition under our system of justice presumed innocent in the courtroom.
- The information that is put into the public record in the course of prosecuting such individuals may be extremely sensitive. Its disclosure could compromise or otherwise harm military and intelligence secrets or operations.
Mission Impossible: Self-inflicted impediments to a secure homeland
Matters were made worse by the "Wall" constructed between intelligence and prosecutorial agencies, prohibiting the sharing of information. For example, a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks, FBI headquarters refused to allow exchanges of information between its criminal and intelligence divisions in the attempt to locate two suspected terrorists. These two known suspects, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, were thus afforded the freedom of movement that allowed them to hijack Flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon.
Political correctness is causing government officials to discourage law enforcement agencies from using standard screening techniques to prioritize the allocation of scarce resources. As a result of inhibitions about "profiling," the job of protecting us is being made more difficult.
Similar sensitivities have impeded the public from being mobilized to help monitor threats to America's communities and infrastructure - a role whose importance was underscored by the attacks on London's transportation system in August 2005.
Most US police departments lack the specialized training they need to play a constructive role in protecting the American homeland against terrorist actors. While those of New York City and Los Angeles have begun to make preventing terrorist attacks a core policing function, most remain ill-equipped or -prepared to do so.
We are also not utilizing the single most effective tool for training our community leaders and other senior officials to contend with crisis scenarios. The on-the-job training in evidence during and after Hurricane Katrina was a powerful reminder that in disasters -whether manmade or natural - the cost of unready leadership can be the otherwise avoidable loss of life and destruction of property.
What Needs To Be DoneThe possibility that the home front may once again be, as it was on September 11, 2001, on the front lines of the War for the Free World requires that we take a number of mutually reinforcing steps. These include:
1. Make the Patriot Act permanent. The Patriot Act as a whole infringes only modestly on our civil liberties and only to the extent absolutely necessary. We need to keep in mind that, if these precautions should fail to prevent some further terrorist attack, we are likely to see impassioned demands for greater security measures, at the expense of our freedoms. We need to make sure the Patriot Act remains in place and effective.
2. Allow appropriate use of "profiling." Not every terrorist will fit the profile. But to deny police the ability to take such straightforward identifying information into account - and, in so doing, to waste precious resources by focusing attention on people unlikely to be terrorists - amounts to inviting attack.
3. Maintain prohibitions on "material support" to terror. Any assistance that strengthens a terror organization also makes it more efficient at the brutal business of killing. This is the end result of contributions that enhance its overall resources and its attractiveness to potential recruits. What is more, terrorism cannot be marginalized and eradicated if those who engage in it are legitimized. A legal regime that allows terror organizations to flourish - to masquerade as mere political entities that happen to be armed - is self-defeating. Our enemies will be far more formidable if they are afforded a supporting infrastructure and the latitude to operate inside the United States.
4. Maximize the counter-terror effectiveness of America's police forces.
Develop robust intelligence and analytical capabilities.
Educate officers regarding Islamic fundamentalism and terrorist tactics.
Participate in local Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Foster programs to educate and engage the public.
Facilitate cooperation and sharing of resources across jurisdictional lines (for example, state, local, and, where appropriate, tribal). Involve, where appropriate, the private sector, which has massive experience in establishing cooperative business relationships.
5. Institute a "national Neighborhood Watch." Local law enforcement has vast experience in developing and effectively using Neighborhood Watch programs. To help put our country on the needed War Footing, we must now harness this capacity by networking these groups into a national counterpart effort to fight both crime and terror. This will require attuning citizens to the threat and informing them as to how they can take action.
6. Prepare our leaders - both in and outside of government - with specialized training in emergency response.
Urge community leaders to get simulation-based training. Programs that build decision-making and leadership skills should include "curve balls," simulating the unpredictable demands typical of real crises. Leaders should be encouraged to train together as a team, including representatives of government and businesses who must work together in a crisis.
Create a network to share information with neighbors. A shared roster can identify those with special skills or special needs, and provide emergency contact information.
Encourage community leaders to discuss emergency preparedness and training.
Contributors: Andrew McCarthy, Tim Connors and Mark Chussil
