Terrorism Still Stalks Us at Home and Abroad
Jessica Zuckerman / Steven Bucci /
An independent review of the FBI and Pentagon’s handling of the 2009 Fort Hood massacre is expected to make its way to the desk of FBI director Robert Mueller sometime next week.
Commissioned in late 2009 and authored by former FBI and CIA director Judge William Webster, the report is expected to offer 18 formal recommendations to enhance domestic counterterrorism policies and practices.
While at least 51 publicly known terrorist plots aimed against the United States have been thwarted since 9/11 due to the continued vigilance and extensive efforts of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence, the imminent release of Judge Webster’s report serves as a reminder that there is still more work to be done in combating the continued threat of terrorism.
This comes at the same time as news of the U.K. arrest of six suspected terrorists near the Olympic village in London, another stiff reminder to Western democracies that our enemies are still out there.
As both the thwarted (and successful) terrorist plots in the U.S. and U.K. show, terrorists continue to seek to do us harm. Protecting the nation requires robust international and domestic intelligence and counterterrorism to stop attempted terrorist plots early as well as a continued commitment to combating global terrorism and insurgency.
Those who mistakenly think the war on terrorism is over have obviously not conferred with those seeking to attack us. The U.S. should remain on guard.