
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 7, 1993                   TAG: 9311070031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. LOOKS AT TERROR DEFENSES

In the wake of the World Trade Center bombing and with new concerns about the unpredictability of the post-Cold War world, the federal government is developing strategies to reduce the country's vulnerability to terrorists.

Some are single-agency responses to specific situations, such as a plan by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase security around nuclear reactors. Others, such as a soon-to-be-completed State Department computerized lookout network, are part of a coordinated government effort to target potential terrorist activities abroad and be better prepared to respond to their threat here.

"The World Trade Center bombing brought home to all of us very graphically the dangers posed by terrorists," said Barbara Bodine, acting coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, in a recent speech. "There are other developments now or on the horizon that may give us all . . . pause."

The Feb. 26 bombing and the subsequent discovery of an alleged plot to blow up the United Nations drove home to law enforcement officials that even amateur terrorists can inflict immense damage within U.S. borders. It made government agencies, which have been enhancing their domestic counterterrorism efforts since the early to mid-1980s, rethink their strategies and realize that more coordination and planning are essential.

The threat of an apocalyptic war may have diminished. Even worldwide terrorism - much of it directed at U.S. citizens abroad - may be declining. But experts said the threat of terrorism within the United States appears to be higher. As the sole remaining superpower, often taking on a peacemaker role, the United States is likely to generate hostilities abroad and become a target, according to intelligence analysts.

New international developments that are of concern to U.S. agencies are the emergence of Islamic fundamentalist groups in Egypt and elsewhere and the violent confrontations in the Balkans, Haiti and Somalia, where the U.S. role has been questioned.

Part of the challenge to federal agencies is the changing nature of terrorism, according to experts. Groups that have posed increasing concern in the United States and to its interests abroad are ad hoc confederations with limited technical training, perhaps without state sponsorship, coming together for a single operation such as the World Trade Center.

The defendants charged in the World Trade Center and United Nations bomb plots are believed to be loose-knit groups that coalesced in New York-area mosques and had a common allegiance to the fiery teachings of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.

Without constantly revamping its efforts, the government is incapable of following the formation and movements of these groups. The World Trade Center bomb, for example, showed the ingenuity of terrorists, who built a powerful bomb of easily obtainable materials and were bold enough to act in one of the most populated cities.

by CNB