Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George Bush and co-author of USA Patriot Act. He talked about challenges facing the US in a long perspective.
During the cold war, stakes were too high for real war to occur. However, a multi polar world will create an unstable world.
What has changed in the last two decades are three things:
First is the globalization phenomenon. There are new international actors who do not act within a certain geographic boundary. There is unity through networking, whether it is for better or for ill. As such, threats cannot be localized anymore.
Second is technological leverage. This affects threats or terrorist acts. Earlier, no country had technology to make war but now with possibility of radiological, chemical, biological weapons- technology has been weaponised and more civilian damage continues to occur. September 11, 2001 had the biggest civilian damage in a day in US history.
Third is the rise of ungoverned space- government are unwilling or unable to control those territories and those territories, in turn has become a Petri dish for terrorism. People can operate freely whether it is piracy or terrorism.
These three features have radically changed how security is perceived. Earlier, the US sees security in two ways. One is through war which is military and defense, other is through criminal violations. Security department’s first job was to see which bucket to put the problem in. However, division between war and criminals no longer exists. These are now integrated and posed a unique challenge. It is no longer a binary issue but rather a spectrum of threats. It challenges us (?) to rethink about legal and organizational structures.
In terms of geography, a place to look at is South Asia. Apart from the Afghanistan war which has provided Al Qaeda with a safe haven, Europeans and Americans are trained in SA and sent back to orchestrate terrorist attacks.
Especially in Afghanistan, real domain over activities of borders needs to be valid. Otherwise, there is threat to the rest of the world.
Al Qaeda is an umbrella organization which offers to train and finance different groups. So in this new age, it will be networks fighting, so US has to deal through network fighting.
The strategy for short term is through military strike. In a longer time, we need to have an ideological response, looking at prone societies and help build up alternatives.
Taliban will regain if US doesn’t help, Pakistan will become less stable- Al Qaeda’s recruiting will reach optimum.
Danger or threat is also in western hemisphere such as Mexico with drug trafficking. It is a race against time.
Consequential Threats
Major biological terrorism threat/ anthrax/ materials already in nature but how to weaponised?
Cyber security- difficulty of finding answers of security of enemies- structural imperfections- to protect people’s privacy-
He stressed that sometimes, behind the door will work to implement change.
Cool term he said:
NYMTOF: Not in my term of office
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