Two new polls show a steady decline in the confidence Americans have in
government to protect them from natural or manmade disasters, and a
growing mood of isolationism in the United States.
A study
by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia
University's Mailman School of Public Health found that 42 percent of
Americans believe that the government is capable of protecting their
communities from a terrorist attack, down from 62 percent in 2003. Only
35 percent of Americans said they believed that the public health
system could respond effectively to a deadly flu pandemic - down from
53 percent in 2002.
"America's Place in the World,"
a study by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, found a
resurgent isolationism among Americans, reminiscent of the period that
followed the Vietnam War in the 1970's and the end of the cold war in
the 1990's. Forty-two percent of the public said the country should
"mind its own business internationally and let other countries get
along the best they can on their own." That was up from 30 percent in a
similar poll in December 2002, before the American-led invasion of
Iraq.
How Are We Doing?
In 2004, the 9/11 commission made its recommendations on how the
administration should improve national security in response to the
threat of terrorism. Sixteen months later, the commission's
latest report
concludes that the United States still has a long way to go in making
the case for democracy and against the ideology of terror, and in
ensuring that terrorists will not acquire weapons of mass destruction.
