Reaction vs. Response

See if you can pick out which statement below represents reaction to yeterday's news of the foiled terror plot, and which statements represent response to the strategy of terrorism.

• "This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11." — President George W. Bush, 8/11/06, quoted in the Washington Post Express.
• "We cannot afford no security, but we cannot afford total security, because . . . absolute security could come only at the expense of grounding all the planes and really undermining our way of life. And that would, of course, be a defeat for America." — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, 8/11/06, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
• "Everything that can be done to protect [travelers] is being done." — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, 8/11/06, quoted in the Washington Post Express

As Ohio State University national security expert John Mueller points out in his brilliant Regulation article, A False Sense of Insecurity, "The costs of terrorism very often are the result of hasty, ill-considered, and overwrought reactions."

By communicating messages of confidence, control, and resolve, two of three top administration officials have done a good job of responding to news of the foiled terror plots. The third has unwittingly played into the terrorism strategy.