Haft of the Spear

Prudent and timely:

The White House is staging a high-level exercise Saturday to test responses to the prospect of a massive domestic terrorist attack involving IEDs (improvised explosive devices)—the same deadly roadside bombs that have been used by insurgents against the U.S. military in Iraq.

White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend will preside over a group of senior officials—including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence John (Mike) McConnell—as they attempt to deal with the latest nightmarish scenario cooked up by government counterterrorism planners.

As part of the exercise, the officials will be handed a thick binder which lays out a scenario involving simultaneous terror attacks by “sleeper cells” of 20 to 25 individuals each dispersed in five cities across the country: New York, Washington, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. The officials will then be tested on how they direct their respective agencies to respond. “We’ve designed this to overtax the system, to push the system beyond the breaking point,” said one senior administration official familiar with planning for the event, who declined to be identified talking about it before it takes place.

While planning for domestic terror attacks is not new, the focus on IEDs in this weekend’s exercise seems at least tacit recognition that the wave of such attacks that have been killing soldiers and civilians in Iraq and to a lesser extent Afghanistan could spread to the United States.

Man, can I call it or what?

In a staggering display of ignorance and narrow-mindedness:

“Sometimes I have a sense they’re watching too many reruns of ’24',” said Rep. Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat who serves on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. “They need to get a grip. We don’t have IEDs here. They’re creating a state of fear beyond what is helpful.”

Really? Rep. Moran and those about to jump on his bandwagon might want to avail himself of a newspaper and note the relative ease with which terrorists can cause death and destruction with common household items or for a modest investment at the local Home Depot. If he does not want to believe the press or care what happens in furrin' lands he can talk to the homeland security and law enforcement contacts and read up on the mounds of reporting related to the acquisition of IED building blocks right here in the US. If he doesn't want to do the homework he can always tap the CRS and they'll do the heavy lifting for him (with a corresponding leak to FAS/Secrecy News for the benefit of those who paid for the work, hopefully).

What is probably not covered in the exercise and needs to be addressed: the psychological/sociological impact on the population when their home towns start to resemble - even if for the briefest moment - the urban environment of Iraq.