The unacknowledged peril of the twenty-first century global security environment manifested itself on the morning of September 11, 2001.


Until that point, what citizens and defense specialists now refer to as “homeland security” – protection of a nation, its people, land, and resources from attack – bore an antiquated name reserved for an older enemy: civil defense. Attacked by zealous terrorists whose motives were religious and whose tactics exploited contemporary technology and communication channels, the United States awoke after 9/11 to the reality of implacable enemies working to turn Western networks of interconnectivity and interdependence into deadly weapons of disruption and destruction.

It is fully conceivable today for a single person or small group to attain levels of destructive power heretofore reserved for nation-states. Sophisticated manipulation and leeching of primary Western systems by terrorists significantly increase the disproportionate lethality small cohorts of enemies wield in this continuing and asymmetrical conflict. Further, the terrorist entities have proven themselves more politically savvy than we could ever imagine. They have succeeded in manipulating the core concepts of our open society, our multiculturalism, and our civil liberties to their distinct advantage, while artfully using the media in the most insidious manner.

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