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James J. Peters

What if security were proactive, not reactive?
August 15, 2006

It appears that everyone was caught off guard by the terrorist plot involving the planned bombing (with liquid materials) of airplanes en route to the United States -- except, of course, for those brilliant intelligence personnel who discovered the plot and apprehended the suspects. And I am going to assume that what we have been told by the U.S. and U.K. governments is true and accurate.

It would appear, again, that the terrorists have chosen air travel as the mode to inflict misery, death and fear, but this is sadly a modus operandi that is all too familiar. Yet, aren't the terrorism experts in our own country capable of thinking ahead, maybe even one step ahead, of the prospective terrorists? Shouldn't the creation of a bomb via liquid products have been known and foreseen? (To the average citizen, this possibility probably wasn't even considered.) And is air travel in the United States any safer than it was pre-9-11?

So here we go again. After 9-11, a laundry list of materials was, for a time, forbidden in air travel originating from the United States, and that list included box cutters and knitting needles, among others. Then the shoe bomber came along, and in another reactive stance, passengers were required to remove their shoes as part of the screening process. And random searches were carried out, without regard for profiling, to include elderly women, children and known members of Congress. And now, at least for the time being, liquids and gels cannot be brought onto planes in carry-on luggage. If you follow the logic of the recent plot, the banning of cell phones and other electronic devices is not far behind.

What if, somewhere down the line, a plot is uncovered that involves the creation of bombs using, for instance, clothing? Does that mean that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is going to hold a press conference and demand that all passengers board planes in the nude? Imagine. Lines of travelers removing their clothing as they approach the screening sites. Or suppose that bombs are created via materials used to fabricate luggage. Will luggage be banned from air travel?

I don't mean to make light of the serious nature of terrorist threats. My point is that we can't simply react to the latest brainstorm of the terrorists to inflict harm. We must be proactive, rather than reactive, in the fight against terrorism. Thankfully, the latest plot was thwarted.

I don't mind the extra wait, inconveniences and other security precautions imposed upon me while at the airport. But I would hope that these precautions are more than exercises in futility, steps taken after the horse is already outside the stall. U.S. intelligence, in conjunction with worldwide intelligence, must take reasonable and necessary precautions to interject itself at the forefront in this fight against terrorism.



James J. Peters is a freelance medical editor who lives in Orlando.




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