Thursday, August 16, 2007

The NYPD Report

"Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat"

EDITORIAL - By Ilana Freedman

The release this week by the New York Police Department of their report "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat" is one of the most promising signs in America's domestic war against terrorism. This respected law enforcement agency has publicly recognized and reported in clear terms what many private counter-terrorism experts in the private sector have been warning America about for a number of years: that the terrorist threat is not just in foreign countries - it is here.

Nothing could have made the threat clearer than last week's report of a major al Qaeda plot against three American cities. Debkafile, a respected publication that reports and analyzes global intelligence relating to terrorism and security, reported that chatter picked up from a stream of electronic chatter referred to several major attacks "by means of trucks loaded with radio-active material against America's biggest city and financial nerve center" in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Although no analyst is going to get it right all the time, Debka has a pretty good record. Whether this particular item is a true plot or only wishful thinking on the part of wannabe jihadists, it is another in a long list of warnings. Those who would destroy our way of life are plotting against us, living among us, and using the very systems that have made America strong to destroy us.

What we need to learn from this is that the accumulated complacency that we have allowed to isolate us from the notion that another 9/11 could take place, has put us in great danger, and that the danger is right here at home. The culture of hyper-political correctness that undermines the fundamental intent of our Constitution gives benefit to those who have not earned it at the expense of those who have. The result is the dangerous growth of a subculture of radicalized Islamists whose mission is to destroy our society from within. The NY Police Department Report has officially identified them, described the process through which they become jihadists, and laid out the implications for us. The groups of radicalized young Muslim men that they found in New York can be mirrored all over the country, where other groups, encouraged by each other's passion and guided by members of existing groups like Jama'at al Fuqra and Darul Uloom, who encourage and recruit them.

The combination of young, disenchanted young men with an Islamist vision that empowers them, and groups like al Qaeda with an agenda to rule the world under Islamic law, is a deadly and very powerful one.

We are sitting on a time bomb. It is only a matter of time before, one bright day, not unlike that of 9/11, 2001, when we will once again see a world that has suddenly and irrevocably changed before our eyes. Our first step to understanding what has happened to the America we knew may be to read this report and recognize the new reality that America has become.

The report, "Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat"has been made public and can be read at http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/pdf/dcpi/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf .

It is required reading for all Americans.

Ilana Freedman, Editor

A FAILED NORTH KOREAN AGREEMENT

Guest Column by: Lt. Colonel Gordon Cucullu (Retired)

Years ago I critiqued my boss's idea and was told that I "must not evaluate an experiment before it takes place." That's usually good advice. So why do I write about a "failed North Korean agreement" before we really know for certain if this latest State Department initiative will prevail?

Partly because knowing who the players are in this situation and being aware of the history that each side brings to the table guarantees a failed agreement. This is especially unfortunate because the administration's North Korea policy - and this agreement in particular - is being hailed by some as a win.

Pundit Dick Morris describes it as "a diplomatic triumph" that ought to be hailed as a major victory by the administration. Morris lauds the agreement as a personal victory for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But is Morris speaking from a deep understanding of the dynamics of Northeast Asian relationships or as a highly skilled domestic political advisor? I supect the latter.

Morris has long promoted a contest pitting Hillary Clinton against Rice. In order to burnish Rice's image, he has shamelessly touted the agreement with North Korea as a major accomplishment. But by single-mindedly praising Rice, Morris disregards the awful effect of giving North Korea a pass.

And make no mistake, this agreement tosses a life preserver to the North Korean regime. North Korea has been under such pressure - much of it self-imposed because of its abysmal economic policies - that many outsiders sensed a pending collapse. But instead of allowing the corrupt regime to implode and helping to build a new order on the old, the diplomats have yet again propped up the dictator.

With the help of the State Department the agreement has become a regime saver. From the perspective of Kim Jong Il and his immediate coterie it buys them more time. For the tens of thousands of Party officials who exist only by sucking the blood of the North Korean people the agreement gives them new life.

But for the millions of North Korean people - the workers and peasants in whose name this horrid "paradise" is structured - the agreement condemns them to continued servitude, forced labor, prison camps, starvation, and death.

Internationally, the illegal and criminal activities that have long characterized the Kim regime are re- legitimized. The human rights of the people are ignored, the kidnappings will continue, the counterfeiting given new impetus, and missile and WMD proliferation are green-lighted.

So how could this have happened?

Inarguably the bureaucracy of the State Department runs its own policy independent of which administration is in the White House or who the current Secretary may be. The key players are entrenched Foreign Service Officers who have come up through the mid-levels of the institution by making themselves part of the old boys network.

These career bureaucrats have reached policy-making positions by being cooperative if not compliant with the institutional biases of the Department. They do not stand up and risk rocking the boat. They buy into and aggressively support the strong points of the corporate culture. These include, but are not limited to the following: a liberal worldview, a distain for elected officials (of either party but especially Republicans), and an exhaltation of the doctrine of stability.

The State Department burns candles at the altar of stability. Better a dictator that oppresses his people than risk "destabilizing" a region or a country. As a consequence whenever intervention that would radically change a place on the globe is suggested the kneejerk Department reaction is to reject it emphatically.

This is relevant because the State Department has operated largely unchecked in the matter of North Korea. That it continues to do so is exemplified by the ease with which this recent agreement passed.

And it did it despite legislation and executive policy to the contrary.

In 2004 the many voices that called for an end to the repression of the North Korean people rejoiced.

Both houses of Congress passed a bill championing human rights for the North Korean people. It was immediately signed by the president.

Since then it has all but died by a combination of bureaucratic inaction and overall inattention from the White House or the Congress. Months passed before the special representative was appointed and then only over State objections and with serious Congressional nudging.

Jay Lepkowitz, appointed to watchdog North Korea has been all but ignored by the serious players, led by current Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Pacific Affairs, Christopher Hill. Hill was special emmissary to the Six Party Talks prior to his current appointment. He is a classic FSO who eschews the demands of the legislation that all issues including human rights, counterfeiting, and other violations, be placed on the table for discussion every time nuclear proliferation or other issues are discussed with the North.

Hill, with the encouragement of his superiors simply chose to ignore the law and separate nuclear issues from the rest. He even participated with South Korean representatives in pursuading the Japanese to back away from concerns they had over kidnapping of their citizens by Kim Jong Il.

Reason? It might "destabilize" the talks.

That is spilt milk and is an issue that ought to be addressed at the highest levels but is, frankly, unlikely to make anyone's desk. So failing long overdue reform of the Foreign Service what is the most likely effect of the agreement on regional and world affairs?

The answer is not encouraging. North Korea, using the playbook that worked so effectively in 1994, is already limiting the range of IAEA inspectors severely and is demanding immediate gratification for actions it has yet to take or that have yet to be verified.

State pressed hard for immediate release of North Korean government funds previously frozen in the Banco Delta of Macao, money that was certainly derived from international counterfeiting operations that undermined American currency! Before the ink was dry on the agreement the North was already screaming for delivery of fuel oil and other commodities promised under the agreement.

For those of us with a more realistic view than our diplomats we ought to expect to see a huge spike in North Korean missile and nuclear proliferation worldwide. Already hand-in-glove with Iranian engineers in upgrading missiles it sold to Iran, expect that improved warhead accuracy will be the first measurable result of the nefarious joint venture. Let us sincerely hope that the test of this new accuracy will not be upon Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, in this hemisphere expect that with the release given by the new agreement and the concomitant boost in status, that North Korea either directly or though Iran will sell missiles to Hugo Chavez, dictator of Venezuela. Chavez has high-performance fighter aircraft on order and tons of conventional weapons. All he lacks is a missile threat. The laxity and cynicism of our State Department has opened that door for him.

At home in North Korea the gulags will remain open for business. Those unfortunates who attempt to flee and are forcibly repatriated by China will be executed or worked to death. Poison gas experiments on humans will continue. Missile testing will be accelerated.

And we will watch it all happen, continually reassured by our diplomats that they have scored a major international coup.

We Are the First Defenders

Ever since 9/11, I have been writing and speaking about the need for Americans to understand that we must work together to keep our selves, our families, and our communities safe.

For a terrorist, there is no innocent bystander. The civilians, the children, the women, the elderly, whoever happens to be close at hand . . . they are the target. We are all standing squarely on the front lines and we must be prepared. This means recognizing that there is indeed an enemy in our midst, as the NYPD Report makes clear. We need to recognize where the danger lies, what forms it may take, and what we can do to be safe. We need to be ready to report activities that makes us uneasy to the police. Law enforcement, despite the best intentions and training of dedicated officers, cannot be everywhere at once. So we must be their eyes and ears and help them see and hear what they might otherwise miss.

Here are some other things we can do:

• If we own or manage a business, large or small, we are responsible for making it safe for our employees. That means developing all-hazard preparedness and emergency planning programs, and making certain that our personnel are adequately trained.

• If we are responsible for schools, we need to realize that schools are prime targets for terrorists, and if we do not protect the buildings and prepare the teachers, the staff, and the children, then we are putting them all at great risk. We tend to give our children too little credit. They can be empowered, at any age, by giving them age-appropriate training that teaches them to protect themselves, to give them the skills that will keep them safe in a critical situation.

• If you have a family, it is important to talk frankly about the dangers and develop a plan based on several scenarios, deciding how to behave, how to communicate, how to come back together, and how to stay safe at home.

If you are just beginning this process and are not sure where to start, go to www.ready.gov for some ideas that may help. We can no longer afford the luxury of complacency or the willingness to depend on others for our own safety. Our homes, our families, our communities belong to us and it is us who must take the responsibility for protecting them.

We are the First Defenders . . . and the time to prepare is now.

Ilana Freedman, Editor

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