To the Point

Two Years after September 11, How Safe Are We?

All over the country, Americans are remembering what happened two years ago today, but nowhere are the recollections more poignant than in Washington, DC, and at Ground Zero in New York City, where surviving children read the names of victims. The Bush administration has responded by waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and creating the Department of Homeland Security. Pollsters say the threat of terrorism on US soil is now part of the fabric of American life, and 75 percent of those surveyed think the world is more dangerous than it was ten years ago. How pervasive is the fear of terrorism? What are our vulnerabilities, and how effective are government agencies at making the country safer? We look at a nation that-s looking over its shoulder with a New York public official, pollsters, journalists, sociologists, and experts in national security and terrorism. Making News: Al Qaeda Still Operating in the US President Bush often evokes the memory of September 11, the event most often credited with providing purpose and clarity to his administration. Yesterday, Bush praised US successes against al Qaeda terrorist network in the US. But the threat is by no means over. Josh Meyer, writing in today-s Los Angeles Times, reports on al Qaeda-s -largely invisible but extensive presence-in the United States.-