The CIA’s overseas operations and the FBI’s domestic operations receive intelligence about hundreds of possible terrorist attacks. Typically the CIA gets its information in three ways: a) "open source" is information about countries that do not wish us well, profiles of their leaders, what they are like and what they are thinking; b) technical intelligence is derived mostly from satellites which can give high quality photographs and can also signal intelligence from communications, telephones, etc. c) HUMIT, or human intelligence comes from spies and agents who can tell us what an enemy might be thinking and planning – this includes terrorist attacks. Poteat says, "Since the enemy will try to deceive you by putting out false and misleading information to create confusion, the most reliable information about an attack occurs when all three kinds of intelligence confirm the same information."

A "high state of alert" for a terrorist attack would seem to indicate that enough corroborative information has been received several times since the attacks of Sept. 11th to establish a probability of an attack on Americans. These warnings from our intelligence agencies have been difficult for Americans to handle. "Americans don’t like secrecy," says Poteat. "We are a naive people who want to believe the best in people. We are tolerant and afraid to offend anyone. We are fundamentally our own worst enemy." To make matters worse, if an attack doesn’t occur after such an alert or warning, Americans sense that intelligence has misguided us. "You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t," says Poteat. "The tips may not be solid or specific to where or exactly when, but they are good enough to put out a warning," he added.

In addition to putting out warnings, the government has passed anti-terrorism legislation that unties our intelligence agencies’ hands, helping them operate more freely and effectively. But, according to Poteat, "Nothing fundamentally has changed. The restrictions lifted on assassinations are a joke. No one is rushing out to assassinate anyone," he said. "We’ve been in this war for a while. The CIA has been attempting to capture or assassinate bin Laden way before Sept. 11th. The legislation has been a morale booster to the agents, telling them to be braver and don’t be intimidated." Poteat did indicate, however, that the legislation does enable state and local government agencies to get involved more proactively by working in conjunction with federal agencies, so that the chances of terrorists being caught is greater.

Vigilance is key. But what does being vigilant mean to the ordinary citizen, the ordinary teenager going to school, concerts, or the mall? How can we protect our freedom? "We have to learn to be mindful of what we can control. We have to learn to watch our mail. We need to be observant of a truck parked in front of a school building that doesn’t belong there. We need to take notice of things that appear not quite normal and make a report to the officials."

Things won’t be the same for Americans for a long time. But there is comfort in the fact that the CIA and the FBI, which were deemed relatively inactive after the Cold War, have been given a freer reign to do the job that they were hired to do. And with the cooperation of state and local government agencies and the help of all Americans, perhaps we can be like 007 and root out all evil.