History makes clear that the threat from improvised explosive devices is not restricted to lands far from U.S. borders. It also shows that the severity of attacks has escalated steadily. In the 1960s and '70s, the leftist Weather Underground used home-made bombs to attack the Capitol building, Pentagon and other structures with few injuries. In 1993, Islamic terrorists detonated a truck bomb under the World Trade Center, killing six and wounding more than a thousand. Then came the horrors of the Oklahoma City bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks. Our national leaders recognize the immediacy of the IED threat and have begun taking steps to prevent new attacks. On Feb. 12, 2007, then-President Bush approved Homeland Security Presidential Directive-19, which called on the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to lead the way toward an implementation plan for preventing IED attacks in the homeland. The Justice Department signed off on the implementation plan after it was agreed upon by all major stakeholders and shortly before the end of the Bush presidency. It is now incumbent upon our leaders to implement that plan.
展开▼
