Are U.S. efforts to counter nuclear or radiological terrorism keeping pace with the evolving threat landscape? Almost twenty years after the release of “The 9/11 Commission Report,” the unanimous conclusion of the National Academy Committee members who have prepared this study report is that, overall they are not. The nightmare scenario of a terrorist nuclear attack on U.S. soil is a risk that has not diminished. The efforts to manage this risk must be expanded and they must be enduring. Success has the potential to breed complacency. The significant attention paid to preventing terrorism in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the success of the U.S programs to reduce the terrorism risk has made it possible for a new generation of Americans to grow up without experiencing a catastrophic terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland. The downside of this achievement is that, not having had a major shock or crisis that provides confirmation that a threat is clear and present, the nation’s attention has started to drift. This loss of focus has in the past, and can be expected in the future, to translate into waning interest and investment in capabilities that are required to prevent, detect, deter, respond to, and recover from a future catastrophic terrorist event.
School Authors: Jaganath Sankaran , Steve Fetter