Office of Homeland Security

n the second act of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Caesar's wife Portia asks a soothsayer if he knows of some harm that will come to the Roman leader. "None that I know will be," he replies, "Much that I fear may chance." Soon after, Caesar was assassinated.

On Sept. 5, 2001, Frank Cilluffo, then a senior policy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "A major terrorist incident inside our borders . . . would undoubtedly put our emergency management response to the test. . . . There's a real danger of being overwhelmed. . . . We must recognize that we don't have a comprehensive strategy for countering this threat or the larger challenges of homeland defense."

Six days later, Cilluffo looked like a soothsayer after terrorists attacked the Pentagon and World Trade Center. The assaults stretched federal, state and local emergency responders to their limits and gave rise to a new homeland security bureaucracy.

Cilluffo might deserve credit for coining the term homeland security. He'd been evangelizing for the creation of a security chief position since 1998, when he told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice that the government should name a commander for "homeland defense."

As a special assistant to the president, Cilluffo continues to serve in his expert advisory role. He is a recognized authority on bioterrorism and attacks with weapons of mass destruction. He has called for a rational approach to homeland security.

"As we will never be able to protect everything, everywhere, all the time, from every adversary and every modality of attack, now is clearly the time for clear-headed prioritization of policies and resources," he told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in October.

While working at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Cilluffo co-wrote a study on cyber warfare. He warned the Senate committee that though the Sept. 11 attacks were deadly, they were "low tech," and that future attacks could come electronically by assailants more versed in the use of the Web as a weapon. "While bin Laden may have his finger on the trigger, his grandchildren may have their fingers on the computer mouse," Cilluffo said.

"Al Qaeda, in particular, chooses vulnerable targets and varies its modus operandi accordingly. They become more lethal and more innovative with every attack. While bin Laden may have his finger on the trigger, his grandchildren may have their fingers on the computer mouse," Cilluffo said.