Check out William Gibson's op-ed in today's NYT. (One wonders how he managed to qualify as someone with "experience in security and counterterrorism.")
Did we just get lucky?
The Op-Ed page asked 10 people with experience in security and counterterrorism to answer the following question: What is one major reason the United States has not suffered a major attack since 2001, and what is the one thing you would recommend the nation do in order to avoid attacks in the future?
Giving Muslims Hope, By THOMAS KEAN and LEE HAMILTON
We must stop the radicalization of young Muslims from Jakarta to London, offer moral leadership, and put forward an an agenda of opportunity for the Islamic world.
We Can't Kill an Ideology, By MELISSA BOYLE MAHLE
AQ has not hit America because it has chosen not to. It’s time to start discrediting Al Qaeda’s ideology and offering Muslims nonviolent alternatives. The first step is to acknowledge that their grievances are legitimate. The second is to acknowledge that our current approach is only helping Al Qaeda go mainstream.
How War Can Bring Peace, By JACK GOLDSMITH and ADRIAN VERMEULE
Going forward, we should more vigorously embrace technology as a tool. Properly designed programs can produce large gains in security in return for small losses of privacy and liberty.
Don't Forget Our Values, By JOSCHKA FISCHER
Immediately after 9/11, Al Qaeda seemed to be losing its battle with America and the West. Unfortunately, that changed. What are we in the West fighting for?
Less Political Correctness, By RAFI RON
We must be less politically correct, and begin a program that looks for risks where they are most likely to be found.
Qaeda Set the Bar High, By CLARK KENT ERVIN
After spending some $20 billion on securing the nation’s airways since 9/11, one shudders to think how much more vulnerable our other assets are.
Keep American Muslims on Our Side, By JESSICA STERN
The jihadists understand that they are fighting a war of ideas. Major strikes can backfire. Let’s not make that mistake again.
ANOTHER attempt on the scale of the 2001 attacks hasn't been necessary. The last one is still doing the trick, and the terrorists' resources are limited. The fear induced by terrorism mirrors the irrational psychology that makes state lotteries an utterly reliable form of stupidity tax. A huge statistical asymmetry serves as fulcrum for a spectral yet powerful lever: apprehension of the next jackpot. We're terrorized not by the actual explosion, which statistically we’re almost never present for, but by our apprehension of the next one.
The terrorist tactic that matters most is the next one used, one we haven't seen yet. In order to know it, we must know the terrorists. Without a national security policy that concentrates on the vigorous and politically agnostic maximization of intelligence rather than, in the phrase of the security expert Bruce Schneier, "security theater," that may well prove impossible.
