'Homeland defense' won't be easy By Brad Knickerbocker

Mr. Hamilton, who now heads the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, adds that "we must invest far more resources in strengthening the security of our borders, airports, and cities, and in protecting the crucial infrastructure of our economy, financial systems, energy supplies, and computer networks."

Sept. 11 was a shocking day like few others. The days since then feel more numbing than warlike - at least when compared with the protracted conflicts in Europe and the Pacific more than 50 years ago or in Vietnam a generation later. Yet, when the final numbers are tallied, they likely will show that more Americans (along with those of other nationalities) were killed that day than died during the average year of the Vietnam War.

While those wearing Kevlar helmets and carrying M16s may be the most obvious defenders of US homeland for the foreseeable future, experts say all Americans have a vital role to play - especially at a time when the most dangerous enemy may be a terrorist hiding deep within society, perhaps living next door.

"Today, the 'first to fight' may well be a police officer, a firefighter, or an information security technician," reports the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "New actors must become part of the national security equation."

That includes all citizens, not just those who specialize in security, says retired Army Col. Daniel Smith.

"Perhaps the most effective counter [to terrorist attacks] is for Americans to shed their daily self-absorption, and become more aware of their surroundings," says Colonel Smith, chief of research at the private Center for Defense Information in Washington. "Today's widespread availability of wireless communications, ... can be used to alert authorities about abandoned cars or suspicious packages or anything that seems out of place. It may not seem much, but it can make all the difference."

In Medford, Ore., a small town thousands of miles from the recent terrorists attacks in New York and Washington, Americans are symbolically responding to the most blatant foreign attack on US mainland since the British burned the Capitol and the White House in the War of 1812.

Folks are delivering red, white, and blue bouquets to local fire stations, a way of thanking those who put their lives on the line during emergencies. Military recruiting offices are fielding more inquiries, not just from young men and women, but also from veterans of past wars well beyond the maximum age to enlist. Gas masks are sold out at Army-Navy surplus stores. And the sheriff's office is running out of applications to carry a concealed handgun.

In the weeks and months to come, Americans likely will be asked to do much more.

International terrorism "is not a crisis, ... [but] a condition with which we will have to deal on a long-term basis," the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reported last Friday.

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