The "War on Terror" and Prevention: Improving the Domestic Paradigm for the Digital Age
Harvey Rishikof

It would be a tragedy if the post hoc explanations that emerge in the coming years are that some of today’s threats were put in the "too hard box," leaving future generations to grapple with the missed opportunities of generations past, and an even more compounded threat to the US, the international community, and the environment. Defeating terrorism will require more than the available traditional tools of force: what is needed is a new foreign policy and a new international collective security regime.

Bug Off: Taking Bioterrorism Seriously
Dr. Gerald L. Epstein

The seriousness of the threat posed by bioterrorism may be difficult to prove, and the production and dissemination of biological agents may not be easy, but the legitimate applications of biology and biotechnology will create an ever-growing global workforce that will already have mastered those skills. How confident can we be that none of these will sympathize with or become recruited by groups or individuals seeking to inflict widespread harm? Biologists becoming terrorists pose a greater challenge than terrorists becoming biologists.

The Psychological Impact of the Continued Terrorist Threat
Andrew Silke

It's natural to expect that the fear and threat of terrorism would have a crippling psychological effect on society, but is this the case? Societies are not immune to the effects of frequent terrorist attacks or the continued threat of terrorism, but you might be surprised to learn how societies, including those that have been subject to repeated terrorist attacks for extended periods (Northern Ireland), respond and adapt.

Protecting the Systems We Depend On
Lauren Bean

What if a terrorist attacked the US-Canada electric grid system?  Or, if a biological agent contained in a shipment was offloaded at the Port of Long Beach, California? How might these events impact international systems of operations - financial, transportation, communication, etc.? And, our personal daily operations? The world is increasingly reliant on a complex system of highly interdependent international networks.  These networks are vulnerable to both attacks by terrorists seeking to harm the US, and exploitation by terrorists seeking to expand their global operations.  Developing creative solutions to protect this system of networks from attacks, to use this system to counter threats, and to counter terrorist usage of this system to operate, requires an understanding of all aspects of the contemporary and future threat array.

Chicagoland Water and Wastewater Preparedness and Business Resiliency Summit
Summary of Remarks by Mary A. Gade, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 5 Administrator

Book Review: What Makes a Terrorist, By Alan B. Krueger
Reviewed by Frank C. Schell

Recent National Strategy Forum Speakers
The Consul General of France in Chicago, Jean-Baptiste Main de Boissiere;
General David Grange (Ret.), CEO of the McCormick Tribune Foundation and CNN Military Analyst