ment plant. But the insidious virus is only an initial volley in what is emerg- ing as an Internet war involving mul- tiple, often mysterious enemies. “Computer network attacks on the power grid can literally destroy a power turbine, as the Department of Energy demonstrated at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory four years ago,” Schneider says. “The consequences of such attacks are potentially greater than any kinetic attack an enemy could launch.” The U.S. government has already lost thousands of fi les — intellectual property exceeding the size of the Library of Congress each year — and not just from government networks. The Pentagon announced in July that an unidentifi ed “foreign intelligence service,” believed to be China, had stolen 24,000 fi les from a defense contractor in March.
Gen. Keith Alexander, the National Security Agency director and head of U.S. Cyber Command, recently told Charlie Rose that such high-tech government contractors as RSA, Lockheed, and even Nasdaq have already lost fi les to malware. “Our infrastructure is not protected where it needs to be,” he says. “And the Defense Department relies on that infrastructure.” America invent- ed the Internet. “We ought to be the fi rst ones to secure it.” In a signifi cant policy shift, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced in July that the United States would reserve the right to retaliate against a debilitating cyber- attack with its own virtual weapons or with traditional military force.
WMD Attacks
Militant Islamists have never abandoned the idea of striking the U.S. with a nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon. Disrupting poten- tial plots involving radiological and germ attacks retains high priority, at least on paper, within the intel- ligence community and at the DHS.
82 9|11: A DECADE LATER / NEWSMAX / SEPTEMBER 2011
New York Republican Rep. Peter King says that Congress added $20 million this year to the already $100 million effort to install more radio- logical detectors in New York. Biological attacks also remain a concern and not just because the biotech revolution with its stunning advances in synthetic biology make it at least theoretically easier for pri- vate sector or government scientists working with hostile nations or ter- rorist groups to invent and spread “designer” pathogens — and more terrifying ways to kill.
The threat is also rising, despite the absence of any known plots involving WMD, because U.S. gov- ernment efforts to counter naturally, or such deliberately inspired epidem- ics, have fallen short of the leaps in offensive capabilities.
Jerome Hauer, a former emer- gency services director and former assistant secretary of public health under President George W. Bush, argues that Washington has wasted millions of dollars on often faulty detection equipment and gear that “has never, and will never, be used.” Pointing to
numerous criti-
cal studies by the Government Accountability Offi ce, he underscores a lack of “medical countermeasures.” “We’re simply not where we should be for all the money we have poured into this,” he says.
The same weaknesses apply to
programs aimed at countering or responding to the detonation of an improvised nuclear device. “Virtually no city could handle that,” he says, “not even New York, which is far more prepared than other targets.”
Lone Wolves, Militant Islamic and Other Groups The savage attack in Norway by a right-wing fundamentalist Christian obsessed with what he saw as the threats to his country from Muslim immigration and culture — in which at least 76 people, including many children, were killed — demon-
strates the ability of a lone individ- ual to infl ict death and havoc. It also reminds us of the dangers of focus- ing exclusively on Muslim extremists as a source of potential terror. That being said, terrorism data- bases show that the main source of suicide bombing and violent attacks in the United States remains mili- tant Islamist groups affi liated with, or individuals inspired by, al-Qaida’s militant ideology.
Bergen says that a survey of 180 individuals indicted or convicted in Islamist terrorism cases in the United States since 9/11 by Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and the New America Foundation shows that jihadist terrorism cases involv- ing U.S. citizens or residents spiked in the past two years. “In 2009 and 2010 there were 76, almost half of
9/11 BY THE NUMBERS
The Price of Staying Safe?
Billions of dollars allocated to the Dept. of Homeland Security since 9/11 have been given to state and local offi cials to use as they see fi t. Listed here are some of their curious choices, along with distance in miles from ground zero.
PLACER COUNTY, CALIF.
2,792 miles: California has received $2 billion in DHS grants. In Placer County, the funds have been used for a lawn mower, a $2,400 plasma TV for campus cops, and $24,000 in police software that remains unused.
WHITTIER, ALASKA
4,418 miles: Population 175, more than $100,000 spent on an incident-response truck, two 4X4 vehicles, and a pair of anthrax detectors.
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