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Countering 21st Century Enemies and WMD Threats
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

"This element has grown in importance as we have learned about al Qaeda's growing interest in acquiring -- from rogue states and other sources -- chemical, biological and radiological weapons. This threat of terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction is made more clear when one compares the list of states seeking weapons of mass destruction with the list of states that sponsor terrorists: The lists are virtually identical."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
At the heart of the new National Security Strategy is a fundamental change in the way America addresses the 21st century threat of weapons of mass destruction, said presidential adviser Robert Joseph.

Joseph, speaking at the Fletcher Conference here Oct. 16, said the greatest difference between previous strategies and the one President Bush released Sept. 17 is in "the description of and the prescription for defending against today's threats." Joseph is an adviser to the National Security Council.

He said the war on terrorism is a new type of war that requires America to think differently about threats and to harness new tools and methods to defeat those threats.

Joseph said the administration's concerns about terrorism and weapons of mass destruction predate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. In speeches in Washington, Bush urged the country to move beyond Cold War approaches to security. The president was explicit in the need for new thinking and new tools for dealing with the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Bush made a call to "take into account contemporary threats that do not represent simply lesser cases of the old Soviet model," Joseph said.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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