The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS tonight had a segment which featured four former senators - 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans - and moderated by Margaret Warner.

Senators George Mitchell, Connie Mack, and one other Republican whose name I cannot recall had some interesting, but mostly predictable comments about coalition building etc., and Ms. Warner seemed to focus on that aspect of this ongoing crisis, but it was former Senator Gary Hart's comments which interested me the most, and which were most insightful, in my opinion.

Sen. Hart said that the United States appeared to be doing two things, when it ought to be doing a third.

Hart described our current actions as he sees them. First, he said, we are attempting to bring to justice the perpetrators of the WTC attack. Second, we are trying to rid the world of terrorism.

But in Sen. Hart's mind, what we really should be doing, first of all, is to make sure we have protected ourselves against further attack. There is no comprehensive defensive system in place, said Hart, and we do not seem intent on developing one.

Hart went on to say that we should have a military mission in Moscow to meet with former Soviet commanders in Aftghanistan to learn from the Red Army's experience there - what to do, what not to do. The Russians could be very valuable in our ongoing efforts said Hart, and so might the Chinese.

I was highly impressed with Sen. Hart's comments and I think that he is absolutely right.

While the first two objectives mentioned by Hart should remain our ultimate goals - bring those guilty to justice, rid the world of terrorism - I see no readily obvious way for the United States and its allies to accomplish these objectives at present, and I agree that defense should be our highest priority.

Earlier this year, Hart chaired a symposium of some sort on terrorism which reached the conclusion that the United States was vulnerable to terrorist attack.

I think we still are, and I also feel it is likely that there may be additional terrorist cells waiting in the wings for their cues.

Defense First.

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(I believe, but cannot guarantee, that I have paraphrased Ms. Warner's interviews accurately. Any mistakes are my own.)