CRIME Report: U.S. Vulnerable to Attack

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Wed Jun 26 2002 - 15:06:40 PDT

  • Next message: George Heuston: "CRIME NIPC Daily Report 26 June, 2002"

     
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Goerling, Richard J. LT (TAD to CGIC Portland)
    To: 'NW-LEO'
    Sent: 6/26/02 12:36 PM
    Subject: [NW-LEO] Report: U.S. Vulnerable to Attack
    
    Report: U.S. Vulnerable to Attack 
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38967-2002Jun24.html?refe
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    A team of the nation's leading scientists called yesterday for a 
    comprehensive rethinking of the nation's anti-terrorism infrastructure, 
    underscoring the need to quickly bring existing technologies into use, 
    accelerate new research and create a Homeland Security Institute to 
    evaluate 
    counterterrorism strategies. 
    
    "The structure of federal agencies is.... to a large extent the result 
    of 
    [the] distinction between the responsibility for national security and 
    the 
    responsibility for domestic policy," the report said. 
    
    "Given this compartmentalization, the federal government is not 
    appropriately organized to carry out a [science and technology] agenda 
    for 
    countering catastrophic terrorism." 
    
    The report by the National Research Council gave a long list of 
    shortcomings 
    in scientific preparedness, including lack of coordination in research 
    on 
    nuclear or "dirty bomb" threats and "enormous vulnerabilities" in the 
    ability of the public health system to defend against biological 
    warfare. 
    
    The report detailed challenges in developing vaccines for airborne 
    pathogens, creating better sensors and filters for dangerous chemicals, 
    building a system to counter sabotage of the nation's food supply, 
    finding 
    better methods to fend off attacks on nuclear reactors, the electrical 
    power 
    grid and communications systems, and developing "defense in depth" for 
    airport and other transportation security. 
    
    Throughout the report, the researchers lamented a lack of coordination 
    among 
    federal agencies and the absence of a "coherent overall strategy" to 
    "harness the strengths of the U.S. science and engineering communities, 
    and 
    direct them most appropriately toward critical goals, both short-term 
    and 
    long." 
    
    "Research performed but not exploited, and technologies invented but not
    
    manufactured and deployed, do not help the nation protect itself," the 
    report said. 
    
    The National Research Council is the operating arm of three private, 
    nonprofit organizations of the nation's most prominent scientists and 
    engineers. 
    
    The council developed the report, "Making the Nation Safer: The Role of 
    Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism," using its own funds. 
    
    Richard D. Klausner, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, 
    said 
    the intent of the 120 scientists who participated was "not to criticize 
    the 
    government," but "to say that the current structure of government was 
    not 
    optimized to deal with terrorism." 
    
    But in studying counterterrorism preparedness across agencies, the panel
    
    found that "many of the required technologies" showed up repeatedly, 
    which 
    is not surprising in government, said Harvard's Lewis Branscombe, an 
    expert 
    in science and public policy and the report's co-chair. 
    
    "We saw the need for an approach that wasn't going to get trapped in a 
    bunch 
    of independent stovepipes that don't relate to one another." 
    
    The report proposed creation of an independent, nonprofit Homeland 
    Security 
    Institute to function as a think tank, analyzing and testing the 
    effectiveness of counterterrorism technologies for the White House 
    Office of 
    Homeland Security or a future cabinet department. 
    
    "It would be a group of highly trained people in appropriate disciplines
    
    to 
    evaluate threats, test what's deployed and look at the real world to see
    
    what's actually going on," Branscombe said. 
    
    "You make a technological analysis to determine the vulnerability you're
    
    trying to address and decide why the technology is or is not working." 
    
    Although the report wasn't scheduled for official release until today, 
    early 
    briefings on Capitol Hill elicited a favorable reception from House 
    Science 
    Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.). 
    
    It says we have to have a coordinated [research and development] 
    strategy," 
    Boehlert said. 
    
    Many cities and states are using federal funds to build mechanisms so 
    law 
    enforcement and emergency responders can share information in a timely 
    fashion. 
    
    
    
    
    Summarized by Copernic Summarizer 
    



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