The briefing, given before new members of Congress, coveredforeign policy, national security, and related domestic issues
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Earlier this month, Brian Michael Jenkins, Director of the MinetaTransportation Institute's (MTI) National Transportation SecurityCenter of Excellence, and the Hon. Juan C Zarate, former AssistantSecretary of the Treasury and Deputy Security Advisor for CombatingTerrorism, briefed the newly elected members of Congress on severalforeign policy, national security, and domestic issues.
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Mr. Jenkins said that America has not suffered further attackssimilar to 9/11. On the other hand, few imagined that, ten yearslater, the United States would still be threatened by the jihadistterrorist enterprise it invaded Afghanistan to destroy. He pointedto several key issues regarding the current terrorist situation:
First, terrorists are operationally weaker, but theirdetermination is undiminished. "An unrelenting campaign has reducedthe likelihood of al Qaeda mounting attacks on the scale of 9/11,while international cooperation has created a more hostileenvironment for terrorists," Mr. Jenkins stated. "However, inresponse, al Qaeda has become decentralized, so smaller deadlyattacks are seen, such as the killing or wounding of 44 U.S.soldiers by Army Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas."
Second, jihadist terrorist strategy puts increased emphasis onhomegrown terrorism. Despite its training camps in Pakistan andAfghanistan, al Qaeda now emphasizes do-it-yourself terrorism,urging local would-be jihadists to do whatever they can whereverthey are. Mr. Jenkins said that, without experience or practicalinstruction, homegrown terrorists have not achieved thesophistication of centrally supported efforts, but they have learnedthat attacks at home, even when unsuccessful, still cause greatalarm.
"Fortunately," he added, "the number of homegrown terrorists issmall. In more than eight years, 125 have been arrested or indicted--a very small fraction of the estimated three million AmericanMuslims."
Third, terrorist campaigns challenge all democracies, which havefelt obliged to facilitate intelligence collection, increase policepowers, create new anti-terrorist laws, toughen penalties forterrorist-related crimes and, in some cases, alter trial procedures.Some countries, he said, have even imposed censorship on the newsmedia and suspended other civil liberties. In comparison, the U.S.has taken a middle ground, creating new organizations and policies,while rejecting others.
Fourth, conflicting American attitudes complicatecounterterrorism. "While demanding absolute security, Americansremain suspicious of their government," he said. "Willing to shareremarkable amounts of personal information on vast social networks,they reject government infringements on their privacy. They areangry over irksome security measures. But if we accept that thecountry is at war with tenacious terrorist foes determined to attackAmerican targets, we cannot feign shock and outrage when those foescarry out an attack."
Fifth, domestic intelligence is always a delicate issue in ademocracy. He says that, while some may worry that collectingdomestic intelligence is not done well enough, civil libertariansare alarmed by the growth of a vast domestic spying enterprise thatincludes federal agencies, DHS, fusion centers, and localauthorities, with significant involvement by private contractors.While suspicious of any domestic clone of the CIA, they also worrythat without central management, the proliferation of participants,many poorly trained, and the growth of databases recording ill-defined suspicious activity and the names of people who havecommitted no crimes will be uncontrolled and abusive.
Mr. Jenkins listed a number of questions, as well. Should thegovernment assert more control over the internet? According to aSaudi security official, al Qaeda now does 99 percent of itsrecruiting online. The Internet also enables extremists to findreinforcement for personal discontents, obtain direction, andjustify their aggression. "Why should government not assert moredirect control over the Internet, outlawing incitement to terrorismas it now outlaws child pornography and other forms of onlinecrime?" he asked.
Is it time to rethink aviation security strategy? He said thatsubjecting all airline passengers to the same security regime doesnot constitute intelligent security. The approach must be morediscerning. "Admittedly, many do not share this opinion," he said."But either way, it is time to fundamentally review how airlinesecurity is provided."
Should more resources be devoted to securing public surfacetransportation? The threat is not hypothetical--it is wellestablished in terrorist playbooks, he said. Terrorists see trainsand buses as easily accessible killing fields that offeropportunities to achieve high body counts, cause great alarm, andcreate costly disruptions. Three terrorist attacks on commutertrains and subways in Madrid, London, and Mumbai caused more than450 fatalities and thousands of injuries.
Are security expenditures untouchable? Our aim must besustainability if we accept the premises that this is the threatenvironment America will live in for the foreseeable future, thatsecurity measures imposed now are likely to become permanentfeatures of the landscape, and that a free society and economicstrength are vital components of America's national security, hesaid.
He closed by noting that Congress cannot allow unreasonable fearand unrealistic demands for security to keep the wagon train circledforever. He said that Congress can conduct a thorough review ofintelligence and homeland security. "The President has demonstratedhis determination to take on the terrorists," he said. "There is anopportunity for a bipartisan approach."
ABOUT BRIAN MICHAEL JENKINS
Mr. Jenkins is an international authority on terrorism andsophisticated crime. He directs MTI's research on protecting surfacetransportation against terrorist attacks. He is also a senioradvisor to the president of RAND. From 1989-98, Mr. Jenkins wasdeputy chairman of Kroll Associates, an international investigativeand consulting firm. Before that, he was chairman of RAND'sPolitical Science Department, where he also directed research onpolitical violence.
He holds a B.A. in fine arts and a Masters Degree in history,both from UCLA. He studied in Mexico and Guatemala, where he was aFulbright Fellow and received a fellowship from the Organization ofAmerican States. Mr. Jenkins was a paratrooper and a captain in theGreen Berets, serving in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic. Hereturned to Vietnam as a member of the Long Range Planning TaskGroup, receiving the Department of the Army's highest award for hisservice. He authored several articles, reports and books, includingInternational Terrorism: A New Mode of Conflict and Will TerroristsGo Nuclear?
ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) was established byCongress in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface TransportationEfficiency Act (ISTEA) and was reauthorized under TEA-21 and againunder SAFETEA-LU. The institute is funded by Congress through theU.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Research and InnovativeTechnology Administration, by the California Legislature through theDepartment of Transportation (Caltrans), and by other public andprivate grants and donations, including grants from the U.S.Department of Homeland Security. DOT selected MTI as a NationalCenter of Excellence following competitions in 2002 and 2006. Theinternationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trusteesrepresent all major surface transportation modes. MTI's focus onpolicy and management resulted from the Board's assessment of thetransportation industry's unmet needs. That led directly to choosingthe San Jose State University College of Business as the Institute'shome. MTI conducts research, education, and information andtechnology transfer, focusing on multimodal surface transportationpolicy and management issues. Visit www.transweb.sjsu.edu
Contact: Donna Maurillo
831-234-4009
donna.maurillo@sjsu.edu
SOURCE Mineta Transportation Institute
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