America's widening security net

It's a tall – and often controversial – order. In the high-tech world, one hint of things to come is the sensor one government lab has already developed. It's put atop cell phone towers to sniff the air for anthrax or other toxins. It also measures wind speed and other weather variables – to enable scientists to track the spread of a biological or chemical agent.

The plan also calls for high-risk, high-reward government contracts that encourage private firms to push the technological envelope in developing antiterror tools.

But it's not just government and industry that are needed. The plan calls for beefing up the Citizen Corps, a group of security-conscious volunteers. It's one of the several times in the strategy that the president mentions either local or civilian support.

One dramatic citizen-action plan that's reportedly been discussed is the Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, a Department of Justice project. TIPS volunteers are reportedly being recruited from among people who have access to homes, businesses, and delivery systems – like postmen, utility services personnel, and truck drivers. They would alert authorities to any suspicious activities.

In the political realm, the plan calls for more executive-branch flexibility to quickly adjust and reorder government resources as needed. The US must be agile in responding to the terrorist threat, the White House argument goes. But members of Congress – who hold dear their constitutional oversight duties – may see this as a power grab.

Another long-time barrier the administration plans to reevaluate is the so-called Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which establishes that the armed forces are to be used to defend the nation from external threats – and that civilian law enforcement should be used to maintain peace and security inside America's borders.

Civil libertarians warn that unless the US continues to draw sharp lines between civilian and military functions within US borders, America will increasingly resemble a banana republic. Other analysts say that civilian authorities alone are not prepared to handle the threat of terror attacks. If a smallpox outbreak occurs, for instance, the military might have to enforce a quarantine.

Perhaps one of the toughest elements of the plan will be getting different parts of government to work with each other.

"You could turn the bureaucracy on its head – and old patterns will still reemerge," says Joseph Foxell, director of information security for New York City. "People will return to what has worked for them, what was comfortable in the past."

But if anything, the overall plan hints that this traditional intransigence – and lots of other things – may need to change.

• Staff writer Warren Richey contributed to this report.

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