Mr. President, We Need to Talk

Yes, I worry about terrorists blowing up a train or a chemical plant. But only one threat keeps me up at night.

By J. Peter Scoblic

From Reader's Digest

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With the Flip of a Switch

I live less than two miles from the White House. From my seventh-floor apartment I can look south from my living room window and see much of metropolitan Washington. To the east I can just make out the dome of the Capitol; directly ahead is the Washington Monument. It's a vista that has inspired me many times during my seven years here. But some nights, when I turn out the lights before bed, I'm struck with a far darker thought: the realization that it could all disappear in little more time than it took me to flip the switch. I don't sleep particularly well on those nights.

Instead, I think about the one thing that could change America forever: a nuclear weapon. Only a nuclear blast could, in an instant, vaporize downtown Washington and obliterate Congress, the White House and most of our federal government. Only a nuclear blast could, in a heartbeat, erase New York's financial district, shutting down markets and thousands of businesses in the world's economic center. Only a nuclear blast could, in a nanosecond, wipe out the port of Long Beach, California, halting national commerce and international trade.

But you know what horrifies me even more? Four years into the war on terror, we're treating the possibility of nuclear devastation as if it were just one more attack to guard against. Excuse me, Mr. President, but that's way beyond dangerous. It's crazy.

The list of things we're worried about is long: from suicide bombers in malls, to hijacked planes turned into missiles, to packages exploding on buses or trains. These sorts of attacks, using regular explosives, could kill or seriously injure hundreds, even thousands. We need to guard against them. But the blunt truth is, compared to a nuclear explosion, conventional terrorism is a far lesser evil.

When bombs exploded on a bus and three subway trains in London last July, killing 56 people, it was a terrorist attack that made headlines worldwide. Yet almost immediately afterward, it was business as usual for the British. "London, like New York, gets back to normal fairly quickly," Professor Michael Clarke of King's College told American journalists. Within a month, public transportation was running smoothly again. The cost of the damage will likely reach several billion dollars -- not a small amount, but not one that would shatter the British economy.

In America, the attacks of September 11 took 3,000 lives -- a tragic blow. The damage cost us billions as well, and probably lengthened a recession that was already underway. But within weeks, we were behaving much as we had been on September 10 -- shopping in stores, going to ball games, movies and restaurants. By spring of 2002, our economy was growing again at a brisk pace. It's been popular to say that "everything changed" for America after September 11. But that's just not so.