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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 11/03
Strengthening Law Enforcement Capabilities to Combat Terrorism
James A. Lewis
December 2002
Abstract
"We always have to be careful that the rights which America stands for are not sacrificed, but we also have to understand that in order for those rights to be enjoyed by citizens, the citizens have to be protected."
Attorney General John Ashcroft, September 17, 2001
Ten days after the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller toured the smoldering rubble where the Twin Towers once had stood. "It's unspeakable," the Attorney General kept repeating as he took in the horrible scene. Mueller walked with New York Governor George Pataki. "We'll get them," he said.
Mueller's determination will be needed, as the dimensions of this task are daunting -- both the unraveling of the September 11 network, and the detection and elimination of other terrorist cells and plots that put U.S. interests and citizens at risk. Law enforcement agencies have felt beleaguered as global forces and new technologies erode their ability to maintain public safety. The revolution in information technology is the most salient of these forces, but other aspects of economic and political globalization have similar effects. International travel is fast and easy, allowing criminals and terrorists to move about the globe -- hidden among tens of thousands of immigrants, students, business travelers and tourists. Financial and trade networks have experienced a luxuriant proliferation, allowing money and goods to be transferred easily around the planet. Transnational "just-in-time" manufacturing processes have introduced an urgency in border. Military and advanced civil technologies are readily accessible in the global market place. When exploited in combination and with malevolent purpose, these trends -- as we have so painfully learned -- can endanger America's safety.
