The most important overlooked story of the past few weeks was overlooked because it was not surprising. Also because no one really wants to notice it. The weight of 9/11 and all its implications is so much on our minds that it’s never on our mind.
I speak of the report from the inspector general of the Justice Department, issued in late May, saying the department is not prepared to ensure public safety in the days or weeks after a terrorist attack in which nuclear, biological or chemical weapons are used. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as first federal responder, in a way, in the event of a WMD attack, but every agency in government has a formal, assigned role, and the crucial job of Justice is to manage and coordinate law enforcement and step in if state and local authorities are overwhelmed.
So how would Justice do, almost nine years after the attacks of 9/11? Poorly. “The Department is not prepared to fulfill its role . . . to ensure public safety and security in the event of a WMD incident,” says the 61-page report. Justice has yet to assign an entity or individual with clear responsibility for oversight or management of WMD response; it has not catalogued its resources in terms of either personnel or equipment; it does not have written plans or checklists in case of a WMD attack. A deputy assistant attorney general for policy and planning is quoted as saying “it is not clear” who in the department is responsible for handling WMD response. Workers interviewed said the department’s operational response program “lacks leadership and oversight.” An unidentified Justice Department official was quoted: “We are totally unprepared.” He added. “Right now, being totally effective would never happen. Everybody would be winging it.”
Eric Holder heads up DOJ. He apparently has given a lot of thought to
where to hold the “show trials” of terrorists in U.S. custody. Ms. Noonan
cites DOJ’s lack of attention to any sort of a plan to counter WMD
plots against the U.S. Why can’t Mr. Holder devote some time to
working on these plans, rather than grandiose notions designed to
showcase to the world the openness and fairness of the American
legal system ?
Oh Peggy, it’s a lot worse than you think!
Forget about the DOJ. Grappling with the oil spill here on the Gulf, we have learned that more lawyers from DOJ is the last thing we need here.
Anyone who has been thinking of real serious terrorist attacks or economic collapse that lead to TEOTWAWKI, or something that looks like that, has been making their OWN independent plans on how to deal with the aftermath.
Katrina, Nashville, Oil Spills all show one common theme: expecting salvation from Government is a fool’s dream. If you want to survive and thrive, you need to make your own preparations and plans.
Personal Responsibility is so, “old school”, but it is still the one strategy you have some control over.
Gee, the wind’s blowing to the right now.
#2. Capt. Deacon Warren,
My thoughts exactly. How many other Government department watchdog personnel have their faces in a computer screen watching pornography? I have a first response weapon at my disposal since the 911 operator is probably now in India.
By the way, at the rate we are going now, we won’t need terrorists since we seem to be doing a better job of damaging ourselves. If a terrorist nation claimed responsibility for what has happened in the Gulf, that nation would be living on borrowed time.
#5,
And we needn’t worry about foreign terrorists attempting to
cripple the American financial system, either. The frat boy culture
of Wall Street and the American consumer’s addiction to easy
credit have crippled our economy with an effectiveness unrivaled
by any terrorist organization.