This levelheaded appraisal of how the United States--and, indeed, any democratic society--can combat terrorism is a good policy primer on a subject that continues to confound law-abiding nations. Drawing on the lessons learned from terrorist acts such as the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings, Heymann offers advice that is sometimes obvious (intelligence gathering is critical) and occasionally counterintuitive (military action, though popular, is not a very effective deterrent). He is most sensitive to the fact that democracies cannot become security states--governments, in other words, shouldn't defend their liberty by subverting it. Most important, Heymann recognizes that terrorism can't be stopped, but that perhaps it can be managed: "We can deal with it; we can discourage it; but we cannot end it completely any more than we can end violence for other purposes." A bleak fact of modern life, and proof of why Heymann's insights are so welcome. --John J. Miller
From Booklist
Harvard Law School professor Heymann distinguishes international from domestic terrorism and urges "commonsense" steps to minimize danger while protecting citizens' liberty and the nation's unity, recognizing that terrorist violence cannot be entirely eliminated. He describes special issues raised by international terrorism (and state-sponsored terrorism) and the challenges of deciding whether and how substantively to negotiate for hostages. A strategy to prevent domestic terrorism, he points out, demands intelligence gathering, which means agencies like the FBI will sometimes fail to distinguish adequately between political dissent and political violence. Heymann calls for a major intelligence focus on "NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) weapons," better coordination and information exchange between U.S. agencies and other countries, military response to state-sponsored terrorism, and managing public expectations: "We must learn never to react to the limited violence of small groups by launching a crusade in which we destroy our unity . . . or our trust" in U.S. institutions. Mary Carroll
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