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December 3, 1999/24 Kislev 5760, Vol. 52, No.14
Less talk, more action needed
MARTY LATZ
Special to Jewish News
The building still stands - for now," said one of the World Trade Center bombers to then FBI counter-terrorism investigator Neil Herman as they flew over New York City. Herman, who supervised and coordinated the World Trade Center bombing investigation, called the bombing a "failure of government" even though its perpetrators were successfully prosecuted.
Why? Because it occurred. What was probably at the time the single greatest act of terrorism on U.S. soil was not prevented.
And it could have been far worse, for the building withstood 1,100 pounds of explosives and "only" incurred about $1 billion damage. The bombing could have resulted in around 250,000 deaths.
Herman, who recently left a 27-year career combating terrorism with the FBI and is now the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL's) Director of Fact Finding, shared these thoughts at a recent ADL board meeting in Phoenix.
His message was sobering. "The world is full of hatred and the availability of weapons," he told the board. And while the number of terrorist incidents perpetrated against U.S. citizens is down this year, this is largely due to the unusually high number in 1998, when more than 679 U.S. citizens died in terrorist attacks.
When asked about security measures designed to prevent such attacks, he said, "I would be misleading if I were to tell you (our borders) were safe." In the World Trade Center case, two of the conspirators were sitting together and trying to get into the U.S. on the same plane. One got in. The other was kept out. Not a good failure rate.
On the other hand, Herman told us the FBI succeeded in preventing the Holland Tunnel and several courthouses in New York from being attacked.
Even then, though, he said the FBI found out through an informant, which is "rare." Why so rare? Because informants "cost a lot of money and resources."
So what can we do? We must actively monitor known hate groups and others who call for harming U.S. citizens. This is largely what Herman is in charge of doing for the ADL. He oversees the investigative function of the ADL's 30 offices across the country. In short, he helps ADL staff and volunteers gather information about those wishing us harm.
But our government needs to do more. We must devote sufficient resources to the FBI and other agencies with counter-terrorism responsibilities to recruit and pay informants. We need a sufficient network of informants to prevent terrorists and extremists from acting on their beliefs. Our lives are worth it.
Frankly, it's exceedingly difficult to stop something if we don't know about it. Erecting concrete barriers in front of government buildings will help, but it's not enough.
Make no mistake - increasingly sophisticated and deadly weapons and bomb-making materials are readily available, even to our kids.
The best investment here is not turning our schools and buildings into fortresses, although better security is probably needed. No, we must increase our information-gathering mechanisms and infiltrate hate groups.
"The Jewish community must work closely with the government," Herman said. "It's not enough to just talk about hatred."
I agree. Our government also needs to step up and do more. Keeping us safe is perhaps the most fundamental government function.
Marty Latz is a Valley attorney and negotiations consultant and a member of the local ADL Board of Directors. Send comments to mlatz@negot.com.
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