What Must Be Done.

The answer to terrorism lies not in granting police state powers to the federal government but in restoring legitimate internal security measures and ending self-defeating policies.

The September 11th attacks showed how vulnerable America has become to assault by determined terrorist groups and how urgent it is to revamp our national security. But because many government organizations charged with maintaining internal security have been plagued by corruption, infighting, and budget cuts, our federal security forces were unable to detect and deter the terrorist acts of September 11th.

One after another, these investigative bodies and internal security assets have been weakened by bureaucratic ineptitude and corroded by pressure from such social engineering groups as the National Lawyers Guild, the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ramifications include:

* The Subversive Activities Control Board -- terminated.

* The Internal Security Division of the Justice Department -- terminated.

* The House Internal Security Committee -- terminated.

* The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee -- terminated.

* The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations -- terminated.

* The counter-intelligence units of the Armed Forces -- severely limited.

* The investigative committees of most state legislatures -- terminated.

* The intelligence units of most state and municipal police agencies -- terminated or severely restricted.

* The Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol -- overwhelmed, undermanned, and severely restricted.

* The intelligence units of most metropolitan police departments -- terminated.

In the wake of the attacks, the calls for giving police-state powers to the federal government, and especially to the Executive Branch, have been deafening. Such measures, though, are neither constitutional nor necessary. What America must do instead is rebuild the legitimate internal security apparatus at federal, state, and local levels, and end our self-defeating policies of interventionism which result in cooperation with terrorists and the states that sponsor them.

In her monumental 1981 book, The Terror Network, Claire Sterling wrote: "The terrorists' primary value to the Kremlin lay in their resolute efforts to weaken and demoralize, confuse, humiliate, frighten, paralyze, and if possible dismantle the West's democratic societies." This was the theme also of the very important video documentaries, No Place to Hide: The Strategy and Tactics of Terrorism and The Subversion Factor, produced by Congressman Lawrence Patton McDonald (D-Ga.) in the early 1980s, along with Representative John Ashbrook (R-Ohio), General George Patton III, Admiral Thomas Moorer, author Taylor Caldwell, and other prominent American patriots at the Western Goals Foundation. These and other fearless voices relentlessly pointed out this crucial but "politically incorrect" fact: That there really were no significant stand-alone terrorists; all members of the Terror Club International received funding and direction from Russia, China, Cuba, and their subsidiaries. This is no less true today, and sho uld be remembered when considering the so-called "Islamic fundamentalist" groups, which function as deniable assets for their state sponsors.

Representatives McDonald and Ash-brook and some of their House colleagues carried out a valiant campaign in the 1970s and 1980s to rebuild our internal security. Their campaign included efforts to reform our immigration laws and pass legislation to reestablish the House Internal Security Committee (HISC). Because of its power of subpoena and ability to publish reports, the HISC has been an essential weapon in the battle for national security and survival. It can compel the production of documents and witnesses and make vital information available to the public. A restored and vigilant HISC would be a valid solution today.

Other measures that would strengthen national security include:

* Immigration legislation to change the policies that make it virtually impossible to exclude or deport "legal" terrorists and that will provide sufficient manpower and funding for the Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service to protect our borders.

* Issuance of letters of marque by Congress authorizing action against terrorists responsible for attacks on American interests, under the constitutionally enumerated congressional powers to "define and punish piracies" and to "grant letters of marque and reprisal."

* Full top-down security checks of all U.S. military and security personnel, and all cabinet officials, especially in the State and Defense Departments.

* Reestablishing credible security measures at our weapons laboratories and military installations.

* Stopping and reversing the federal takeover of local law enforcement.

* Reestablishing intelligence units in metropolitan police departments.

* Stopping and reversing the FBI and CIA alliances and mergers with foreign police and intelligence agencies, most especially as they concern the police-state organizations of Russia, China, and other totalitarian regimes.

* Reestablishing the internal security investigative committees of state legislatures.

* Getting out of the United Nations, a Trojan Horse on American soil for terrorists and other foreign enemies.

Like the people of Troy, we have foolishly opened our gates to the enemy. And our enemies -- foreign and domestic -- have been taking advantage of our folly and negligence to advance their terrorist agendas against the United States. There is, however, still time to save our country, if American citizens throw themselves into this battle with all of the determination that these dire circumstances demand.