Isn't it time for a Real Counter-Terrorism Plan?

Wanted:  A Real Counter-Terrorism Plan from the White House

August 5, 2005

It's been four years since President Bush received the ominously entitled Presidential Daily Briefing ("Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.") that preceded the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11.  Although there have been no additional attacks within the U.S., the multiple bombings in London and Europe and ongoing terrorist attacks on U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq have the clear mark of al Qaeda planning and execution.  After two wars, hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and relentless politicization of terror and browbeating of critics, the White House has little to show for its much heralded "war on terror."  No bin Laden; terrorist attacks tripling worldwide; and a counterproductive war in Iraq.  It's time to change direction.

• Attack global terrorist networks using the full arsenal of American power.  America must move beyond a one note approach to fighting extremism.  We need to create a credible exit strategy from Iraq and redeploy and enlarge our military to fight terrorists in multiple and shifting locations.  We must also go well beyond military engagement to reengage the Middle East peace process; enhance cooperative intelligence and law enforcement capabilities with our allies; go after the financiers of terrorism; and engage in real and long-lasting public diplomacy to combat distorted images of the U.S. and its intentions. 
  
• Lock down loose nuclear weapons and materials to prevent terrorists from acquiring them. This is not done by invading countries like Iraq that have no nuclear capabilities.  It is done by focusing on known sources of the problem in Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan.  It is done by devoting clear presidential leadership to resolving the bureaucratic and legal underbrush that is preventing Nunn-Lugar and other global nuclear security programs from achieving their full potential.  It is done by stopping research on ineffective nuclear weapons such as the bunker buster, which frustrate our efforts to marshal support for enforcing existing nonproliferation obligations.
  
• Provide total security and genuine energy independence at home to free us from foreign threats.  We need complete intelligence cooperation across governmental agencies to ensure the proper flow of information about dangers, as well as improved congressional oversight.  We need regional Homeland Security Operations Centers to coordinate and execute preventative and reactive security measures across the country.  We need real action to secure ports, railways, chemical plants, and nuclear facilities.  And we need a forward looking, high technology energy plan to cut our reliance of foreign oil by 40 percent by 2025.

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