Behind the administrations shift on terror fight

Ralph Peters:

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First, the administration has plainly realized that the terror danger is much higher than it believed one week ago.

Second, it means that Shahzad really has been talking -- almost certainly tipping us that there are more America-bound terror trainees out there (or already here) and letting us fit together important pieces of the intelligence puzzle.

Third, the White House obviously fears more terror attacks sooner rather than later.

This sudden policy shift and media mobilization by an administration that's usually lethargic on security issues means that folks at the top are worried about the political costs of a successful terrorist strike.

For all the backslapping over how quickly we nabbed Shahzad after the failed attack (a combination of superb police work and dumb luck), it seems at last to have dawned on the administration that, for all his technical ineptitude, Shahzad came very, very close to killing and wounding hundreds of Americans at a location symbolic of our country.

Had Shahzad been a suicide bomber willing to stay in that SUV, the outcome could have been painfully different.

To be fair, the administration probably doesn't want to give us more details because of intelligence concerns (and embarrassment that it's been asleep at the wheel). It also doesn't want to generate panic. Or drive down the stock market yet again.

And the weekend full-court press in the media -- speaking bluntly about terror networks, possible intervention in Pakistan and modifying Miranda rights -- sends the encouraging signal that this White House may be capable of learning, after all.

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Let's hope so. Their first impulse is to deny the obvious when these attacks occur.

Perhaps now they are also getting off the strategic defensive and being proactive in going after the terrorist bases and trainers. That is probably what was behind the multi-missile strike in Pakistan described below. If they think other strikes or in the works, perhaps they should issue an alert for where they think it may occur.

This NY Post Editorial also discusses the changed terrorism policy.