Stephen Flynn, a senior fellow in national security at the Council on Foreign Affairs and Fletcher alum, delivered an animated speech Wednesday about safety from future terrorist attacks and the effectiveness of the Bush administration's security policies.
The lecture touched upon points Flynn made in his new book, "America the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism." The book has placed him on such media outlets as NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "Nightline" and CNN.
According to Flynn, the United States offers a number of soft targets for terrorists, ranging from water and food supplies to the millions of cargo containers carrying the goods that Americans rely upon everyday. U.S. infrastructure invites our adversaries to attack because they receive, as Flynn puts it, "a big bang for the buck."
Today's expanding global industrial network was unfortunately not created with security precautions in mind, he said. Security precautions are a must not only to protect citizens but also to protect U.S. economic interests and Americans' livelihoods.
He referred to a story in which a prominent figure in the Hutchison Port Holding, the world's leading port developer, was asked about the effects of terrorist attacks requiring the United States to close its entire transportation industry for a week. Flynn remembers him replying, "'a global recession.'"
Flynn's lecture argued that the source of American power rests in our civil society and in our economy. He said it is necessary to protect these power sources by building a secure infrastructure - by acting on the defensive.
"Non-state actors can threaten us without a state underpinning them," Flynn said. "This does not get through to us. Wolfowitz can't understand this."
According to Flynn, the Bush administration believes that to win the war on terror the United States needs to take the offensive. Directly referencing the governor of California, Flynn said the administration believes that "defense is girly talk."
A defensive position, Flynn countered, would provide a planned system of how to react to future terrorist threats and attacks that would cripple the transportation industry. Security issues cannot be divorced from economic development and regulations must be matched with the necessary funding.
Flynn also warned that another event comparable to Sept. 11 could produce what he called a "Patriot 2 Act on steroids," under which civil liberties would become almost non-existent.
To prevent our government from failing to protect us from terrorism, Flynn concluded, "American strength rests not in just throwing a punch, but in taking one."
Flynn returned to familiar soil when he addressed a luncheon group of students and professors in the Cabot building at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He received his Master's and PhD degrees from Fletcher.
