Beyond the Cold War: The New Enemy : Chilling reminder of vulnerability of America to terrorism

Last Friday a large quantity of explosives was detonated in a parking level beneath the twin-towered 110-story World Trade Center in New York, killing at least five people, injuring more than 1,000, terrifying tens of thousands and sending a chilling reminder of how vulnerable our open society is to callous acts of destructive madness.

How the explosives were brought into the underground parking garage, by whom and--possibly--on behalf of what cause, organization or foreign government remain a matter of intense investigation. The tentative thinking of investigators is that this atrocity was not the work of one person but involved a conspiracy, and that the conspiracy may well have originated overseas. In time, the same painstaking forensic and detective work that traced responsibility in the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 will probably produce answers to the New York bombing. But it’s not necessary to wait for those answers to be concerned about the terrorism threat that faces our country, and to begin stepped-up protective efforts.

As U.S. intelligence services reorient themselves away from a primary focus on the Soviet Union, priority must be given to increasing scrutiny of those Third World countries, mainly in the Middle East, that are most likely to engage in aggressive actions, including terrorism. Foremost among those countries--all of which have long records of support for and direct involvement in terrorism--are Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya. To these likely suspects should be added those radical Palestinian factions, like Hamas, that draw their inspiration from the religious-revolutionary zeal of Iran. Also demanding a closer watch now are various factions from former Yugoslavia.

Foreknowledge of terrorist plans is the best preventive. But intelligence agencies can’t always be counted on to provide foreknowledge, given the enormous difficulties they face in successfully getting agents into the ranks of those groups or governments most likely to engage in terrorism. Also needed are preventive measures far more extensive than those now in place at sites where the greatest material or symbolic damage might be done by terrorist outrages.

That includes not just major government buildings--security around federal facilities in Washington was in fact quickly tightened after the New York bombing--but, prudently, at many non-governmental structures as well. Certainly nuclear power plants ought to be at the head of that list, given the potential for widespread harm that a terrorist attack on a reactor or spent-fuel storage area could unleash.

Last Friday, after the New York bombing, two organizations concerned about nuclear plant safety asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to activate contingency plans aimed at deterring vehicle bomb attacks. An NRC official responded there was no need to do so at this time. In fact, this is the best time to tighten security, at nuclear plants and other especially tempting targets, before a tragedy occurs to reveal what intelligence agencies may have failed to detect.

That more did not die in the New York explosion may only have been a matter of dumb luck. Americans ought to move quickly to base their security on something much more tangible than that.