'Dirty' terror.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The announcement that U.S. authorities have broken up a terrorist plot to detonate a dirty bomb in the United States is both reassuring and troubling.

It is reassuring that the much-maligned FBI and CIA thwarted a plot that could have resulted in the explosion of a radiation-laced conventional bomb - a bomb that would have had profound psychological and economic impact on this nation.

The scheme reportedly was hatched during a visit to Pakistan by Jose Padilla, a onetime Chicago gang member who converted to Islam. There he met with one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, Abu Zubeida, and other senior al-Qaeda leaders. The plan was foiled through precisely the sort of coordinated intelligence work that the FBI and CIA failed to do before the Sept. 11 attacks.

It's heartening to learn that the government's intelligence machinery runs smoothly enough to detect a plot that could have a devastating impact on a nation still recovering from the wounds of Sept. 11. Yet the plot also reveals the disturbing reality that al-Qaeda remains a deadly organization with an intact power structure, a global reach and an ardent interest in killing Americans by the thousands.

Wasn't it only a few months ago that U.S. officials declared that they had wiped out al-Qaeda's command center in Afghanistan and were well on the way to unraveling the worldwide terrorist network? Now intelligence sources are saying that al-Qaeda has rebuilt a coherent command structure and established a safe haven in remote northwest Pakistan.

Meanwhile, bin Laden, his top aide Ayman al-Zawahiri and other commanders remain alive and in hiding. They routinely slip in and out of Afghanistan to meet with operatives and plan attacks. U.S. officials warn that an untold number of "sleeper" agents lie in wait in the United States and elsewhere, awaiting orders to attack.

Also troubling is the possibility of nuclear terrorism, even in the crude form of a "dirty bomb" that would result in relatively few fatalities but disperse potentially dangerous levels of radiation across a large region.

The "dirty bomb" scenario reveals yet another in a seemingly endless list of American vulnerabilities. Such weapons can easily be built using radioactive materials available at inadequately protected sites such as hospitals and laboratories. It also points out the need to increase inspections at border checkpoints, ports and harbors.

Emergency planners in Oregon and the rest of the nation must also now ask themselves, as they did with the anthrax and smallpox threats after Sept. 11, if they are adequately prepared to respond to a "dirty bomb."

The arrest of Jose Padilla provides welcome evidence that U.S. intelligence remains capable of foiling the plans of dedicated, deadly terrorists. But it also provides an unsettling reminder to Americans that they are living in the age of terrorism, an age in which vigilance and preparedness are essential to survival.