FSM: HAS SECURITY TAKEN A BACK SEAT? FSM
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5431/pub_detail.asp
Exclusive: Terror Attack Certain in Next Few Months? Has Security Taken a Back Seat?
The Editors
As Americans anticipate Super Bowl Sunday, preparing themselves for the excitement of large men smashing into each other, the commercials, the half time show featuring rock stars old enough to be grandparents and seeing which partygoer can make the best guacamole dip, jihadists continue to plot and plan for the Great Satan’s downfall via the terrorist acts of which they are so fond.
Five senior leaders of the U.S. intelligence community warned a Senate panel this week that they are “certain†there will be another attack within three to six months:
The warning came during the annual threat briefing to Congress in response to questions from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, who asked, “What is the likelihood of another terrorist-attempted attack on the U.S homeland in the next three to six months? High or low?”
“An attempted attack, the priority is certain, I would say,” said Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral.
Four other intelligence agency leaders who appeared at the hearing with Adm. Blair said they agreed with the assessment.
They included CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess Jr., the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and John Dinger, the acting assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research.
In addition to a terrorist attack in this nation, other threats include nuclear instability in Pakistan, nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran, and the increasingly dangerous insurgency of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Hardly a comforting list.
It’s being said by some that the report that we will definitely be attacked again is a typical Washington CYA game. Perhaps. It’s not hard to be cynical when watching all of the nonsense that goes on inside the Beltway. But now is not the time to rest on our laurels. In remarks to the Heritage Foundation this week, Sen. Mitch McConnell emphasized the need to remain vigilant:
The bottom line is this: Treating terrorism as a law enforcement matter is precisely the attitude that kept us from seeing this threat when we should have. Reverting to it now is not only dangerous, it’s potentially disastrous.
While it comes as no surprise that the jihadists are still trying, an important question comes to mind: Do the jihadists feel emboldened in their chances for success based on how the administration is dealing with terrorism? We have gone from the wimpy “War on Terror†to the toothless “overseas contingency operation.†We’re told that Gitmo will be closing at some point, KSM and pals will be tried in civilian courts (although, it appears, not in NYC), and the crotch bomber was Mirandized and treated like a common criminal with all the rights of a U.S. citizen. Of these policies, Charles Krauthammer said:
These are untenable in terms of logic and national security, and they are increasingly untenable in terms of politics, especially after Massachusetts….
All three elements of this [policy] are going to collapse in the end.
Perhaps. But what do we do until then?
Americans need to know that our federal government is doing all it can to protect us. It’s the most basic of our government’s functions: “Provide for the common defense.†Unfortunately, it seems as though the priority these days seem to be “fundamentally changing†America, and not necessarily for the better.
We don’t need any more close calls like that of the Christmas Day crotch bomber. Because eventually, a close call will morph into a done deal.
Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatters.org.
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