THE THREAT

Posted at 8:10 p.m. ET

News of this report came out a few days ago, but I haven't seen any great expressions of interest.  But this new report warns of major security threats to the United States that are likely to erupt during the Obama years.

President-elect Barack Obama will probably confront a biological or nuclear attack at home or abroad if the U.S. and its allies do not act decisively to prevent it, according to a report released this week by a panel created by Congress.

The report found that the U.S. had taken important steps to counteract nuclear proliferation and, to a lesser extent, biological terrorism, but had "not kept pace with growing risks."

If you don't keep up, you haven't done anything, the power of these weapons being what they are.

"We have been losing ground, and we are less secure today than we have been in the recent past," said former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), the commission chairman.

One of the problems, of course, is that reports like this have been issued in the past.  Since we haven't experienced nuclear or biological terrorism, the reports are often seen as "crying wolf," yet the warnings make great sense.

"There should be someone in the White House who wakes up every day, looks in the mirror and says, 'What do we need to do today to reduce the possibility of a weapon of mass destruction going off someplace in the world, specifically someplace in the United States?' " Graham said.

Graham said the person could play an important role in highlighting nonproliferation issues when the administration considered agreements such as the recent deal permitting U.S. sales of nuclear fuel and technology to India.

Not a bad idea.  But I don't want a "defense intellectual" in that role.  I want someone with paranoid tendencies.  They get it right.

But some specialists, and some officials in the Bush administration, cautioned against appointing too many advisors.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged caution Wednesday, saying that the government risked creating too many extraneous layers of bureaucracy by creating "a czar to do this and a czar to do that."

"I put a big yellow light on, [a] go-slow, in terms of reorganizations," Chertoff said.

By the time the bureacracy responds and gets organized, Washington could be turned into a parking lot. 

I suspect the news media will ignore this report after a day or two, and we'll go right back to September 10th, 2001.  I have no idea what it will take to wake us up before it's too late.

December 4, 2008.