Seeing Strength, Too, in an Open Society
Conventional wisdom has it that America's openness is its greatest weakness in preventing and tracking terrorist attacks. But there is an alternative view — one that sees the same openness as a source of some protection alongside the vulnerability.

That view appears in an intelligence analysis that has recently provoked spirited discussion within the Bush White House. The suicide bombers who have killed in Israel are not likely to have the resources or organizational support to bring them to America for a sustained terrorist campaign, and they have no domestic counterparts, the analysis asserts.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of America's free-trading, free-wheeling society are certainly now well understood. Stephen E. Flynn, a terrorism expert in the Coast Guard, warns that less than 3 percent of the 59,000 cargo shipments to the United States each day are inspected. In addition, some 1.3 million people and 340,000 vehicles a day enter the country.

This openness was an important factor in the Bush administration's decision to go on a global offensive against Al Qaeda. "For a nation as porous as America," said an administration terrorism expert who fears that protecting the homeland may ultimately be a futile task, "the best defense can only be a sustained, intensive offense."

Yet some experts, while not minimizing the danger posed by Al Qaeda and other foreign terrorists, say American vulnerability is not the whole story. While it is certainly open to well-planned surprise attacks, they doubt the United States will fall prey to the type of sustained suicide bombing campaign that has gripped Israel — thanks in large part, paradoxically, to Americans' welcoming ways.

America's political freedom and tolerance, they argue, create political dialogue and, hence, an alternative to violence. The atmosphere also inspires national loyalty from the very communities from which domestic terrorists might emerge, and in which foreign terrorists might seek cover and support.

"With 9/11, America suffered terrorism on a grand scale," said Ariel Merari, a terrorism expert at Tel Aviv University. "But a sustained campaign, even on a smaller scale, requires well-entrenched infrastructure."

Hamas and other militant Islamic groups that have taken root in the United States may hate American policy toward the Middle East, he says, "but they love living in America. Most far prefer living in Detroit, Chicago and New York than in Amman, Riyadh or Ramallah." Like most immigrants, they like the relative safety, freedom and prosperity of American life.

Second, he added, it has been far easier to organize, recruit and raise money for their causes in the United States than to wage warfare here. "They don't want to spit into the well from which they drink," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/weekinreview/26MILL.html