Unfortunately, for all of us, part 534 of a series. If the Bush Administration has made hardly any progress protecting us in the 5 years since 9/11, why could anyone make the claim that Republicans are better at 'protecting' the nation? Anyone sane, that is.
Domestic Security: Focused on 9/11, U.S. Is Seen to Lag on New Threats
A nearly obsessive focus on the Sept. 11 attacks may have prevented the government from combating new threats effectively, experts say.The arrests overseas this week of people accused of planning to use an explosive that would be undetectable at airports illustrates the significant security gaps, they said.
While the department has hardened cockpit doors and set up screening for guns and knives, it has done far too little to protect against plastic and liquid explosives, bombs in air cargo and shoulder-fired missiles, the experts say.
The nation is still at risk from the same “failure of imagination” cited by the 9/11 commission as having contributed to the success of the 2001 attack, several argued.
“They are reactive, not proactive,” said Randall J. Larsen, a retired colonel in the Air Force who is chairman of the military strategy department at the National War College in Washington.
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The vulnerabilities are clear. A failed plot in 1995, incubated in the Philippines, to bomb 12 United States commercial jets flying out of Asia, centered on the use of triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a liquid explosive that may also have been the weapon of choice of the plotters in England. The Department of Homeland Security has evaluated technology that it says will search an individual bottle for liquid explosives, but it cannot search all the bottles in a suitcase. It also cannot reliably detect chemicals that are not explosive but become so when mixed.The department is still evaluating technologies for foiling shoulder-fired missiles, a favored tool of rebel groups against military aircraft. One blinds missiles with an infrared laser; another option would be a ground-based antimissile system near airports.
The Transporation Security Administration has the technology to inspect small objects shipped as air cargo, but does not have the capacity to do so uniformly.
Given the long list of possible threats, and the limited budget to buy equipment to defend against them, it is essential not just to look for threats, Mr. Larsen said, but also to evaluate each one.
FSM help us all. The Republicans have been more interested in scoring political points than actually accomplishing anything. Who would have guessed?
Tags: incompetence, /terrorism
