There's a general sense that at a minimum we deferred an attack. Whether it eliminated it, no one can say. Sheehan said no decision had yet been reached to extend or modify a Dec. 21 State Department warning to U.S. citizens abroad to avoid large gatherings and to vary regular travel routines until mid-January because of potential terrorism. The warning was based on intelligence obtained after the arrests in Jordan. But experts say that the distant events mask the radically changing threat of terrorism today, an era when terrorists are more sophisticated, more elusive and more deadly than ever before.
Computers are part of the problem.
In several cases, investigators have found terrorists using encryption technology and other electronic tools to hide their communications and plans. Overall, the number of international terrorist attacks has declined for more than a decade, from a high of 666 incidents in 1987 to 323 last year, according to the U.S. State Department. That's the good news. But individual attacks are increasingly lethal. In 1998, for example, the State Department reported 273 terrorist attacks, the lowest annual total since 1971.