Facing Facts in America

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Sometimes simple ideas make more sense. The day of the London bombings, New York officials cut cell-phone service in tunnels leading into the city--in case anyone was planning to detonate a bomb with a cell phone. Once we accept that some attacks are inevitable, we can do sensible things to limit the damage and disruption--like using blast-proof glass in buses. Even things like emergency lighting can save lives. In London, it took more than an hour to clear the Underground. Many could not get out of cars or navigate pitch-black tunnels.

"You have to broaden your horizons and not think of security as exclusively preventive," says Jenkins of the Rand Corp. It is a complicated idea, quite different from airplane security. But it is one we have had plenty of time to learn.

Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor turned high-end security consultant, happened to be eating breakfast in a London hotel when the bombs went off. He praised the calm, professional response he saw on the streets. But no part of him was surprised: "The attack was exactly what we were expecting back in the mid-'90s." --Reported by Jessica Carsen/London, John Flowers, Stephen Handelman and Nathan Thornburgh/ New York, Noah Isackson/ Chicago, Laura A. Locke/ San Francisco and Mark Thompson/ Washington