Progress in War on Terror

How are we to measure the success of the War on Terror? There are both objective and subjective pieces of information that must be considered. The most important objective piece of information is that there has not been a homeland attack by terrorists since 9/11. That seems to suggest that we are doing something right. And then there are subjective pieces of information, the most recent of which offers an optimistic assessment, at least with respect to state-sponsored terrorism.

WASHINGTON, March 30 - A Department of Homeland Security internal report that assesses terrorist organizations, their anticipated targets and preferred weapons concludes that the threat to the United States presented by North Korea and several other countries long described as "state sponsors of terrorism" is declining.

"In the post-9/11 environment, countries do not appear to be facilitating or supporting terrorist groups intent on striking the U.S. homeland," says the draft report, which is intended to help the Homeland Security agency define its spending priorities through 2011.

Of the six nations identified by the State Department as terrorist sponsors, five of them - North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Cuba - are described by Homeland Security as a "diminishing concern." Iran, the final country on the list, alone is described as a potential threat over the next five years.