2008 Woodie Awards
Terrorism will be ongoing problem, says speaker
By: Brian Stuckmeyer
Issue date: 4/21/05 Section: News
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Erin Smith, a member of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project in Washington D.C., told Webster University students their generation will be the one's who will face terrorism in coming years.
"We hope to reach out to people, and get them thinking and talking about terrorism," Smith said. "It's our generation that is going to tackle these issues."
As a privately funded follow-up organization to the 9/11 Commission, the 9/11 Public Discourse Project seeks to educate the public on national security since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. Smith, brought to Webster by the School of Business and Technology, discussed the 9/11 Commission and its recommendations April 13 in the Emerson Library Conference Room.
Smith said the commission's report was the result of extensive work and research. The 9/11 Commission Report, at 567 pages, was compiled and written in a narrative fashion. About 100,000 copies were sold within the first 12 hours of its June 2004 release.
Smith detailed four of the report's 41 recommendations.
"The first is easily the scariest, and that's non-proliferation," Smith said. "Most experts today agree that nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists are the biggest threat we face."
Smith said the commission recommended the expansion of Cooperative Threat Reduction, a government program designed to locate and secure or neutralize nuclear weapons around the world.
"This program right now is costing about $400 million a year, which sounds expensive, but it's one-tenth of one percent of the defense budget, and it's proven to be very effective," Smith said.
The second recommendation Smith talked about was radio spectrum.
"Back in the late '90s when we were switching from analog to digital television, the government loaned radio spectrum to the national commercial broadcasters," Smith said.
Because there is a fixed amount of radio spectrum available, Smith said rescue and law enforcement officers aren't always able to communicate with each other. The commission urged congress to support legislation that would dedicate more radio spectrum to emergency communication.
"We hope to reach out to people, and get them thinking and talking about terrorism," Smith said. "It's our generation that is going to tackle these issues."
As a privately funded follow-up organization to the 9/11 Commission, the 9/11 Public Discourse Project seeks to educate the public on national security since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. Smith, brought to Webster by the School of Business and Technology, discussed the 9/11 Commission and its recommendations April 13 in the Emerson Library Conference Room.
Smith said the commission's report was the result of extensive work and research. The 9/11 Commission Report, at 567 pages, was compiled and written in a narrative fashion. About 100,000 copies were sold within the first 12 hours of its June 2004 release.
Smith detailed four of the report's 41 recommendations.
"The first is easily the scariest, and that's non-proliferation," Smith said. "Most experts today agree that nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists are the biggest threat we face."
Smith said the commission recommended the expansion of Cooperative Threat Reduction, a government program designed to locate and secure or neutralize nuclear weapons around the world.
"This program right now is costing about $400 million a year, which sounds expensive, but it's one-tenth of one percent of the defense budget, and it's proven to be very effective," Smith said.
The second recommendation Smith talked about was radio spectrum.
"Back in the late '90s when we were switching from analog to digital television, the government loaned radio spectrum to the national commercial broadcasters," Smith said.
Because there is a fixed amount of radio spectrum available, Smith said rescue and law enforcement officers aren't always able to communicate with each other. The commission urged congress to support legislation that would dedicate more radio spectrum to emergency communication.