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Cato Daily Dispatch for August 12, 2003

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Report Calls Terror Alert System Inadequate
Bush Stumps for Forest Fire Prevention Plan
U.S. Forces Approach Liberia as President Taylor Steps Down

Report Calls Terror Alert System Inadequate

"A new report prepared for Congress says the color-coded national terrorism warning system is too vague, lacks specific protective measures for law enforcement and costs an extraordinary amount to be implemented," reports CNN.

Cato Director of Defense Policy Studies Charles Peņa agrees. In "Homeland Security Alert System: Why Bother?" he says that "the color-coded homeland security advisory system has been nothing but government sound and fury signifying much of nothing."

Peņa writes: "The sad truth is that the best purpose for the homeland security advisory system is for the federal bureaucracy to be seen as 'doing something', to prove to the public that politicians and government officials are not asleep at the wheel--if something actually does happen, they can claim they gave fair warning.

"But it's of little use to state and local government officials, as well as the general public, because no clearly defined actions are associated with any of the alert levels."

In "Homeland Security: Follow the Bouncing Ball," Peņa says: "Instead of needlessly raising anxiety levels or providing a false sense of security with the color-coded alert system, the Department of Homeland Security needs to focus its resources on more important tasks, such as preventing terrorists from entering the country. Indeed, all of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 entered the country through a legal point of entry, as do millions of other people each year."

Bush Stumps for Forest Fire Prevention Plan

"President Bush went on a helicopter tour yesterday over a national forest hard hit by fires to promote a plan that he said would help control them, but that his critics said would allow excessive logging on federal land," reports The New York Times. "Mr. Bush's plan, the Healthy Forests initiative, is part of a summer push by the White House to show Mr. Bush is concerned about the environment, an issue of great importance to the swing voters he would need to be re-elected next year. Mr. Bush is to travel to California, Oregon and Washington this month to promote his environmental policies.

"The Healthy Forests initiative, which has passed the House and is pending in the Senate, would let the Forest Service speed up the burning of underbrush and the thinning of trees on 20 million acres of federal land with the most severe risk of fire."

Jerry Taylor, Cato's director of natural resource studies, calls the Bush plan well-intentioned, but doomed to fail.

"There is a better way," says Taylor. "Forest Service researchers have shown that homes and other structures are safe from wildfire if their roofs are non-flammable and the landscaping within 150 feet of the buildings is made relatively fireproof. A recent Forest Service report estimates there are just 1.9 million high-risk acres with homes and other structures near federal lands. To defend homes and communities, we should treat those acres and fireproof the homes. That could be done in just one or two years at a tiny fraction of the cost of the president's plan.

"Once homes and communities are protected, the Forest Service and other federal agencies should leave most fires alone, as fire ecologists have long recommended. Fire crews should make sure blazes do not cross onto private lands but otherwise let nature take its course. That would save taxpayers billions of dollars, protect firefighters' lives, and improve forest health."

U.S. Forces Approach Liberia as President Taylor Steps Down

"Liberian President Charles Taylor, who fought his way into power and ruled for six years over a rapidly disintegrating country while engineering a string of wars that have ravaged West Africa, resigned from office today and flew into exile in Nigeria," according to The Washington Post.

"Three U.S. warships appeared off the coast of the capital just minutes after the [resignation] ceremony, prompting crowds of Liberians to gather expectantly at the shoreline."

In "Requiem for Powell Doctrine," an op-ed published yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, Cato Senior Editor Gene Healy writes: "With more than 2,000 Marines in position off the coast of Liberia--where nothing resembling a vital American interest presents itself--one wonders what has become of the restrained foreign policy that was a George W. Bush campaign staple."

Healy concludes: "The United States has a military already stretched too thin, a genuine threat-at-large in Al Qaeda, and all the trouble it can handle stabilizing Iraq. We can ill-afford a foreign policy that tasks the U.S. armed forces with spreading good throughout the world. Secretary Powell may have abandoned Gen. Powell's doctrine, but the wisdom it contains has never been more vital."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org