Osama's Threat, Katrina's Warning

Friday, May 5, 2006

By Scott Bates, New London Day

September 11, 2005

Hurricane Katrina did what no foreign enemy has ever done in our history, it destroyed an entire American city. While the loss of life is still unknown, most estimates put the death toll in the low thousands. It is hard to imagine the loss of life and chaos if there had not been over 48 hours warning of impending disaster.

But the next time an American city meets with catastrophe there may well be no warning.

Since the attacks of September 11th, we have been on notice that al-Qaeda intends to destroy a major American city. In 1998, Osama bin Laden said that it is a “religious duty” for his terrorists to gain possession of an atomic bomb. Following this call to action, al-Qaeda operatives have attempted to secure nuclear bomb making materials, met with Pakistani nuclear scientists and experimented with chemical and biological weapons in their camps in Afghanistan.

The 9/11 Commission reported that bin Laden had called for a “Hiroshima type event” on American soil. Since then, bin Laden received a fatwa, or religious ruling from a Saudi cleric justifying the use of weapons of mass destruction against America to kill “ten million”. One year ago bin Laden issued his “final warning” to America, the last step necessary in his self-justification to deliver a catastrophic attack on an American city.

The evidence is overwhelming that the next time that an America city is threatened with destruction, it may well come from terrorists who will not give us the warning New Orleans received before the hurricane. Katrina has shown us that the Department of Homeland Security, the very agency that would be in charge of preventing and responding to a catastrophic terrorist attack in America, is not ready to carry out its mission. Change must take place now, for if DHS responds to a catastrophic terrorist strike as it has to Katrina, the loss of life could be beyond our imaginings.

We must plan now to save American lives tomorrow. Katrina has provided us with a road map to reform rescue efforts. The weaknesses of our government’s response to Katrina can be summed up as a lack of security, supplies and synchronization.

Security is essential for any relief operation. The stunning breakdown of law and order in New Orleans prevented the delivery of relief supplies and the evacuation of victims. It is easy to imagine that panic and chaos from a terrorist attack on an American city that involved chemical, nuclear or biological weapons such an event would far exceed what we have just witnessed in New Orleans. In the aftermath of a catastrophic attack, the maintenance of law and order would be essential for immediate mass evacuations, organization of relief operations and protection of the victims left behind.

To provide better security in future disasters, we should designate the National Guard as the America’s foremost homeland security force. While riot ruled the streets of New Orleans, one half of Louisiana’s National Guard forces were deployed overseas. If President Bush wants to continue the occupation of Iraq he should do so primarily with the regular U.S. Army and stop deploying National Guard units for year long stints on the other side of the planet. The war on terror will be won by playing an aggressive offense and preparing a strong defense. Right now we need a defensive force capable of restoring law and order in a major American city during a disaster. Today, that force is stretched to the breaking point.

To provide better relief supplies in future disasters, the Department of Homeland Security should establish regional stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies within two hours flight time from every American metropolitan area with a population of 50,000 people or more. Federal funding for disaster relief should not have to wait until Congress comes back from vacation. Instead, Congress should set aside and maintain a $10 billion fund to be made available and applied immediately on order of the president, in the case of a catastrophic terrorist attack. Relief and recovery should wait for no politician.

To provide better synchronization of response and relief efforts, extensive planning and exercises should take place between state, local and national officials at every level well before the day of a disaster. Every American metropolitan region over 50,000 people should have in place a mass evacuation plan that has details on escapes routes to be established and safe destinations for civilian populations. Cities and states should have mutual aid agreements in place that specify what type of assistance they could rely on from neighbors.

Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter has said that the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina deserved an “F”. President Bush declared that the initial relief and response effort to Hurricane Katrina was inadequate. The next time an American city is threatened with destruction, we must be prepared, because next time, there may well be no warning.

Scott Bates is Senior Fellow for National Security at the non-partisan Center for National Policy, a Washington, DC based think tank. Bates is former Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee and lives in Stonington, CT.

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