Former Homeland Security Chief Chertoff Weighs in on Domestic Terrorism

Michael Chertoff, former head of U.S. Homeland Security, weighs in on "how to reinvigorate the war on terrorism here at home" in this N.Y. Daily News opinion piece.

Chertoff warns how complacency (i.e. U.S. citizens and politicians in denial of the potential for another 9/11-style terror attack) will breed "weakness and danger," and at the same time cautions that we should not lose our focus on the war on terror, particularly in the New York area, where a Long Island resident (Bryant Neal Vinas) was recruited by Al Qaeda and confessed to aiding a plot of a commuter train attack.

A good start in the case of NOPE's opposition to proposed civilian housing at Weapons Station Earle would be for the Navy to retract its decision to go through with an ultimately poor decision to move forward with, rather than void or buy out, an 80s-era privatized housing contract that, in our view, only has the potential to expose the base as a ripe target for terrorism. Allowing anyone unfettered access to a key military weapons depot is a recipe for disaster.