Combating Catastrophic Terror

Combating Catastrophic Terror

October 27, 2005

Yesterday a group of national security experts released to congressional leaders a report entitled Combating Catastrophic Terror: A Security Strategy for the Nation, which rejects the administration's simplistic and misleading mantra: "We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities." Unlike the Bush administration’s war on terrorism, Combating Catastrophic Terror is a thoughtful, comprehensive, long-term strategy that matches the complexity of the global struggle against terrorism.

• The Bush administration’s policies are not making us safer. By objective measures, the problem of international terrorism is worse now than it was in 2001. According to State Department data, the number of international terrorist attacks tripled to 650 in 2004. (The number of international terrorist attacks in 2003, 175, was a 20- year high.)
  
  
• Violent extremist terrorists are a threat to decent people everywhere. We must reject the mantra that “America is fighting the terrorists abroad so we don’t have to fight them here at home.” Americans know the threat of terrorism is much bigger and more complex than that, and they want a strategy that matches this clear and present danger.
  
  
• An effective war on terror starts at home. The federal government's tragically mismanaged response to Hurricane Katrina has left the public doubting that the nation is prepared for a terrorist attack. A Sept. 2005 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 75 percent of the public believes the United States is "not adequately prepared" for a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack, and 68 percent believes we are not more safe now than we were before 9/11. Combating Catastrophic Terrorism recommends that we strengthen domestic prevention and preparedness; fully train and equip first responders to manage the consequences of an attack; bolster our public health infrastructure; and build effective partnerships between the public and private sectors and between federal, state and local authorities.