On September 11, 2001, the US Government failed its citizenry.

It failed in two respects: intelligence and security, both of which our tax dollars supposedly sustained. The CIA and the FBI failed to detect the forthcoming evil; the Department of Transportation failed to detect the violations of security.

A US Senator, Bob Graham, has been the recent darling of the television media. He stated that intelligence agencies have had a "large number of successes" in dealing with domestic terrorism. But he claimed that "national security" would not allow him to discuss these cases with us. I'm afraid that I don't trust men with self-serving interests, especially when they make claims about the area of Government that they oversee. I don't think that Graham gives enough information to the citizens of this country. I don't believe that there have been a "large number of successes." Those responsible for the failure should resign in shame.

Weapons, although not guns, passed though security checkpoints in US airports. Remember how we all blamed lax airport security for the Locherbie incident. Yet, here, in our own country, terrorists were able to board aircraft carrying weapons that no legitimate passenger would carry. And worse, Logan Airport had been cited a number of times for security violations. Yet apparently, no repair to the security system was instituted. Those responsible for the failure should resign in shame.

If intelligence organizations had been aware of the planned attack, and did nothing about it so as to protect their intelligence gathering assets, then a sin was committed. If a warning was received, and airport security systems were not augmented, then a sin was committed. Yet no one in the news media is asking these tough questions and reporting the answers, or the evasions, to the American public.

Our Vice-President appeared on television to announce US policy regarding the use of force. Lest anyone forget, Russia, with all of its awesome ground power and air support, sent thousands of her sons home in body bags from Afghanistan. Yet the Vice-President issues a call for Americans to prepare for war. I don't think we are either ready or are we capable of winning that kind of war. Our current terrorist enemies, both domestic and foreign, are in large part fanatics. Bin Laden appears to want a worldwide theocracy. Hard-line militants want much the same. So the United States is faced with an enemy whose ferocity is heightened by self-righteousness. We have never directly faced this kind of enemy before. Our military is not prepared for another Somalia. And worse, I'm not sure that our military has learned the lessons of that engagement. Our national resolve, although currently great, may not be up to burying so many.

Even as we lick our wounds and mourn our dead, we must demand that our Government institute those measures required to defeat domestic terrorism without abridging the rights of its citizens. We must further demand that our Government not listen to hotheads and warmongers. Rabblerousing, like that of the Vice-President, must be halted. Although our allies have endorsed potential US efforts at curbing terrorism, I wonder to what length their commitments will take them. How does another Vietnam sound? How about another Belfast? How about another Chechnya? We, as a nation, should not be encouraged by our leaders to participate in a long drawn out military engagement. We should participate with our allies in efforts to identify and immobilize terrorists. Exactly how is a matter better left to experts. All that I require is that action be started now and that it be effective.

I am not a xenophobe. I do not want my country to isolate itself from the rest of the world. But I do believe that we, as a nation, are too liberal with regard to the activities of foreign nationals on our soil. In light of the recent evil, I think that even my father, an immigrant from Norway, might agree with me. But I disagree with those who espouse limiting immigration. I know Americans with recent foreign roots. They are the voters. They are the taxpayers. They serve in the military. They perform public service. They are proud to be Americans.

But, in the same light, I see "proud to be Americans" who are as dangerous to our country as are foreign terrorists. They see nothing wrong in abridging the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. They would have you believe that wire-tapping should be more easily allowed so that they could more easily detect terrorists. I suspect that they would next require that the press be enjoined from publishing thoughts such as mine. Then, controlling the media, they would be immune from scrutiny and proceed to further dismantle the very fiber of this nation.

Our founding fathers were an insightful group of patriots. They feared Government. They sought to protect the people from tyranny. They sought a balance of power that kept one branch of the Government in check by another. This last week we saw a failure of those checks and balances. Congressional oversight became a rubber stamp of the Executive. And as a result, we lost. We lost our sense of security. We lost friends and neighbors. We lost our innocence.