How the federal government deals with the threat of terrorism
is a matter of enormous concern to all Americans. The government
has adopted a number of different approaches to meeting this challenge.
One of them is criminal enforcement against suspected terrorists
and those the government decides to target because charging them
with a crime might disrupt potential terrorist acts. So when TRAC
put up a special report on terrorism enforcement in the two years
after 9/11/01, it got attention. The Justice Department data showed
that since the 9/11 attacks investigators had recommended the
prosecutions of more than 6,400 individuals but that only five
individuals had been sentenced to 20 years or more in prison.
Among the publications running articles or editorials referencing
the data were the Albuquerque Journal, the Bangor News, the Boston
Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Los Angeles
Times, the New York Post, Newsday, the Seattle Times, the Toronto
Star, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Washington Post, the Washington
Times and many other weighed in. So did broadcasters like the
CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, ABC News, NPR (Morning Edition),
Barry Nolan's Night Beat show in Boston, WBAI in New York City
and numerous other radio stations.
