Oh I feel really safe from terrorism now. Really. So help me. Please.

By Lee Russ

Thursday, June 29, 2006 at 02:25 PM

While the inner circle at the White House continues to give out uplifting quotes about our great success in "combating terrorism," more and more Americans feel less and less safe.

But these are just "ordinary" Americans, and we all know that ordinary folks aren't worth the spit it takes to insult them in the 21st century.  So The Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine pooled their pennies and conducted a real life survey of the important people--"over 100 of America's most esteemed terrorism and national security experts"--about whether we're actually winning something in this war.

The result: The Terrorism Index

This survey seeks for the first time to mine the highest echelons of the U.S. national security establishment across the ideological spectrum for their insights on the war on terrorism.

Surprising consensus exists among the experts about terrorism and U.S. national security. A vast majority think that the world today is more dangerous for the American people. Fewer than two in 10 believe the United States is winning the war on terror. More than eight in 10 believe we are likely to face a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11 within the next 10 years. Over half list Islamic animosity and the Iraq war as the main reasons why the world is becoming more dangerous. The experts put nuclear weapons and materials as the top threat followed closely by weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a whole and then terrorism. Only four percent rank Iran as the greatest threat.

The experts also have serious concerns about the effectiveness of the U.S. national security apparatus and sharply criticize the U.S. government's efforts in numerous areas of national security, including public diplomacy, intelligence, and homeland security. They give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a score of 2.9 out of 10 in its functions related to national security, and more than 80 percent of the surveyed experts characterize efforts at intelligence reform to date as "fair" or "poor."

A small sampling of specific questions and the results, from the full survey::

1. Thinking about the present situation, would you say that the world is becoming safer or more dangerous for the United States and the American people?
....................................................ALL...........Conserv.........Moderate....Libera l
Total Safer.....................................10..................16................. 8 .................7
Total More Dangerous......................86 .................81 ...............88 ...............89

2. What is the ONE principal reason why you think the world is becoming safer, more dangerous or has stayed the same for the American people?

Islamic/Muslim/Jihadist
hostility/anger/animosity/......................................30
Iraq war ...............................................................28
Failed/misguided/wrongheaded US policies .............12
Nuclear/WMD proliferation.......................................8
Reduction in alliances/Less support for US
leadership ..............................................................8
Unilateralism/Unilateral force...................................7

3.  In your view, what is the SINGLE GREATEST threat to U.S. national security?

Nuclear materials/weapons ...................................26
WMD's .................................................................21
Islamicism--Al Qaeda--Jihadists .............................17
Terrorism..............................................................15
Bush Administration/US leaders/Intelligence
failures/Unilateralism.............................................14
Continued Iraq war/Middle-East conflict....................9
Economic decline ...................................................5

4.  President Bush has stated that the United States is winning the war on terror. Please choose the option below which best describes how you feel about that statement.

Strongly disagree...................................................58
Somewhat disagree................................................26
Neutral....................................................................4
Somewhat agree .....................................................9
Strongly agree ........................................................4

Total Disagree......................................................84
Total Agree ...........................................................13

++Disagreement was strong among all three groups (C, M, & L)