Home |
Site Index |
FAQs |
Contact |
RSS
|
Podcast
home > by publication type > academic modules > Academic Module: America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism
Email
Updated: March 2007
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Three years after September 11, the United States is still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to another attack on its soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footing at home. But despite the many new security precautions that have been proposed, America’s most serious vulnerabilities remain ominously exposed.
|
June 2004
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Three years after September 11, the United States is still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to another attack on its soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footing at home. But despite the many new security precautions that have been proposed, America’s most serious vulnerabilities remain ominously exposed.
Teaching Notes
by Stephen Flynn
America the Vulnerable offers valuable insight into the ongoing exposure of our nation to catastrophic terrorist attacks and the struggle to reduce its myriad vulnerabilities. The book is suitable for courses on terrorism, national security, homeland security, and emergency preparedness at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
America the Vulnerable can be used as a field guide for the study of homeland security, offering a background on most of relevant issues including port and container security, aviation security, and critical infrastructure protection. It can also be used in any course that covers public policy and public administration.
Discussion Questions
Debate
Mock Homeland Security Council Meeting
At the end of the hypothetical scenario laid out in Chapter 2, “The Next Attack”, the Secretary of Homeland Security offers the President two options: 1) reopen the borders and ports so as to get the economy moving again or; 2) initiate full inspection of all people, vehicles, and cargo entering the country. Assign the various roles on the Homeland Security Council and have students debate the two options. Have them outline the risks associated with each option, require them to choose the option they would recommend the President to take, and provide an outline of a Presidential Address defending their choice.
March/April 2006
| Author: | Daniel H. Yergin, President, Cambridge Energy Research Associates |
|---|
Summary
September/October 2004
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Summary
September/October 2004
| Author: | Ashton B. Carter, Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University |
|---|
Summary
May/June
| Author: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Summary
May/June 2004
| Authors: | William C. Potter, Director, Center for Nonproliferation Studies Charles D. Ferguson, Fellow for Science and Technology Leonard S. Spector |
|---|
Full Text
November 6, 2006
| Author: | Eben Kaplan, Associate Editor |
|---|
Counterterrorism agencies in the United States proudly point to the lack of a “second 9/11 attack” in response to critics of their methods. Here’s a look at the continuing debate over the proper organization of U.S. counterterrorism agencies.
Updated: October 19, 2006
| Author: | Eben Kaplan, Associate Editor |
|---|
The United States launched the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in 2003 to help curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Since then, PSI membership has expanded sevenfold, and the program has contributed to significant seizures of WMD shipments.
Updated: May 8, 2007
| Author: | Eben Kaplan, Associate Editor |
|---|
Counterterrorism and security professionals say homegrown terrorism emanating from U.S. Muslims is a growing threat in the United States. Yet American Muslims have been invaluable assets in helping prevent the kinds of attacks seen in London and Madrid.
Updated: January 2006
| Author: | cfr.org editorial staff |
|---|
Council on Foreign Relations Policy Symposium: Making New York Safer
Session One: The Terrorist Threat in New York
Session Two: Assessing New York's Emergency Preparedness
Session Three: What Individuals and Organizations Can Do
September 8, 2006
| Speakers: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations R.P. Eddy, Managing Director, Gerson Lehrman Group Steven Simon, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent, ABC News |
Watch experts discuss the terrorist threat in New York and the importance of preparing for small-scale
September 8, 2006
| Speakers: | Kelly McKinney, Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Preparedness, New York City Office of Emergency Management Joseph W. Pfeifer, Chief, Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness, New York City Fire Department Isaac B. Weisfuse, Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department Of Health and Mental Hygiene |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Linda J. Vester, Anchor, Fox News Channel |
Watch experts assess New York's emergency preparedness for future attacks, and potential scenarios for the immediate aftermath of an attack.
September 8, 2006
| Speakers: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations William G. Raisch, Executive Director, International Center for Enterprise Preparedness, New York University Jeffrey W. Runge, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Homeland Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Paula A. Zahn, CNN News |
Watch experts discuss what individuals and organizations can do to make New York safer.
The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon (Henry Holt, 2005)
Protecting Liberty in an Age of Terror by Philip Heymann and Juliette Kayyem (MIT Press 2005)
National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets, Department of Homeland Security, February 2003
The Age of Sacred Terror, by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon (Random House 2003)
The National Strategy for Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security, 2002
February 2007
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Americans are in denial when it comes to facing up to how vulnerable our nation is to disaster, be it terrorist attack or act of God. In this gripping book, leading security expert Stephen Flynn issues a call to action, demanding that we wake up and prepare immediately for a safer future.
May 2006
| Authors: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies Daniel B. Prieto, Vice President, Homeland Security and Intelligence, IBM Corporation |
|---|
Council Special Report No. 13
The central finding of this report is that federal government has had a naïve view of what the market is able to do when left largely on its own to protect critical infrastructure.
March 2006
| Author: | Charles D. Ferguson, Fellow for Science and Technology |
|---|
Council Special Report No. 11
The threat of a nuclear attack—especially a nuclear detonation—by terrorists has never been greater. The United States and the international community must do more to prevent terrorists from buying, stealing, or building nuclear weapons.
February 2005
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States awoke to find itself at war. If that much was clear, many other things were not—including the identity and nature of the enemy, the location of the battleground, and the strategy and tactics necessary for victory.
June 2003
Task Force Report No. 47
Written nearly two years after September 11, 2001, this report concludes that the United States is drastically underfunding local emergency responders and remains dangerously unprepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil, particularly one involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-impact conventional weapons. If the nation does not take immediate steps to better identify and address the urgent needs of emergency responders, the next terrorist incident could be even more devastating than 9/11.
October 2002
Task Force Report No. 41
America remains dangerously unprepared to prevent and respond to a catastrophic terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Yet, only a year after 9/11, there are signs that Americans are already lapsing back into complacency. This comprehensive report seeks to make the nation aware of the dangers it still faces by highlighting the nation’s vulnerabilities and outlining a number of homeland security priorities that should be pursued with urgency and national purpose.
November 2001
| Authors: | Gideon Rose, Managing Editor, Foreign Affairs James F. Hoge Jr., Editor, Peter G. Peterson Chair, Foreign Affairs |
|---|
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, one question has been on the mind of every American: “How did this happen?” PublicAffairs and Foreign Affairs came together to publish a book that seeks to answer this question in all its critical aspects: the motives and actions of the terrorists, the status of the U.S. military, the context of the Middle East, airport security, and diplomatic pressures.
February 21, 2007
| Speaker: | Stephen E. Flynn, Author, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation; Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent, ABC News |
Watch Stephen Flynn, the Council's Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies, discuss his new book, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation.
October 3, 2006
| Speakers: | Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Codirector, The Princeton Project on National Security G. John Ikenberry, Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Codirector, The Princeton Project on National Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations |
Watch Anne-Marie Slaughter and John Ikenberry, codirectors of The Princeton Project on National Security, discuss their final report on the pressing national security questions confronting the United States.
March 28, 2006
| Speaker: | Gary Hart, Former Member, U.S. Senate (D-CO) and author, “The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons” |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations and Professor of Political Science, Institute of War & Peace Studies, Columbia University |
Watch Senator Gary Hart explain how security can be achieved through new tactics and players such as special forces and economic integration.
March 23, 2006
| Speaker: | Michael Chertoff, United States Secretary of Homeland Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Tom Brokaw, Special Correspondent, NBC News |
Watch U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discuss port security and immigration.
January 31, 2006
| Speaker: | James Risen, National Security Correspondent, The New York Times; Author, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and Bush Administration" |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Dana Priest, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post |
October 24, 2006
Stephen E. Flynn, CFR's senior fellow for national security studies, considers the state of homeland security five years after the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, handing out grades in several key areas.
September 14, 2006
Counterterrorism expert Bruce Hoffman discusses the White House's new National Strategy for Combatting Terrorism, which he says is imperfect, but a substantial improvement on its predecessor.
September 5, 2006
Counterterrorism and urban security expert R.P. Eddy discusses what New York City is doing to prevent another terrorist attack.
August 23, 2006
Steven M. Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, discusses the Bush administration's proposed FY07 homeland security budget.
August 10, 2006
Stephen E. Flynn, CFR senior fellow for National Security Studies, discusses the terrorist threat to aircraft in light of the recent terrorist plot, discovered by British authorities, to down some ten airliners over the Atlantic Ocean.
June 9, 2006
Stephen Flynn, CFR senior fellow for national security studies, discusses the Department of Homeland Security's controversial distribution of grant money and proposes better practices for securing critical infrastructure.
May 3, 2006
Michael Levi speaks with cfr.org's Eben Kaplan about the consequences of nuclear terrorism on U.S. soil.
February 21, 2007
| Speaker: | Stephen E. Flynn, Author, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation; Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent, ABC News |
Listen to Stephen Flynn, the Council's Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies, discuss his new book, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation.
October 3, 2006
| Speakers: | Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Codirector, The Princeton Project on National Security G. John Ikenberry, Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Codirector, The Princeton Project on National Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations |
Listen to Anne-Marie Slaughter and John Ikenberry, codirectors of The Princeton Project on National Security, discuss their final report on pressing national security questions confronting the United States.
March 28, 2006
| Speaker: | Gary Hart, Former Member, U.S. Senate (D-CO) and author, “The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons” |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Richard K. Betts, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations and Professor of Political Science, Institute of War & Peace Studies, Columbia University |
Listen to Senator Gary Hart explain how security can be achieved through new tactics and players such as special forces and economic integration.
March 23, 2006
| Speaker: | Michael Chertoff, United States Secretary of Homeland Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Tom Brokaw, Special Correspondent, NBC News |
Listen to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discuss port security and immigration.
March 10, 2006
| Speakers: | Kenneth Damstrom, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Security Operations, Lehman Brothers Daniel B. Prieto, Research Director, Homeland Security Partnership Initiative, Belfer Center, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Nancy J. Wong, Director of the Infrastructure Programs Office, Infrastructure Partnerships Division, Preparedness Directorate, Department of Homeland Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
Listen to Stephen Flynn, the Council's senior fellow for National Security studies and author of America the Vulnerable, lead a discussion on the role of the private sector in homeland security as part of the 2006 Corporate Conference.
January 31, 2006
| Speaker: | James Risen, National Security Correspondent, The New York Times; Author, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and Bush Administration" |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Dana Priest, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post |
May 3, 2006
| Speakers: | Thomas Lockwood, Director, Office of National Capital Region Coordination Edward Reiskin, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, Washington, DC |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
The nation's capital is a target-rich area by both absolute and symbolic measurements. Yet security officials at this CFR meeting warn that the DC region's ability to respond to terrorism remains limited.
May 2, 2006
| Speakers: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations Vali R. Nasr, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies and Professor, Naval Postgraduate School Steven Simon, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Lisa Shields, Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Council on Foreign Relations |
The CFR fellows speak with members of the media about the State Department’s recently released Country Reports on Terrorism and about the broader ‘war on terror.’
March 9, 2006
| Speakers: | Kenneth Damstrom, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Security Operations, Lehman Brothers Daniel B. Prieto, Research Director, Homeland Security Partnership Initiative, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Nancy J. Wong, Director, Infrastructure Programs Office, Infrastructure Partnerships Division, Preparedness Directorate, Department of Homeland Security |
|---|---|
| Presider: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations |
Stephen Flynn leads a discussion with homeland security experts Kenneth Damstrom, Daniel Prieto, and Nancy Wong as part of the 2006 Corporate Conference.
September 12, 2006
| Author: | Steven Simon, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies |
|---|
July 27, 2006
| Author: | Michael A. Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and Environment |
|---|
March 9, 2006
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
March 2, 2006
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
Stephen Flynn testifies before the Committee on Armed Services on the DP World controversy and the ongoing vulnerability of U.S. seaports.
March 31, 2004
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
March 7, 2006
Youssef Michel Ibrahim interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor
Youssef Ibrahim, managing director of Dubai-based Strategic Energy Investment Group, and a former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, says the pending deal for Dubai Ports World to administer the ports in major U.S. cities is not a security concern in a technical sense. But he says it is worthwhile for the 45-day study to go ahead. "Some good will come out of this. It may even be good for Dubai," says Ibrahim, who is also a former senior fellow in Middle Eastern studies at CFR.
October 25, 2006
To mark its fifth anniversary, Stephen E. Flynn, CFR’s leading national security expert, evaluates the general performance of the Office of Homeland Security.
October 24, 2006
Stephen E. Flynn, CFR's senior fellow for national security studies, considers the state of homeland security five years after the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, handing out grades in several key areas.
December 21, 2005
Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies interviewed by Michael Moran, Executive Editor, CFR.org
August 3, 2004
Anthony H. Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Thomas Kean, Chair, Lee Hamilton, Vice Chair, July 22, 2004
January/February 2006
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
October 31, 2006
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies |
|---|
February 5, 2004
| Author: | George Bush |
|---|
President Bush outlines measures— including the Container Security Initiative and the Proliferation Security Initiative— to inspect cargo shipments for dangerous materials. He also outlines military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan and says, “because of American leadership, the world is changing for the better.”
September 2006
Report
March 1, 2006
| Author: | Veronique de Rugy |
|---|
Since September 11, Congress has appropriated nearly $180 billion to protect Americans from terrorism. Total spending on homeland security in 2006 will be at least $50 billion—roughly $450 per American household. But far from making us more secure, the money is being allocated like so much pork.
September 14, 2005
"On July 22, 2004, the 9/11 Commission released 41 recommendations to make our country safer and more secure. These recommendations were unanimous and bipartisan. They flowed directly from the findings of our investigation of the September 11 attacks.
...Four years have passed without another major attack on American soil. That is a credit to the diligence of many courageous Americans. But the threat has not abated.
Today we reconvene as former Commissioners, in accordance with a promise we made last year: to begin to assess the status of our recommendations. What steps have been taken – and not taken – to make our country safer and more secure?
This is the first of several reports we will issue over the next three months. Future reports will assess the status of recommendations on institutional reform, foreign policy, and securing nuclear materials."
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
In Regional Monetary Integration, Peter B. Kenen poses an important question: Should various country groups follow the lead of the European Monetary Union and form similar full-fledged monetary unions?
Walter Russell Mead recounts the story of the centuries-long rivalry between the English- speaking peoples and their enemies in God and Gold.
Complete list of CFR Books.
In this POP, Adjunct Fellow Michelle D. Gavin suggests steps the Bush administration could take to promote political and ethnic reconciliation and to restore the viability of Kenya’s governing institutions.
In this paper, Senior Fellow Daniel Markey poses a set of recommendations for the United States to consider in response to Pakistan’s ongoing political crisis.
To address the growing importance of Africa, the Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs present Beyond Humanitarianism, a collection of recent work that explains underlying trends on the continent and provides an absorbing look at Africa’s emergence as a strategic player on the world stage.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1-800-537-5487, fax +1-410-516-6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1-212-434-9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
To request permission to reuse Council materials, please email publications@cfr.org or fax +1-212-434-9859.
Please include the complete information of the requested work—author, title, sections/pages to be copied or reprinted, and number of copies to be made—along with a brief description of where and how you would like to reuse the work.
You may also request permission for Council material through Copyright Clearance Center. For more information, please click on the logo below.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
