The Next Terrorism

The Wall Street Journal, 21 August 1998

Osama bin Laden is an extremely wealthy man. As he ponders where and how to strike next,
he or
someone like him will eventually notice that there are 351 SS-25s rolling around the roads of
Russia and capable of destroying an American city. Surely it is not too much to imagine that a
determined buyer might be able to find a poorly paid general or scientist somewhere who would
be susceptible to a well-placed bribe. For a princely sum, bin Laden or another of his ilk might
well be able to acquire one of those loose nukes, or simply pay someone to launch one for him. It
doesn’t even matter if it hits its target precisely on the mark; just so long as it lands on U.S. soil.

With a few exceptions, the reach of international terrorism hasn’t yet extended to the
American
homeland. But that is coming. It surely hasn’t escaped the notice of this country’s enemies that the
U.S. has absolutely no defense against ballistic missile attack. The fact that the U.S. cannot shoot
down a missile heading for an American city is a powerful and dangerous incentive for the bin
Ladens of the world to acquire one. Unlike, say, a truck bomb, an ICBM is only 30 minutes away.
Against a terrorist or terrorist state who might have such a weapon, would a future President
order the retaliation President Clinton employed yesterday?

The Clinton Administration believes the threat of missile attack, if it exists at all, is far off in
the
distance. It refuses to build a national missile defense. Will it take an attack by a bin Laden to
make it change its mind?