Security Expert Warns of Gaps in Homeland Defenses

Former CIA operative Charles Faddis provides U.S. News & World Report with six potential domestic targets that he says are particularly vulnerable to a catastrophic terrorist attack:

• Military bases
• Rail and metro systems
• Chemical plants
• Liquid Natural Gas
• Dams
• Bio labs

Now a private consultant and author of Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion of Homeland Security, Faddis says an attack on passenger rail is his worse fear. While Faddis acknowledges that DHS is correct that we can't protect everything, authorities shouldn't use that slogan as a way to dismiss all criticism of the status quo.

We need to do a better job securing the places that have a potential to produce mass casualties. That should be a priority. Is that going to stop terrorists from driving a truck bomb into a McDonald's? No. But it should stop them from driving that truck bomb into a chemical plant and killing thousands.