NCJ Number
193872
Date Published
September 2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This paper reexamined the nature of terrorism based on the United States’ current war on terrorism and discussed how the United States should organize and strategize a reconfigured national security architecture.
Abstract
Prior to the September 11 attacks on the U.S. World Trade Center and the Pentagon attention was focused on either the low-end threat posed by car and truck bombs against buildings or those exotic high-end threats, involving biological or chemical weapons or cyber-attacks. A susceptible gap in the United States anti-terrorism defenses was exposed. The United States needed to consider the entire range of potential attacks, not just the extreme end of the technological spectrum. With the enormous changes and development both in the nature of terrorism as previously known and the significant threat now posed to the United States, a reorganization of the war on terrorism is necessary. A strategy is required, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the threat in all its dimensions in order to implement a redesigned national security plan. This paper presents testimony to those prerequisites involved in framing an integrated national strategy that consist of: regular foreign and domestic terrorist threat assessments and intelligence reform and reorganization. An overarching strategy should be developed to ensure that the United States is capable of responding across the entire technological spectrum of potential adversarial attacks. A comprehensive approach and cohesive strategy aids the United States in avoiding repeat mistakes that facilitated the September 11 tragic events.