Eight Signs of Complacency
May of 2005 marks 44 months since Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. involvement in World War II lasted 44 months.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have often been compared to the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II — both attacks provided a wakeup call and both solidified public opinion in opposition to an enemy. Given that comparison, it is instructive to note that the war on terror has been going on longer than U.S. involvement in World War II — and yet the fight is far from over.
Instead, according to Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar under President Clinton and both Presidents Bush, the nation runs the risk of losing its focus and falling into a dangerous complacency that makes the country vulnerable to another attack. Speaking at the GOVSEC conference, May 26 at the Washington Convention Center, Clarke said that there are signs all around us of the increasingly dangerous complacency. He listed eight examples:
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General aviation flights — private planes — are being allowed onto the runways at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., just a few miles from the Capitol and the White House.
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New York City’s renovation of the World Trade Center site — the so-called Freedom Tower — was planned to be located 25 feet from a multi-lane highway, and to be made of glass, until the NYPD raised security concerns requiring the tower to be redesigned.
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Some airports are on the brink of once again privatizing baggage screeners — by opting out of the federal screening system that evolved to improve security and ease public anxiety after Sept. 11.
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The U.S. Coast Guard proposed allowing 930-feet-long supertankers carrying up to 33 million gallons of liquid natural gas to travel through densely populated areas of Rhode Island.
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Funding is being cut, and overall goals tend to be unclear.
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Government and Congress have not required security upgrades at the nation’s chemical plants (some of which produce lethal gas that could kill a million people).
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In Washington, D.C., after the city council prohibited tanks of chlorine gas from traveling on rail through the city, the Feds intervened. Instead, the signs on the tanks identifying them as containing chlorine gas are being removed.
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According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, security of container ports is no better than before Sept. 11, and a highly-touted new system provides little more than a false sense of security.