Terrorism expert notes progress, failures
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
October 3, 2008
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| Brian Jenkins (Courtesy photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — This week, terrorism expert, Brian Jenkins, the Mineta Transportation Institute Security Center director spoke at The City’s commonwealth club about his book, “Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?”
How far have we come since Sept. 11? It’s certainly a mixed picture. There’s undeniable progress, and clearly some failures.
What are the successes? We’ve removed some of the key operational planners of al-Qaida, we have kept al-Qaida’s leadership on the run, We have made operating more dangerous for al-Qaida in terms of international travel and money. The preparations for carrying out the 9/11 attack would be much more dangerous today.
Failures? We have not been able to get the top leadership of al-Qaida, and we have not been able to blunt their message. The media jihad has increased. In 2001, there were a handful of terrorist Web sites. Today there are literally thousands.
Any indication that San Francisco could be a target? Like any American city, it’s potentially a target. There have been arrests of people plotting terrorist attacks in Northern California and Southern California. None of these attacks was developed near that of 9/11. There’s no evidence we have an active underground of al-Qaida. But we’re not living in a police state and we certainly don’t have an X-ray for a man’s soul. Tim McVeigh demonstrated that any damn fool can make a bomb and carry out an attack.
