Intelligence chief: Terrorism “certain” as soon as 90 days
Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence was asked to to assess the possibility of an attempted attack in the United States in the next three to six months. He replied, “The priority is certain, I would say” — a response that was reaffirmed by the top officials of the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. Mr. Blair said that Iran “has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons,” and that the discovery of a secret enrichment plant near Qum heightened suspicions about Iran’s intentions to build a nuclear bomb.”
This warning in itself could have a debilitating effect on the psyche of the country. Americans value preventing deaths from terrorist attacks almost twice as much as they value preventing deaths from natural disasters, according to a study by Vanderbilt economist W. Kip Viscusi.
At the same time, an underreported aspect of the budget submitted to Congress this week cuts the amount of insurance the government is willing to offer for terrorism claims. Do they know something we don’t? The budget would cut $249 million in the next 10 years from a federal program that acts as a financial backstop to private insurance against terrorist attacks. “Cutting federal funding of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act will make coverage more expensive and less available, American Insurance Association spokesman Blain Rethmeier said Monday.”
Budget cuts are already affecting the air marshal program, with low morale and performance. “We talked to well more than a dozen current and former air marshals around the country,” CBS’s Armen Keteyian reports , “and, certainly in their mind, the service is riddled with internal problems.” The toxic environment has “really crippled the agency from within.” The real problem now is being able to keep the qualified candidates because, we’re being told, there’s a mass exodus of really good agents. The problems don’t stop there, Keteyian adds. The chances of a marshal being on the same flight as a terrorist are slim.
