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Updated: March 2007
| Author: | Stephen E. Flynn, Ira A. Lipman Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies |
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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.
What is a CFR Academic Module?
Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
June 2004
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.
November 6, 2006
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
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
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.
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
Watch experts discuss the terrorist threat in New York and the importance of preparing for small-scale
September 8, 2006
Watch experts assess New York's emergency preparedness for future attacks, and potential scenarios for the immediate aftermath of an attack.
September 8, 2006
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
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.
March 2006
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
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. This report identifies where efforts have fallen short in securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials, and it offers realistic recommendations to plug these gaps in the U.S. and international response.
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
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
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
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
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
Watch U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discuss port security and immigration.
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
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
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
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
Listen to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff discuss port security and immigration.
March 10, 2006
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.
May 3, 2006
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
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
Stephen Flynn leads a discussion with homeland security experts Kenneth Damstrom, Daniel Prieto, and Nancy Wong as part of the 2006 Corporate Conference.
July 27, 2006
March 2, 2006
Stephen Flynn testifies before the Committee on Armed Services on the DP World controversy and the ongoing vulnerability of U.S. seaports.
March 7, 2006
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.
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Thomas Kean, Chair, Lee Hamilton, Vice Chair, July 22, 2004
February 5, 2004
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
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."
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