Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Problems of Preparedness: U.S. Readiness for a Domestic Terrorist Attack

| Spring 2001

Abstract

Richard Falkenrath, on leave from Harvard University, discusses the evolution of the United States’ domestic preparedness program since the mid-1990s. The program, designed to prepare the country for a domestic terrorist attack with chemical or biological weapons, suffers from a variety of difficulties. Falkenrath traces one of the program’s largest problems—a lack of integration—to its origins as a series of multiple, loosely related programs that developed through “a fragmented, often chaotic policymaking and budgetary process,” rather than a coherent national strategy. He concludes with several recommendations for addressing this situation.

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For Academic Citation: Richard A. Falkenrath. “Problems of Preparedness: U.S. Readiness for a Domestic Terrorist Attack.” Quarterly Journal: International Security, vol. 25. no. 4. (Spring 2001):
147-186
.

The Author

Richard A. Falkenrath

Richard A. Falkenrath

  • Former Assistant Professor of Public Policy; Former Principal Investigator, Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness; Former Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
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