The Fletcher School

The Fletcher Alumni Club of New York hosted an evening with Fletcher graduate Dr. Stephen E. Flynn (F'88). As a special favor to his alma mater and its alumni club, Steve presented ideas from his landmark manuscript, America the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism, prior to its official release. 

In his presentation, Steve argued that the current administration is fighting the war against terror by taking that war outside US borders. This approach, while in some cases necessary, is wholly insufficient. By focusing almost solely on using large-scale military force to fight overseas, it has neglected to address critical issues within our own borders. Our enemies, cognizant of superior US military power, will not fight this war conventionally. Instead it will target the underpinnings of US power: its civil society and economic infrastructure. This means that catastrophic terror events will be the new form of warfare, as it's a "David vs. Goliath" battle in which the enemy must outwit one of the best funded and strongest militaries in history.

According to Flynn, little to nothing has been done to address basic infrastructure issues such as port safety, the global supply chain, and public health. This is in part because these issues do not fall into the current paradigm of homeland security and are seen, rather, as domestic or private sector concerns. In addition, the problems appear huge and the current thinking is to avoid scaring the population and not to give this information to the enemy. This attitude leaves little room for facing, addressing, and finding solutions to these critical gaps in security.

In his presentation, Steve went on to outline a system similar to the federal banking/trust system and the US Oil Spill Liability Trust fund that would involve the private sector in homeland security.

Flynn argued that the country's focus is on the so-called "enemy" abroad rather than taking practical steps to prevent another terrorist attack at home. With this misallocation of resources, the next attack will create an uproar as the public realizes that so little has been done to guard the routes used by terrorists. This outcry will cause the government to overcompensate by enacting draconian laws that further infringe on citizens' freedom.

Steve later said of the alumni club event: "It was great to have the chance to do a dry run of my forthcoming book with a Fletcher audience. It certainly was an added bonus to bump into a couple of old classmates for the first time in 15 years as well."

For more information on Dr. Stephen Flynn's new book and media reports, please visit www.cfr.org.