The threat of terrorism in the United States needs to be addressed both at the macro and the micro levels. At the macro level, the United States needs to develop partnerships with other nations worldwide to collaborate and share information, as well as to unite in refusing to allow terrorist activities (ôThwarting Terrorism Requires Strong International Partnersö). Deputy Homeland Security Secretary James Loy regards global partnerships as the most valuable tools for fighting terrorism because they ôknit us ever closer together and eliminate gaps our enemies could otherwise exploitö (ôThwarting Terrorism Requires Strong International Partnersö). In addition, we need to destroy the worldwide financial networks that are funding terrorism, employ diplomacy to defuse terrorist hatred, and intelligence to track terrorist plans and activities (ôThwarting Terrorism Requires Strong International Partnersö).
At the micro level, we need to secure our borders, restrict foreignersÆ access to our weapons, weaponry training facilities, aircraft, and flight training. In too many cases, terrorists have obtained the materials and training they needed to attack us right here in the United States. Foreigners have been given too-easy access to visas and citizenship without careful scrutiny as to their political ties and other background. We need to build an awareness of potential terrorist activities and individuals without engendering widespread fear and intolerance. This means making it easy for people to report things that they see and providing a rapid response to those observations. People who notice little anomalies that could indicate potential terrorism should report them, and we need to follow up on them wherever possible; this will entail developing a larger force of law enforcement officers.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a serious impediment to the war on terror in the United States. One of the Presid...