That s double the number from the previous year. That trend augurs a new age in terrorism one in which weapons of mass destruction reach the hands of individuals seeking to murder countless numbers of people as an end in itself. There s an incremental creep away from terrorism as solely a political act aimed at getting attention, notes James Ken Campbell of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who recently authored the book Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism. Not all are convinced that there is a new terrorism threat. They claim government authorities have overreacted to a situation of minimal consequence, or that defense contractors need a specter now that the Soviet Union is gone in order to justify Pentagon spending.
Terrorism is in decline.
Colo. Kopel and others worry new spending programs and sweeping new laws such as the 1996 anti-terrorism bill hand over far too much authority to federal agencies. Kopel also objects to the Clinton administration s push to limit encryption technology, which is in part an anti-terrorist measure. The FBI now wants the ability to read everyone s E-mail, he said. But the emergence of possible biochemical attack troubles even Kopel. The Constitution was not designed for that particular set of technologies.