Just When You Thought It Was Safe - - - -

People often say "it's the not knowing that's causing me sleepless nights." Normally I agree with that. But frankly, I could have slept better merely guessing than actually getting the definitive information from a high-level official in the FBI. According to Dr, Vahid Majidi, Assistant Director of the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Unit, there is now a 100% likelihood of a WMD attack on American soil. Let's see you stack up Z's after hearing that.

It is cold comfort to be assured that the attack probably won't be the full explosion of a nuclear weapon, though a "dirty bomb" is a distinct possibility. Dr. Majidi says the attack will come from "foreign terrorists, lone wolves who are terrorists," and so nobody can cry religious profiling, "criminal elements." Somehow, I'm not too worried about the Crips or the Bloods setting off a WMD in New York or San Francisco, but that's another Eric Holder story entirely. Still, there are nutcases out there like anarchist Roger Bergendorff who was planning an attack using ricin (the same chemical used in the Tokyo subway attack). That's one individual. But there's only one organization I know of that has a billion adherents with bloodlust oozing out of every pore.

The attack will come in the form of a chemical, biological or radiological weapon, rather than a true nuclear device, according to Dr. Majidi. He points out that only the amateurishness of the prospective mass murderers has prevented the success of approximately a dozen annual conspiracies to loose mass destruction on American cities. I don't know how long Dr. Majidi will keep his job after making this information public, but I applaud his boldness. It's bold not only because of its intelligent assessment of pending terrorism in America, but in its frank admission that law enforcement stopped the crimes only after the terrorists were already in place, conspiracy in full bloom, weapons in motion, but technical/mechanical skills lacking. Let's hope they don't improve their skills before the FBI, CIA, NSC and Homeland Security start taking this seriously and improve their own skills.

Here are Majidi's exact words: "The notion of probability of a WMD attack being low or high is a moot point because we know the probability is 100%. We've seen this in the past, and we'll see it in the future. There is going to be an attack using chemical, biological or radiological material. A singular lone wolf individual can do things in the dark of night with access to a laboratory with low quantities of material and could hurt a few people but create a devastating effect on the American psyche."

Former FBI Counter-Intelligence and Counter-terrorism Director Arthur M. Cummings added to the discussion. Speaking about investigating coordinated information about potential terrorists putting together WMDs, Cummings said: "It's not OK to say, it looks like pool supplies, we're done. You don't finish there. Who at the pool company bought the chemicals, and who did he buy them from? What specifically was the transaction, and what happened from there? Is it a friend; is it an associate; is it somebody who wants to do us harm? We can no longer assume it's a simple commercial transaction, don't worry about it."

Dr. Majidi also warned that as remote as a full nuclear weapon might be, given all the hurdles of building it, fueling it, and delivering it, it is not an impossibility. Even a 10 kiloton bomb would be disastrous, and the possibility cannot be dismissed. A well-funded operation like Al Qaeda might even be capable of stealing an operational nuclear device from a nation which already has them (Pakistan, maybe?).

Dr. Majidi was fair in his praise of the efforts of intelligence agencies, but still thinks they have not reached a point of efficiency (and perhaps never can) which would reduce the probability of such an attack to "acceptable" levels. The increased activity of sophisticated terrorist enemies of America at our ports is of particular concern. He declares that he has seen the fact that others have unfairly or dishonestly hyped threat levels in order to protect their jobs and their fiefdoms. I suspect that his words of warning run counter to the feeble attempts of the political heads of the agencies to assure us that with enough faith and money, we can eliminate the threat.

I hope this doesn't put Dr. Majidi on the unemployment line. I also hope that I haven't caused you to lie in bed tonight with your eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, and counting terrorists instead of sheep.